Osama bin Laden documents outline inheritance wishes, distribution of funds

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden outlined in letters and other documents how at least US$29 million of his funds and possessions should be apportioned after his death, requesting that most of it be used to continue global jihad.

One of the letters – part of a cache of 113 documents taken in the 2011 US special forces raid that killed bin Laden – was described by US intelligence officials as what they believed was a last will.

Reuters and ABC Television were given exclusive access to the documents, which were translated from Arabic and declassified by US intelligence agencies.

They were part of a second tranche of documents which were seized in the operation and have been declassified since May 2015. A large number have yet to be released.

One document, a hand-written note that US intelligence officials believe the Saudi militant composed in the late 1990s, laid out how he wanted to distribute about US$29 million he had in Sudan.

One per cent of the US$29 million, bin Laden wrote, should go to Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, a senior al-Qaeda militant who used the nom de guerre Abu Hafs al Mauritani.

“By the way, he [al-Walid] has already received 20,000-30,000 dollars from it,” bin Laden wrote. “I promised him that I would reward him if he took it out of the Sudani government.”