Bali bomb blasts witness links JI to al-Qaeda

Bali bomb blasts witness links JI to al-Qaeda

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

Al-Qaeda provided funds to the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) group which
perpetrated the Bali bombings last October, the alleged treasurer
of the regional terror organization told the Denpasar District on
Thursday.

It was the most direct evidence yet linking Osama bin Laden's
terror network to the attacks that killed 202 people, mostly
foreign tourists.

"I never knew for sure where JI got its operational funds
from. Yet, during a conversation the defendant mentioned that the
al-Qaeda organization was one of JI's financial sources," the
alleged JI treasurer, Wan Min bin Wan Mat, said in his testimony
during the trial of Ali Gufron alias Mukhlas on Thursday.

It was not clear, however, whether the funds that went to the
JI were spent on the bombings of two packed night clubs in the
tourist resort of Kuta and the United States Consular office in
the Bali capital of Denpasar on Oct. 12, 2002.

The Indonesian Police have accused JI of masterminding the
bombings but said it had no evidence as to whether al-Qaeda was
involved in the blasts, the most devastating since the attacks on
the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, which were blamed on the
international terror group.

Australia, 88 of whose citizens were killed in the Bali
bombings, has said al-Qaeda might be behind the attacks.

Wan Min, a former lecturer at a Malaysian technological
university. was speaking via a video link from police detention
in Malaysia.

The 37-year-old Malaysian national appeared on a wide screen
and four television sets inside the courtroom in the Nari Graha
building in Renon area.

At one point during the trial, Wan Min waved his hand and
smiled at Mukhlas, who is charged with masterminding the attacks.

Wan Min confirmed that Mukhlas was a high-ranking JI official,
with his latest position being the chief of JI's "Ula region",
which covers Malaysia and Singapore.

"The amir (religious leader) of JI, Ustadz (teacher) Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir was the person who swore in Mukhlas as a member of JI,"
Wan Min said, referring to the Muslim cleric now standing trial
in Jakarta on treason charges.

Wan Min also said other suspects in the Bali bombings, Abdul
Aziz alias Imam Samudra and Amrozi, were JI members.

There are four defendants standing trial for the attacks, with
25 more in the pipeline. They are charged under the antiterrorism
law, which carries the death penalty.

Wan Min dismissed accusations that he was the JI treasurer,
saying he was actually the chief of the Wakalah (sub-region) that
covered Johor Baru in Malaysia.

However, he admitted that he had on three different occasions
transferred cash to Mukhlas amounting to around US$35,500. Wan
Min said he directly handed $15,500 in cash to Mukhlas early in
April 2002 in a house in Thailand. At that time, both men were on
the run from the Malaysian police, he said.

Later on, Wan Min received a letter, which contained an order
from Hambali, the Indonesian police's most wanted man, to send
Mukhlas more money. Through JI couriers, Wan Min sent $10,000 and
later on 200,000 baht ($5,000) to Mukhlas.

"I was not involved in the funding of the operation. I only
sent the money following the orders from the defendant and
Hambali," Wan Min said.

The money, according to Wan Min, came from the contributions
of JI members, collected by Mukhlas before the organization was
banned by the Malaysian government.

During their days as fugitives in Thailand, Wan Min revealed
that two JI members, Noordin and Dr Ashari, had drafted a paper
outlining the future plans of the JI, including its jihad
operations.

"Based on JI's strategy, the jihad operation would be carried
out in Indonesia," he said.

However, Wan Min stressed that he did not know about the plan
to bomb Bali, and neither had he ever heard Mukhlas talking about
it. He said he only found out about the bombings when he was in
Malaysian police custody.

Mukhlas denied most of Wan Min's testimony, claiming that it
was filled with contradictory statements.

"I have never been sworn in by Abu Bakar Ba'asyir," he said.

Earlier in the day, the defense read out its objection to the
use of a video link to hear a witness' testimony.

They also criticized the Malaysian law allowing suspects to be
held without charge. Wan Min is among scores of alleged Islamic
militants detained without trial in Malaysia and Singapore, who
are accused of involvement in JI plots.

The trial was adjourned to Aug. 11 to hear the testimony of a
team from the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), which conducted an
independent investigation into the bombings.

In a separate trial, prosecutors demanded 10 years in jail for
Makmuri, one of Mukhlas' henchmen who helped him while on the run
after the bomb attacks.

Meanwhile, Lamongan District Court in East Java sentenced
Sumarno, the nephew of Bali bombing suspect Amrozi, to three
years and six months in jail for concealing weapons.