However, a Swiss newspaper recently revealed that a financial services company based in Southern Switzerland, the Al Taqwa Management Organisation, may have had links with the now infamous Saudi dissident, Osama Bin Laden, and was known to the Swiss authorities. According to Blick, French intelligence officers informed the relevant authorities in Switzerland three years ago that Bin Laden's funds from Kuwait and the UAE were being channelled through the company.

The jurisdiction's top policeman, Urs von Daeniken, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that the organisation had been under suspicion for the majority of that period, but that there had never been sufficient proof to take action. However, the Federal Prosecutor's office refused to confirm or deny these allegations.

Voices were calling for the Swiss banking sector to set aside its customary discretion in cases where suspicion over the origin of assets exists even before last week's terrorist attacks, in the wake of revealations that millions embezzled by the Nigerian dictator, Sani Abacha had been laundered through the country's banking system.

However, experts believe that 'foot-dragging' by non-banking financial institutions such as currency changers, lawyers, and insurance companies have hindered the effective implementation of money laundering and reporting rules. 'They don't seem very interested in reporting suspicious cases,' observed the chairman of the OECD's working group on financial corruption, Mark Pieth, recently.

Carlo Lombardini, a money-laundering expert based in Geneva, believes that whatever additional efforts are made by Switzerland in the wake of recent events will be in vain if they are not part of a coordinated effort with other financial centres, such as London, which was revealed to be equally implicated in the inadvertant laundering of Abacha funds earlier this year.

There is evidence to suggest that the UK may also be involved in the hunt for Bin Laden's hidden funds, as FBI reports released at the weekend have suggested that at least some of his terrorist activities were financed through a Barclays branch in West London. Barclays is remaining tight-lipped on the subject, however, and would only say that the bank was: 'fully aware of our obligations under money laundering laws. We report anything suspicious.'