Infocus Tech

A Rogues' Gallery at Malaysian Condo

When Moussaoui arrived at Yazid Sufaat's condominium in the secluded evergreen park complex 20 miles south of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's Special Branch intelligence service already was well aware it had been used by terrorism suspects in the past.

Sufaat had signed three letters vouching for Moussaoui's employment. They were dated October 2000 on the stationery of Infocus Tech, a software and computer firm in Kuala Lumpur.

The letters, seized by the FBI in Moussaoui's Norman apartment, identified Moussaoui as an Infocus marketing consultant for the U.S., Britain and Europe with a $2,500-a-month allowance. The company's lawyer says Sufaat holds no position with the company, but corporate records show his wife is an officer and part owner of Infocus Tech.

Meanwhile, a company half-owned by Sufaat was linked to another terrorism plot. Green Laboratory Medicine, a Malaysian government subcontractor that tested blood and urine samples of foreign workers for drug use, was identified by investigators in neighboring Singapore as having ordered several tons of urea, a potentially powerful bomb ingredient. Malaysian and Singaporean authorities say several Western embassies and a visiting U.S. warship were among potential targets.

Sufaat was detained Dec. 9 under Malaysia's Internal Security Act, which allows authorities to hold terrorism suspects without charges indefinitely. He soon started cooperating with authorities.

Sufaat identified an Indonesian businessman and part-time cleric named Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, as the man who instructed him to provide lodging to Moussaoui. Further investigation revealed Hambali was the director of Al Qaeda operations in Southeast Asia, Malaysian officials say.

Hambali was a business partner of Wali Khan Amin Shah, one of three men convicted by a federal jury in New York City in a January 1995 plot to blow up 12 U.S. jumbo jets within 48 hours over the Pacific Ocean. Hambali also led the plot to blow up Western targets in Singapore this year, officials said.

- Infocus Tech (M) Sdn Bhd told malaysiakini it had no knowledge of Zacarias Moussaoui.

"We do not have any representative in the United States or any other parts of the world," said company managing director Ahmad Zaki Embi when met at his office in Kuala Lumpur.

He stressed that his company, which distributes digital products, has eight full-time staff, and none of them are foreigners.

"In or about Oct 2000, Moussaoui received letters from Infocus Tech, a Malaysian company, stating that he was appointed Infocus Tech's marketing consultant in the US, the United Kingdom, and Europe, and that he would receive, among other things, an allowance of US$2,500 per month," read the indictment.

However, Ahmad Zaki told malaysiakini that the only link between the company and the US is its American digital hardware and software supplier, IEX.com, over the past seven years.

"the only link between the company and the US is its American digital hardware and software supplier, IEX.com"

There is a company in Richardson, Texas called IEX. It was purchased by Tekelec in the 90s and then by Israeli company NICE in 2006. IEX helped build the ground network for the GTE Airfone system that was used to make phone calls on 9/11. There are many seemingly Malaysian names in lists of directors of the electronics firms on Richardson. MCI was there. IEX has agreements with Blue Pumpkin software which was founded by an Israeli and later purchased by Verint Systems.

Richardson was the home of the Holy Land Foundation and of Victor Bout's business manage Richard Chichakli