GAINESVILLE, Ga. -- Federal prosecutors plan to seek indictments in the next six to 12 months of a group of prominent Muslim businessmen who are at the center of the U.S. government's largest domestic investigation into the financing of terrorism, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported.

In an unusual hearing sought by lawyers for the businessmen, a federal judge pressed prosecutor Gordon Kromberg to spell out the Justice Department's plans. The wealthy Islamic activists are involved in a group of commonly controlled businesses and charities in Herndon, Va., that allegedly has financial links to the Al Rajhi banking empire of Saudi Arabia.

Former federal officials allege that the Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corp. has links to the financing of terrorists. The bank has denied the allegation.

Mr. Kromberg told the court that he expects to ask a grand jury to hand up charges, possibly involving a racketeering conspiracy. "We think we have a good case and we are going to bring it," Mr. Kromberg said.

Since the mid-1990s, the U.S. government has conducted an on-and-off investigation into whether the charities support terrorist groups such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and al Qaeda. Some figures in the Herndon group have been prominent politically in Washington, and several are affiliated with a world-wide society called the Muslim Brotherhood that has ideological links to terrorist groups.

The Herndon group lawyers sought the hearing in this north Georgia community as part of a civil lawsuit seeking to invalidate a March 2002 search warrant at the center of the case. The lawyers previously sought and failed to challenge the warrant in the Alexandria, Va., court where it was issued, but renewed their efforts in Georgia because one of the Herndon group entities searched was a Gainesville chicken farm called Mar-Jac Poultry Inc., which slaughters its birds according to Islamic religious codes.

Herndon group Lawyer Wilmer "Buddy" Parker insisted in the hearing that his clients aren't under investigation for ties to terrorism and won't be indicted for terrorism-related offenses.

Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter Glenn R. Simpson contributed to this report.

Dow Jones Newswires

04-26-04 0043ET

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