-Caveat Lector-
Bin Ladens own stake in Mass. biomedical firm
by Jonathan Wells and Jack Meyers
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
One of Osama bin Laden's brothers and a separate Saudi banking family
suspected of funneling millions of dollars to bin Laden's terrorist
organization own 28 percent of the stock in a Massachusetts biomedical
firm engaged in advanced DNA research.
Securities and Exchange records show that Yahia M. A. bin Laden, one
of the bin Laden siblings in charge of the family's Middle East-based
construction conglomerate, owns 16 percent of Cambridge-based Hybridon,
Inc., an 11-year-old company developing new medicine to combat cancer and
bolster the human immune system.
A second stockholder in the company is Abdela bin Mahfouz, a member of a
wealthy family which controls Saudi Arabia's largest bank, National
Commercial Bank. That bank was accused by the Saudi government in 1999
of trying to transfer at least $3 million to front organizations for
Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization. As of last May, Abdela bin
Mahfouz owned nearly 12 percent of the stock in Hybridon.
Earlier SEC filings show that another member of the family, Abdulrahman
bin Mahfouz, held stock in Hybridon.
Abdulrahman bin Mahfouz is a director of the National Commercial Bank as
well as a board member of Blessed Relief, a Sudan-based charity, which
U.S. officials say served as a front for Osama bin Laden.
Robert Anderson, chief operating officer of Hybridon, said Yahia bin
Laden and the bin Mahfouz family have been ``loyal stockholders.''
``We don't have any issue with the background of the investors. We
don't have any concern,'' Anderson said. ``These families put money in
early on . . . they deal at arms length. I imagine they have a number
of investments in the U.S.''
``We are a legitimate company which is developing medicine,'' Anderson
added. ``We have dedicated scientists doing cancer research, not
anything harmful.''
Hybridon, incorporated in 1990, is one of a handful of companies in the
U.S. developing ``antisense'' technology, which involves the design of
synthetic DNA material to inhibit the body's production of
disease-causing protein.
The biggest U.S. company involved in the antisense field, Isis
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is currently working under a $6.6 million
research grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to see if this new
technology can be used to counteract the devastating effects of
biological weapons.
Hybridon has an agreement under which it licenses intellectual property
to Isis, but according to Anderson, Hybridon has no involvement in any
research related to germ warfare. ``Currently we don't,'' Anderson said.
``I guess if Isis were successful in some way we would consider it.''
As far as Anderson knows, Hybridon researchers do not work with materials
useful in the development of biological weapons.
Anderson said he has never met Yahia bin Laden in person or spoken with
him by telephone. However, he provided the Herald with a copy of a
statement Hybridon received from the head of the bin Laden family in
Saudi Arabia a few days after the U.S. named Osama bin Laden as the
chief suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and
Washington, D.C.
Signed by Abdullah A. A. bin Laden, the statement declared the bin
Laden family's ``strong denunciation and condemnation of this tragic
incident which has resulted in the loss of lives of so many innocent
men, children and women, which run counter to our gracious religion and
which is repugnant to all religions and humanity. . . . We express
our condolences to the families and relatives of the innocent victims.''
Restating a position first announced by the family in 1994, Abdullah bin
Laden also asserted that ``the bin Laden family has no relation at all
with (Osama bin Laden's) acts and conducts.''
The message was delivered to Hybridon through the Saudi Arabian
consulate in the United States.
Another Hybridon stockholder and member of the company's board of
directors is Camille A. Chebeir, whose company, Saudi Economic
Development Co., manages bin Mahfouz family money, which reportedly
totals some $4 billion.
Chebeir, the former executive vice president of the bin Mahfouz's
National Commercial Bank, was appointed to Hybridon's board in 1999.
According to reports in USA Today and by the Associated Press that same
year, Saudi government officials audited National Commercial Bank and
its founder, Khalid bin Mahfouz, and found that several of the country's
wealthiest businessmen had ordered the bank to transfer more than $3
million to New York and London, where it was placed in the accounts of
Islamic charities, including Blessed Relief. Khalid bin Mahfouz was
reportedly placed under house arrest after the discovery of the
transactions.
Anderson said he is unaware of any alleged financial dealings between
the bin Mahfouz family and Osama bin Laden's organization.
Of the bin Laden and bin Mahfouz stock ownership, Anderson said: ``They
have a vote for their number of shares at the annual meeting. Like any
other common stockholder, they're allowed to vote their shares.
``Surely these people have significant investments in other companies,''
he added.
``There must be many, many others because these people have vast amounts
of money. Why single out a little company like ours?''
Yahia bin Laden (also spelled Yehia) is one of three brothers who exert
the most control over the Saudi-based Bin Laden Group, according to
research by PBS' Frontline, and he is currently negotiating with
Lebanese officials for a $50 million contract to help rebuild war-torn
central town Beirut.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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