Beirut , Lebanon ( CNN ) -- In August last year , Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was not happy with Saudi Arabia . He complained that the Saudis appeared to be funding an opposition candidate , Anwar Ibrahim , in upcoming elections . What 's more , the Malaysian authorities suspected two senior Saudi princes of involvement . The Saudis launched an investigation , and uncovered something very different -- and more alarming . A secret report seen by CNN concludes : `` There is no evidence any Saudi official ever supported Anwar Ibrahim '' and `` claims of support from the Saudi royals named in the initial report [ names redacted ] were found to be without basis . '' But the investigation found that hundreds of millions of dollars of Saudi money had been funneled to leading Islamist politicians and political activists overseas . It also found that al Qaeda and the Taliban were still able to use Saudi Arabia for fund-raising , despite numerous measures to choke off those sources of cash . According to a Saudi source who is not authorized to speak publically , `` People close to the senior leadership of the Taliban live in Saudi Arabia and send money back '' [ to the Taliban ] . Today he estimates the money reaching al Qaeda is `` in the region of tens of thousands of dollars possibly hundreds of thousands . '' The nine-page summary of the secret report states that the Muslim Brotherhood , an Islamist political group present in many Muslim countries , was trying `` through its many affiliated charities and organizations -- often with the funding of unwitting private Saudi citizens -- to spread its influence by providing support for candidates in Islamic democracies . '' According to the report the payback was simple . `` Once in power these candidates are expected to further the Brotherhood 's goals . '' Al Qaeda was able to benefit from these secret funding mechanisms , according to the source , because some in the Muslim Brotherhood had `` historic sympathies and connections '' with members of the terror group -- dating back to when Saudi Arabia and the CIA covertly funded the Afghan mujahideen to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan . The connections meant that money in Muslim Brotherhood hands was `` occasionally '' given to al Qaeda , the source said . The report reveals a complex web of Islamic charities and banks -- often involved in funding legitimate humanitarian projects -- as unwitting facilitators of the illicit transfers . And it says that over several decades `` a handful of Saudi and other Arab individuals and organizations '' were supporting `` the same groups that Arab , U.S. and European governments have long suspected of having close ties to extreme militant organizations that have been accused of supporting terrorist activities around the world . '' The problem facing Saudi authorities is huge , the source told CNN . `` Eighty-six percent of all Islamic charities are based in Saudi Arabia '' making `` monitoring all their activities difficult . '' The problem was compounded by several other factors , he said . Saudi Arabia `` has the world 's fourth largest migrant workforce , 7 million legal workers , 3 million illegal . '' Many of them use unregulated Islamic Hawala money transfer banks where a deposit in one country can immediately be picked up in another with no paper trail to trace it . The Hawala networks were identified by the U.S. Treasury Department last year as a significant channel for funding the Taliban and other insurgent groups . Funds are also collected from innocent unsuspecting pilgrims on the Hajj that attracts millions of Muslims to Mecca , Islam 's holiest site every year . The report says Saudi Arabia has made a major effort `` to block terrorist financing '' that has been `` monumental in scope and far reaching in their success . '' But it concluded : `` Increased diligence and efforts are warranted . '' The Saudi source tells CNN that the country still has a fundamental problem which shows how money channeled through the Muslim Brotherhood could evade detection for so long and why al Qaeda can still get funding from the desert Kingdom . `` Despite promises since 2002 that Saudi would put in place institutions to thwart funds getting to AQ , nothing has happened to build an oversight agency , '' he says . The money being funneled illegally he says is `` not the amount of money it was 4 or 5 years ago , '' but without a national agency `` like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission '' to oversee the charities further progress is going to be limited .
Secret documents show hundreds of millions of dollars of Saudi money had been funneled to leading Islamist politicians and political activists overseas . Report says al Qaeda and the Taliban were still able to use Saudi money for fund - raising . A complex web of Islamic banks and organizations as well as the Muslim Brotherhood have been sources of cash , report says .