JEDDAH, 14 July 2003 — The Shoura Council yesterday approved a bill setting up a new body to oversee Islamic charities as part of the Kingdom’s bid to clear its name over terror-funding charges by Washington.
The government-sponsored bill, calling for the establishment of a Supreme Saudi Relief and Charity Foundation, was overwhelmingly passed by the consultative council, Secretary General Hamoud Al-Badr said.
Under the bill, the foundation will control and regulate the raising and spending of charity funds and appoint external auditors to scrutinize the accounts of charity organizations.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the United States has repeatedly asked Saudi Arabia to regulate charity operations and make sure that funds do not end up in terrorists’ hands.
Charities, many run by well-known Islamic organizations, are the backbone of Muslim fund-raising and relief activities throughout the world.
Many organizations and personalities have been placed on US terror-funding lists, and sued for huge sums of money by families of the Sept. 11 victims.
The fact that most Saudi charities have been active in Afghanistan for more than two decades left them open to charges of helping to fund the Al-Qaeda terror network.
