What is the Golden Chain list and was there a connection to Khalid Bin Mahfouz?
The Golden Chain list, supposedly drawn up in 1988, contains the names of 20 prominent Saudi Arabian businessmen including that of a ‘Bin Mahfouz’ (no first name prefixed) and it is asserted by the plaintiffs in the Burnett suit that those named all made or intended to make donations to Al Qaeda. Originally, the document is understood to have been seized by Bosnian police during searches of the offices of Benevolence International Foundation in Sarajevo in March 2002. The list was first mentioned in the Indictment of Enaam Arnaout on 9 October, 2002 (02 CR 892) and was subsequently presented by the US government as Exhibit 5 in the Department of Justice “Government’s Evidentiary Proffer Supporting the Admissibility of Co-conspirator Statements” in the case of USA v. Arnaout (USDC, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division) filed on 29 January, 2003. The Evidentiary Proffer was subsequently ruled inadmissible.
