The United States embassy today said that, based on the information it has received thus far, Malaysia is not on the list of countries linked to two financial networks alleged to be funding international terrorist group al-Qaeda.

"Honestly, Malaysia is not one of the countries involved," US embassy press officer Frank Whitaker told malaysiakini .

However, he said the information given by the US government to the embassy could be "insufficient" as it was not a "complete list".

Whitaker was responding to a front-page report in Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau today which claimed that Malaysia was among the countries which have the operations of al-Barakaat and al-Taqwa networks.

Both al-Barakaat and al-Taqwa were identified by he US Treasury Department as affiliates which have funded al-Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden, prime suspect for the Sept 11 attacks in the US which saw the collapse of the World Trade Centre and loss of at least 6,000 lives.

According to the Washington Post , the US has blocked the assets of the networks, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and US customs agents have seized records and arrested one man during the raids of the American offices of al-Barakaat in several of its states.

Freeze local accounts

By blocking the assets of 62 individuals and organisations linked to the two groups, the US government has now identified a total of 150 individuals and organisations which it is targetting.

The US government said that US$43 million (RM163.4 million) in hundreds of accounts belonging to such entities have been seized, of which US$26 million (RM98.8 million) were within the country itself.

The US Treasury Department, however, declined to divulge the nations from which it had seized another US$17 million (RM64.6 million) or the holders of the accounts.

Last month, Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the government was convinced of al-Qaeda's involvement in the Sept 11 attacks in the US, and that it would be working closely with Bank Negara Malaysia to freeze the local accounts of those who are linked to terrorist groups.

However, the government has repeatedly called on the US to halt its retaliation on the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan which is sheltering Osama.