Saudi businessman Yasin Al-Qadi started the process of filing a lawsuit in Washington claiming that he has been wrongfully accused by the Bush administration of financing terrorism, leading to the freezing of his assets. Al-Qadi, 53, decided to move to the court after his assets in the US were ordered frozen and American investors were banned from dealing with him.
In the aftermath of 9/11, the US Treasury Department alleged that the Muwafaq Foundation, once headed by Al-Qadi, has been identified as an Al-Qaeda front funded by wealthy Saudi businessmen. “The US Treasury Department drew up a long list of people without having any substantial proof against some of them, just before Bush announced his ‘war on terror,’” he said. The Bush administration used the list as justification for the UN to freeze his assets and to taint his reputation around the world, he added.