Yeslam Binladin denies connection to tax havens

Yeslam Binladin denies any allegations made in the book "The Forbidden Truth" Keystone Archive

The half-brother of Saudi dissident, Osama bin Laden, has denied allegations that his company operates in tax havens.

In an interview with swissinfo and the Sunday edition of the Swiss newspaper “Le Matin”, Yeslam Binladin said it was a mistake to take measures to stop the publication of a book, written by Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquié.

“We were wrong [to prevent the publication of the book]. For some people my silence proved that the content of the book was true,” he said.

In January this year, a Geneva court ruled that the book, “The Forbidden Truth”, was to be banned until further notice.

Binladin said the book, which gives an insight into the bin Laden family, has endangered his personal security. “I cannot no longer move around without security guards,” he said.

Furthermore Yeslam Binladin denied the authors’ accusations that he has the same business connections as his half-brother. “This is wrong and misleading,” he said.

No tax haven

The entrepreneur, who lives in Switzerland, also emphasised that his Geneva-based company SICO did not have any subsidiaries and denied allegations of running branches of his company in tax havens.

Binladin also said he would seek justice against those who have made allegations against him. “I will condemn all those, who have defamed me. My complaint in Geneva shows that ‘The Forbidden Truth’ contains wrong facts,” he said.

Furthermore he revealed that his assets, which the Swiss magazine “Bilan” has recently guessed at SFr100 to SFr200 million, are widely over-estimated, however he did not disclose the exact figure.

swissinfo