RIYADH/WASHINGTON, 26 November 2002 — A Saudi official said yesterday that Riyadh had informed Washington of the results of a probe the Kingdom carried out into reports that Saudi royal charitable funds were funneled to two suspected hijackers who took part in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

“A Saudi investigation has taken place into the suspicions raised over the channeling of funds by Princess Haifa Al-Faisal, wife of Saudi ambassador to Washington Prince Bandar ibn Sultan,” a Saudi official told AFP.

“The results of the investigation have been communicated to the relevant US authorities, who were assured that there was no suspicion on the fact that the princess granted financial aid to charity,” the official said.

Interior Minister Prince Naif said in a comment carried by the Saudi Press Agency, “These are nothing but lies and baseless words.” He said it was normal for Saudis to offer financial support to fellow nationals living abroad. “If they are going to make an accusation of every assistance extended by one Saudi to another, then there is a problem and this should not be the case.”

Adel Al-Jubeir, adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, said yesterday his country was actively regulating charities funneling money abroad.

“We are going through an audit of all the charities,” Al-Jubeir told NBC television from Riyadh.

He told CNN that controls had been put in place to ensure that Saudi money transferred to any charities would leave an audit trail. “We have realized over the years that people have now taken advantage of our charity ... our innocence,” Al-Jubeir told CNN. Saudi officials have confirmed that Princess Haifa had written checks that were then signed over to people who happened to be friends and associates of two of the hijackers.

But Al-Jubeir denied that the princess had been aware that the money she had donated to a US-based Saudi woman, Magda Ibrahim Ahmed, had been passed on to Osama Basannan, Janet Basannan or Manal Al-Bayoumi, assumed to be Omar Al-Bayoumi’s wife.

Osama Basannan and Al-Bayoumi were friends of two of the hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001 as part of multiple terror attacks in the United States.

US lawmakers are demanding the White House push the investigation.

“The president ought to be demanding a full public accounting from the FBI and the CIA about what they know about Saudi involvement,” Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a member of the Armed Services committee said Sunday on CBS.

Meanwhile, the US administration insisted yesterday that Saudi Arabia was a “good” partner in the war on terrorism.

But White House spokesman Ari Fleischer would not comment on issue of funding to the two 9/11 hijackers by Saudi personalities. “The president believes that the Saudis have been good partners in the war against terrorism and the president knows that the war on terrorism is a multi-front war and many nations are doing their best and Saudi Arabia is a good partner,” Fleischer told reporters. “On the specific issue of the wife of the Saudi ambassador, that’s a matter that is being investigated by the law enforcement agencies so I am not in a position to comment on anything specific on that,” he added.