Charity's assets are frozen in terror link investigation

The Charity Commission imposed a temporary freeze on the accounts of a British-based charity yesterday while it investigated possible links with Osama bin Laden.

Benevolence International (UK) has virtually the same name as an American group accused of funding an al-Qa'ida plan to build a nuclear bomb. Gordon Brown ordered financial institutions to freeze funds belonging to the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF) at midnight yesterday. He vowed to continue "bearing down on funding of terrorism".

Enaam Arnaout, BIF's chief executive, was indicted in the United States for operating the foundation as a racketeering enterprise and providing material support to organisations including Bin Laden's terror network. He denies any link.

The commission said it had "no immediate grounds" for suspecting BI (UK) of any wrongdoing, and had frozen its accounts as a "temporary and protective measure".

The head of BI (UK), Dr Abdul Salih, a 55-year-old London psychiatrist, dismissed allegations of links with al-Qa'ida as "total nonsense" yesterday. He said the only role of the group was to provide for the poor in Sudan. The group had less than £2,000 in its British account, he added.

The Treasury said that "strong evidence" existed to link BIF with al-Qa'ida and Bin Laden. It included personal contacts between senior BIF officials and al-Qa'ida operatives involved in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in east Africa, as well as attempts to obtain uranium to build a nuclear weapon, a Treasury spokesman added.

Mr Brown said: "At home and abroad we continue to bear down on the funding of terrorism. Benevolence International Foundation raises funds for al-Qa'ida and Osama bin Laden. BIF operates as an international organisation with offices around the world and is extensively involved in funding international terrorism."