Sayed Tayib al-Madani

An alleged member of al-Qaeda, Sayed Tayib al-Madani (also Abu Fadhl al-Makkee,^[1] Sidi Tayyib^[2]) was said to have served on the initial Shura council of the group,^[3] and to have been a financial overseer who had to approve any expenditure over $1000 while the group was organising itself in the Sudan.^[4]

A veteran of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, al-Madani lost part of his lower leg during a battle.^[5] He began running operations at Taba farms, where he sold sugar, palm oil and soap from approximately 1991.^[6] By 1993, he was acting as the chief financial officer of al-Qaeda in the Sudan, and was noted instructing a member to travel through Baku, Azerbaijan to reach Chechnya to aid Ibn Khattab.^[7]

According to the testimony of Jamal Fadl, who claimed to share a Bank Shmal account with al-Madani, al-Madani was involved in a 1993 pursuit of nuclear weapons for the organisation and claimed to have found a source for uranium and asked Fadl to pass on his requisition for $1.5 million.^[6] Fadl also claimed that al-Madani had an account with Barclay's Bank in England.^[6] Approximately two years later, he also arranged the transport of Mujahideen to support Ibn Khattab's arrival in Chechnya.^[6]

In May 1997, al-Madani turned himself in to Saudi authorities in 1997, and was subsequently arrested.^[8] American efforts to interrogate him were rebuffed by the Saudis,^[9] and he was pardoned the same year in exchange for his cooperation.^[4][10] In September 1998, after al-Madani had already been released, Vice President Al Gore met with Crown Prince Abdullah, and again repeated the request for access.^[9]

Some have suggested that he was thereafter targeted for assassination by the National Islamic Front.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Fox News reported that "the west" had recruited al-Madani post-1998.^[11]