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Leader of the Islamic Al-Qaeda Network Osama Bin Laden and his chief lieutenant Ayman Al-Zawahiri had access to Swiss bank accounts prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks.Switzerland's Federal Prosecutor's Office confirmed a report in Geneva's Le Temps that said Bin Laden had access to an account in a Zurich branch of UBS, the nation's largest financial institution. The account's balance is undisclosed.Egyptian Al-Zawahiri opened an account in 1989 at an unknown Geneva bank. In 1993 he transferred the $33,000 balance to the UK and closed the account.The UBS account was opened in 1990 by members of the Bin Laden family, owners of the largest construction company in Saudi Arabia. According to the daily, the account was meant to protect assets should former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein attack the Kingdom. Osama and his 54 siblings were entitled to an equal share of the account's balance.UBS has denied any connections to Osama Bin Laden. "UBS has never met him, he has never made a withdrawal and the bank has never accepted his money," swissinfo reported bank spokesman, Christoph Meier as saying. He added that the account holders withdrew most of the funds in 1991 and was later closed in 1997 due to inactivity.Swiss law enforcement authorities have frozen 72 bank accounts holding a total of $20 million as part of the global crackdown on suspected terror funds, following the September 11 attacks on the US. - (menareport.com)