Raided Company Possibly Financed by Saudi on Watch List
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In other news this morning, federal agents raid a software firm in Massachusetts, one that is allegedly linked to terrorism. Our Justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, is working that story this morning. She joins us now on the phone as she's been working the phones this morning -- Kelli, what have you learned?</s>KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Leon, federal agents at midnight last night raided the headquarters of a company in Massachusetts called Ptech. That company provides software to several government agencies. Its customer base includes the FBI, the Department of Energy, the Federal Aviation Administration, the IRS, which, of course, puts it very much on the radar screen as far as the White House and investigators are concerned. What is at issue, according to sources, is Ptech's connection to a man named Yasin al-Qadi who is a Saudi businessman whose name appears on the U.S. watch list of individuals whose organizations -- whose assets have been frozen by the U.S. Al-Qadi is believed to be, according to sources, a partial financier of Ptech. That is one part of the investigation. The other part of the investigation is being conducted by the FBI, and sources say that that involves whether or not charitable organizations from the company's executives have, in part, made their way into the al Qaeda terrorist network's hands. There have been no arrests, no charges filed in this investigation. Lots of information was downloaded from Ptech's computers last night. Investigators continue to go through that forensic evidence. Also, on the flip side of this, you have clients of Ptech, the government clients of Ptech are, out of an abundance of caution, going through the software that was provided by the company to make sure that none of it had been contaminated. There's absolutely no evidence, according to several government officials, that that is the case, but just to be sure, out of caution and prudence, they are going back through that product to make sure that there's nothing there that would allow an individual unwarranted access to highly secure information. That's what we know at this point -- Leon.</s>HARRIS: That would actually be an absolute bomb shell if that were to be proven. Kelli, do you know how long they have been surveilling this operation and how long they may have been poised to actually make this move? .</s>ARENA: Well, At least several weeks. I had one source tell me that it goes back at least two and a half months. The search warrants that were executed last night do take some time to come by. When you go into computers and you start downloading information, that is -- that's a different set of search warrants from just going into a company, but we have been told by one official that several individuals connected to the firm have been questioned in recent weeks about company conduct and executives and so on. So this is something that has been bubbling for some time. Why they moved last night is unclear. It could be, as I said earlier, that they just may have had all their ducks in a row last night to be able to go in and execute the search warrants in the way that they wanted to do that so it would be one thorough sweep rather than having to go back at a later date.</s>HARRIS: Got you. Kelli Arena on the phone with us from Washington. Thanks, Kelli. Appreciate that. Now, the Saudi businessman who is said to be the money man behind this Ptech company is well-known to one of our CNN financial correspondents, it turns out. Allan Dodds Frank joins us now from New York and Allan, as I understand it, you actually know or you have interviewed Yasin al- Qadi?</s>ALLAN DODDS FRANK, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Leon. Shortly after the Treasury Department made him the first individual after September 11 to have his assets blocked, I interviewed him via satellite from Saudi Arabia. Let me tell you a little bit about him first, then we'll hear from him. He is 47 years old. He is from a wealthy merchant family, operates out of Jedda. He has made quite a name for himself moving among the top ranks of Saudi society, the wealthy, even some of the royals, raising money for Islamic charities, and that is why the U.S. government has had such a long interest in him. He, of course, claims that it's all for good work and good will, and spreading the Islamic word among the rest of the world. And to me, in this interview, he disavowed any connection to Osama bin Laden. Let's listen to him for a second.</s>YASIN AL-QADI, SAUDI BUSINESSMAN: I have nothing to do, whatsoever, with bin Laden and his group, and I never financed them by any cent, not even millions of dollars, but not even with one cent.</s>DODDS FRANK: He also disavows connections to other terrorists, but in fact, came to the attention of the United States government as a result of $820,000 he sent in 1991 to a group in Chicago called the Koranic Literacy Institute. Interestingly, Qadi spent almost three years living in Chicago working for an architectural firm. Lived on Lakeshore Drive, quite well acquainted with U.S. society and the U.S. business ways, and the ways of international banking. Now this $820,000, which Qadi told me was an interest-free loan -- and by the way, it has never been repaid -- the U.S. government in a 1998 court affidavit claimed was a way of financing a Hamas terrorist who used -- got about $100,000 from this loan that was then sent to the Middle East and used to buy arms. Qadi also has had other businesses in which he's been an investor that have bought -- investigators' attention, caught investigators' attention. One was a chemical company in Chicago that presumably was dealing in swimming pool supplies. But in fact, when it was raided, it had chemicals that were much more consistent with making explosives. He also had a company operating out of New Jersey, and had some investments in a real estate company that has been partially funded by an Islamic charity, and the U.S. government is trying to find out what happened to about $2 million that was supposedly being invested in real estate by the charity that disappeared without a trace. So he has been on the U.S. radar for a long time, Leon, and connected in funding charity offices overseas as well as in the United States -- Leon.</s>HARRIS: All right. Real quickly, if you can tell us, I also read somewhere that he has a tie to the Saudi royal family as well. Do you know about that at all?</s>DODDS FRANK: Well, he moves in that -- Saudi Arabia, at the top, is a fairly small society, and according to -- sources I've talked to are quite familiar with that society, he moves rather freely among them in Saudi Arabia, particularly raising money, and then the United States, of course, suspects that he is a conduit from other wealthy Saudis to these charities which actually may be serving as fronts for al Qaeda. Now, his assets have been frozen, but apparently he is not incarcerated, and he has been suing in Britain to try to get his assets unblocked -- Leon.</s>HARRIS: Very interesting. Allan Dodds Frank, thank you, appreciate that.