American investigations in the transfers of the Saudi ambassador in Washington

The Wall Street Journal said yesterday that Federal investigators escalated their investigations in monetary transfers for large sums from Rages Bank to foreign accounts including withdrawal of large sums from the personal accounts of the Saudi ambassador in Washington prince Bandar Bin Sulan.

The paper said that pressures from several investigations resulted in the crack in the old relation linking the bank to its Saudi clients days after the bank's request to refuse a large personal loan for prince Bander and another loan for the embassy. The paper also quoted a well - informed source that " Rages " Bank which dominates the banking operations for the diplomatic missions in Washington, asked refusing loans from Saudi clients three weeks before its administration reached the decision that these loans constitutes high banking risks.

A report by the paper said quoting officials in monitoring sides and lawyers that prince Bander, his wife and aides for him withdrew in 2001 and 2002 some 20 million dollars in cash from their personal accounts. The report added that the bank admitted it did not submit necessary reports on "suspected activities" about withdrawing these sums which were in serial numbers.