RIYADH, 20 March — Sheikh Oqail Al-Oqail, director general of Al-Haramain Charitable Foundation, yesterday challenged the United States to prove its involvement in terrorist acts or that it has any relationship with any of the suspected terrorist bodies.
Speaking to Arab News, he also advised the Saudi government to create an umbrella body to organize Saudi charitable activities abroad.
The organization previously expressed its surprise at US Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill’s announcement in Washington that the Saudi government had joined the United States in moving to block the assets of its two overseas offices in Somalia and Bosnia.
Interior Minister Prince Naif confirmed last Thursday that the move to freeze the assets was taken in consultation with the Saudi government.
“We have not yet received any official information from the US government on its plan to freeze the assets of our offices in Bosnia and Somalia,” Al-Oqail said. “We hear about reports of freezing assets, but all our offices — including the two offices in the US — are working normally,” he added.
“I think there is a mix-up in names, because there is another organization which has almost exactly the same name as ours. At the time of their launch, I had advised them to change their name because of potential confusion, but they refused. I don’t have any bad information regarding that society. On the contrary, they enjoy a high reputation,” he said about the Al-Haramain and Al-Aqsa Mosque Foundation.
“The US has accused us of financing terrorist organizations, such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic Federation in Somalia. I challenge any person to prove this with evidence,” the director said. “I am surprised to see that people level accusations against an agency without first approaching it for its side of the story. Until now, nobody has checked our accounts or viewed our books.”
Al-Oqail pointed out that the Bosnian government had given his organization a certificate of clearance, meaning it was free of suspicious activity.
“We have made it a policy not to keep money in our overseas offices. Our money is kept in Saudi banks under the supervision of the Saudi government,” he explained. “We have no accounts in Somalia,” he added.
Referring to its frozen account in Al-Baraka Bank, he said: “We contacted the officials and received part of the frozen money and we are trying to recover what remains.”
A few years ago, Al-Haramain’s office in Albania was closed by the government. “It was reopened when we produced all documents to prove our innocence,” Al-Oqail said.
He denied accusations that Al-Haramain had a role in the bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salam.
He pointed out that his organization had won a libel case against a television station which accused it of involvement in the two bombings.
Asked whether he was ready to show details of the past accounts, he said: “We call upon all agencies which have any doubt about our activities to come and ask to see the details.”
Last year, the foundation had a budget of SR170 million, of which SR10 million was allocated for Somalia and SR6 million for Bosnia. “This money was spent on taking care of orphans, relief work and giving salaries to preachers,” Al-Oqail said. He added that Al-Haramain depends on donations for its funds.
“About 95 percent donations come from Saudi philanthropists. The remaining comes from the Gulf, the US and Europe. We also get revenues from our investments such as endowment properties.”
He explained that the organization had not yet received any donation from the Saudi government.
“Our donations increased by three percent — or about SR6 million — after Sept. 11. But our activities and policies have not been affected by the event,” he pointed out.
He urged the Saudi government to issue licenses to charitable organizations and set out rules and regulations in order to avoid complications. “We will use official channels to clarify our stand,” he said.
