Word: haifa
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...hubbub began when congressional investigators leaked word that prominent Saudis--including Princess Haifa al-Faisal, wife of the Saudi ambassador to the U.S.--may have given money to associates of two 9/11 hijackers. The connection was tenuous but intriguing. Sources close to the case told TIME that beginning in January 1999 monthly payments of $2,000 were made from Princess Haifa's checking account to Majida Dwaikat, wife of Osama Bassnan. A Saudi national, Bassnan was living in San Diego last year and has been linked to Omar al Bayoumi, a Saudi student who befriended two men who wound...
...Some eight months later, Bassnan's wife Majida wrote to Princess Haifa to make a similar plea - and, in January of 1999, the first series of payments to Majida were sent to an address in Northern Virginia, in care of another party. Majida then apparently moved, and later checks went to an apartment in Baltimore...
...Sources close to Princess Haifa say that when the Embassy's bank search began, the Princess initially had no idea who Majida was - because the checks did not include her last name. It was only at mid-afternoon Saturday that her last name was determined and the Princess recalled the story, sources told TIME. And all this, in part, because the checks issued to Majida were not signed by Princess Haifa; they were cashier's checks...
...sources close to the investigation say some of the checks from Princess Haifa to Majida were endorsed over to a woman named Manal Bajadir who is the wife of Omar al-Bayoumi. And it is al-Bayoumi who first attracted the FBI's attention...
...report recently and responded with a 21-page rebuttal citing a long list of errors, overstatements and the like. If the committee proceeds to release its draft, the FBI and Justice Department are threatening to fire back with a lengthy counter report. For the record, a spokesperson for Princess Haifa tells TIME: "Princess Haifa al-Faisal was never contacted by U.S. officials concerning these donations and neither was the embassy. She had no knowledge that funds she gave away for charity may have been passed on to others...