Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Bechtel tied to bin Ladens

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 05 May 2003 21:52:41 -0400

Bechtel tied to bin Ladens
Osama bin Laden family members invested $10M in an equity fund run by former Bechtel unit.

May 5, 2003: 2:17 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The Bush administration launched
a war on terror because of the alleged acts of Osama bin
Laden. Ironically, one of the companies the administration has
picked to rebuild Iraq after the latest phase of that war has ties
to bin Laden's family, according to a published report.

Bechtel Corp., a private construction firm based in San Francisco,
recently was awarded a State Department contract, potentially worth
more than $600 million, to help rebuild Iraq's infrastructure after the
recent U.S.-led war there.

The Bush administration pushed for that war, in part, because it said
the regime of Saddam Hussein, former leader of Iraq, had ties to the
al Qaeda terror network, headed by bin Laden, the group allegedly
responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United
States.

According to an article in the May 5 issue of New Yorker magazine,
several bin Laden family members -- part of a large, Saudi Arabian
family that made a fortune in the construction business -- invested
about $10 million in a private equity fund operated by former
subsidiary of Bechtel before Sept. 11.

Fremont Group, a San Francisco-based private investment firm, once
was a unit of Bechtel, and its board still includes Bechtel CEO Riley
P. Bechtel and former U.S. Secretary of State and former Bechtel
President George P. Shultz, along with several current Bechtel
directors.

Bechtel could not be reached for comment.

Fremont spokeswoman Pat Harden confirmed bin Laden's family had
invested $10 million in a Fremont fund, but she said the family had no
ownership stake in Fremont and its investment was made "well
before the events of Sept. 11."

"Our concern is that it be clear they're investors, like many, in one of
our many private equity funds," Harden said, noting that the Patriot
Act of 2001 requires such investors to be screened for connections to
terrorism. "This is all totally legal and above-board."

Harden didn't know exactly when bin Laden's family invested in the
equity fund. Fremont general counsel Rick Kopf told the New Yorker
bin Laden's family had invested nothing in Fremont since Sept. 11.

None of bin Laden's family members has been charged with any
crimes, and the family denounced Osama bin Laden in the
mid-1990s. Some family members also have publicly denounced the
Sept. 11 attacks.

Saying they feared for their safety, about two dozen family members
living in the United States left the country as soon as airports
re-opened after Sept. 11.

Find this article at:
http://money.cnn.com/2003/05/05/news/companies/war_bechtel/index.htm

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