"Terrorism financing: roots and trends of Saudi terrorism financing; prepared by JCB Consulting (France) (December 2002)"

This report, purportedly prepared for the Columbian Presidency of the UN Security Council in December 2002 by Jean-Charles Brisard, a co-author of The Forbidden Truth, makes a number of serious allegations and statements about Khalid Bin Mahfouz and certain companies associated with him, which are manifestly false and defamatory.

At no stage has Jean-Charles Brisard ever approached Khalid Bin Mahfouz in regard to any question of fact or to verify statements made about him in the report.

On 9 October 2003, Khalid Bin Mahfouz commenced proceedings for defamation in the High Court in London against Jean-Charles Brisard and his companies JCB Consulting and JCB Consulting International in relation to the publication of this report and other similar defamatory documents. On 30 January 2004 the High Court in England ordered judgment (click here to read) to be entered against Jean-Charles Brisard and his companies after they failed to defend the proceedings. The High Court also granted an injunction against them preventing further publication in England of the defamatory allegations about Khalid Bin Mahfouz.

On 1 July 2004, the High Court in London ruled that the following statements made by Jean-Charles Brisard and JCB Consulting were defamatory and false, namely that:

  • Khalid Bin Mahfouz was one of the main individual Saudi sponsors of al-Qaeda.
  • Khalid bin Mahfouz knowingly supported and assisted in terrorism:
    • As a banker, by playing a leading role in the provision of financial support to al-Qaeda.
    • As Chairman of NCB by diverting or being responsible for the diversion of millions of dollars to terrorist organisations.
  • Khalid Bin Mahfouz is the brother-in-law of Osama Bin Laden.
The Court ordered Brisard and his companies to pay damages to Khalid Bin Mahfouz of £10,000 - the maximum permitted under the relevant sections of the Defamation Act 1996 - and to make an interim payment of £30,000 in respect of Khalid Bin Mahfouz's costs of the action. (Click here to read).

For the full text of the judgment in the High Court in London click here.

Khalid Bin Mahfouz continues to reserve his rights in all jurisdictions against the authors, editors, publishers, distributors and printers of this report.

Khalid Bin Mahfouz's Legal Counsel has written to the President of the UN Security Council, expressing his grave concerns about the contents of this report. (Click here to read)

The then President of the UN Security Council has now confirmed that he did not commission Mr Brisard on a personal or official basis to write a report on terrorism. He has also confirmed that Mr Brisard's report was unsolicited; that he does not believe it was taken seriously by anyone at the UN; or that the UN took any step or action as a result of being sent the report. Senor Valdivieso added that 'Mr Brisard's conduct and attitude is totally deceitful and marked by the intention to mislead'.

See FAQs/Khalid bin Mahfouz/ Q: Has Khalid Bin Mahfouz ever been named as a sponsor of terrorism in a UN Report?

In response to a public letter of 22 December 2003 from Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Baucus of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance to Mr. Richard Newcomb, Director of OFAC, which contained misstatements about Khalid bin Mahfouz sourced from JCB Consulting's 'UN Report', Jones Day on behalf of Khalid bin Mahfouz wrote the following letter of clarification to that committee on 16 January 2004. (Click here to read)


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