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.
|