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Osama's brother off the hook
09/01/2007 10:02 - (SA)
Paris - French judges have dismissed a four-year money-laundering investigation targeting Osama bin Laden's half-brother, Yeslam Binladin, for lack of evidence, a judicial source said on Monday.
Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke opened an inquiry in December 2001 after the French authorities were alerted of suspect transactions involving companies linked to Binladin's Saudi Investment Company.
In particular, he was investigating a transfer of $300m from Switzerland to Pakistan, which could have benefited the al-Qaeda chief.
On December 27 Ruymbeke was forced to dismiss the case for lack of evidence after the Swiss authorities refused to supply him with bank documents relating to the case, the source said.
Binladin, a Saudi-born businessman with Swiss nationality, insists on the different spelling of his family name and has denied having any contact at all with his half-brother.
He said they shared a common bank account in connection with the inheritance from his father, a rich Saudi businessman, which was split between 54 brothers and sisters.
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