The Tokyo Securities Exchange (TSE) confirmed on Tuesday this week that it has been attempting to establish if trading took place with prior knowledge of the attacks by analysing trading patterns leading up to the atrocities. President of the TSE, Masaaki Tsuchida, told a news conference that 'appropriate action' in cooperation with Japan's Securities and exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) is taking place.

The suspicion is that individuals or groups linked with Bin Laden profited from short selling shares in airlines and insurance companies before the attacks took place to take advantage of windfall profits. Selling short works by investors borrowing securities, selling them and then purchasing them for a cheaper price; the 'short-seller' then pays back the securities and makes a profit on the difference.

Bin Laden, believed be worth at least US$300 million, is known to have made investments in companies worldwide in countries such as Cyprus, Tunisia and Switzerland which, the authorities believe, help him to launder money of donations of cash from supporters and finance the operations of his terrorist network.

In Germany the authorities are investigating suspicious transactions and price behaviour just before the US attacks with particular focus on Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, which has since seen shares fall by 13 per cent.

Ettore Candolfi, a board member of the Swiss stock exchange, has told the Swiss media that an initial review had discovered that there were a number of unusually large trades in Swiss Re of up to 16,000 shares four days before the attacks, although he said that may be attributed to the fact that the company had recently published a disappointing first-half earnings report.

And Italy's defence minister, Antonio Martino, has announced that his government is investigating rumours that Bin Laden used brokerages in Milan to speculate on the markets. In an interview with Italian newspaper, La Stampa, Mr Martino said: 'I am convinced that the person who organized the attacks in New York has a lucid mind and knows very well that money gives power.'

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