Washington: In an unprecedented move, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has subpoenaed records for dozens of bank accounts belonging to the Saudi Embassy. This was part of an investigation into whether any of the hundreds of millions of dollars Riyadh spends in the US each year ends up in the hands of extremists, American and Saudi officials said.

The wide-ranging investigation into the $300 million a year the Saudi Embassy spends in America was launched this summer, a media report said. The US and Saudi Governments were just hailing a new era of co-operation in the fight against terrorism.

US officials said the FBI's Washington field office subpoenaed the records of dozens of Saudi bank accounts to determine whether Saudi Government's money knowingly or unknowingly helped fund extremists in the US.

Although many Saudi entities have been investigated in the past, US officials said this was the first investigation to directly probe Saudi Government funds. Senior US officials said they do not recall any other time when the bank records of an embassy were subpoenaed.

The probe, US officials said, was approved by the National Security Council (NSC) working group on terrorist financing at the request of several congressional leaders.

The investigation focused on the financial activities of the Islamic and cultural affairs office of the embassy as well as the activities of Saudi Consulates around the US, officials were quoted by 'Washington Post' daily as saying.

PTI