Bribery charged in issuing of visas from Saudi Arabia

Monday, Nov. 5, 2001 | 10:44 a.m.

A Department of Commerce employee arrested in Las Vegas on charges of taking bribes to issue American visas in Saudi Arabia is expected to appear in federal court on Tuesday.

Abdulla Noman, 52, who works at the American consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Robert Johnston at 10 a.m. Tuesday for a detention hearing.

Noman was taken into custody in Las Vegas late last week following an FBI sting in which officials allege he accepted money in exchange for obtaining a visa for a Saudi resident.

The undercover arrest, which took place at a Strip hotel, was led by FBI agents in Newark, N.J., with the help of local agents.

A spokesman for the Commerce Department could not be reached for comment this morning.

But an FBI spokesman in Las Vegas, Daron Borst, said Noman was helping the American consulate in Jeddah process visas.

Borst said the FBI has not uncovered any evidence that would tie Noman to the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

"Right now there's no indication this man's activities are connected to the attacks," Borst said. "But we're not ruling that out."

Authorities have said that 15 of the 19 hijackers entered the United States from Saudi Arabia.

A spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington said his government learned that Noman, though born in Yemen, was an American citizen who lived in Detroit before working in Jeddah.

"We don't know who he was helping obtain visas," the spokesman said. "It could have been people from any nationality, as we know there were a lot of fake documents used by the terrorists."

The FBI investigation of Noman was launched after an informant cooperating with Newark agents reported that he had paid Noman $3,178 in August 1998 for his help in obtaining an American visa for a Saudi resident under false pretenses, a four-page FBI complaint said.

Noman ended up paying the informant $4,000 in Las Vegas following a transaction for another visa, the compliant said.

Noman made an initial appearance before a federal magistrate here late Friday and was called a flight risk by prosecutors. He remains in federal custody on no bail.