Poor countries hardest hit by BCCI collapse

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world's financial and political leaders? Agha Hasan Abedi, the list of "consultants" and "trustees" of the charitable government forces in Afghanistan, while laundering to all appearances, had no such intention when he tounded foundations set up by the bank the bank. According to an interview published in The When BCCI set up a holding company to acquire First BCCI, no doubt, interrupts a number of CIA operations Wall Street Journal, Abedi is a devout middle-class Mus- American Bankshares in Washington, D.C., it went to until new illicit channels can be opened up. lim who ascribes all unfortunate developments to the the top of the American establishment to find a man to After several years of ignoring signs of trouble, the front for them. He is Clark M. Clifford, former Secretary Bank of England, which licenses foreign banks, shut Abedi founded his first bank in Karachi, Pakistan, in of Defense and senior advisor to presidents. 1958. He opened branches in villages that had never seen Little did he suspect, Clifford claims, that he was has granted a four-month stay of the shutdown, while the a bank before. When oil revenues began flowing in tor- fronting for that "Bank of Crooks and Criminals," as world-wide ramifications of its collapse are considered. rents around the Persian Gulf in the 1970s, Abedi was Robert Gates, nominee for CIA chief, described it. Clif- Operations in a number of other countries are continuing, ready to move onto the international stage. He flew to ford could not explain, however, how he and his partner, but scarcely as before. Abu Dahbi bearing gifts for tribal ruler Sheik Zayed bin Robert Altman, made $10 million profit on First Ameri- In the United States, there is pain and embarrassment in With $10 million of the Sheik's money, Abedi set up It was natural that people like Clifford did not want and crooks. But the real tragedy of the BCCI fiasco is felt shop in Luxembourg, a venue favored by many interna- BCCI investigated, but American and British authorities tional concerns because of its lax controls. A natural also obstructed any thorough investigation. The U.S in the fields and towns of Africa, Asia, and Latin Americlientele for the new bank were the thousands of Pakista- governmentS hesitation is understandable Since it tound ca. Millions of Third World people thought BCCI was nis who had migrated to the Middle Bast and Europe to BCCI to be an ideal agent for a number of its own nefari- their bank. They were given loans when British or AmeriCultivating the politically powerful was the best short- The London Observer newspaper has implicated Oliver They were betrayed. But they will learn that no entercut to growth, Abedi found. Wherever BCC opened any North and BCCI in the Iran-contra caper. It published the prise run by sheiks and politicians—or any capitalist, for of its 350 branches, local VIPs were brought into its fold. serial numbers of three accounts North opened in the that matter—will ever be more than money machines to In London, senior Conservative members of Parliament Paris branch to pay for arms shipped to Iran. and former Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan head BCCL also helped manage the CIA's funding of anti- ers and peasants in the underdeveloped countries.

4 SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 1991 The collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) is sending shock waves rippling around the world. Farmers in Africa and merchants in India are devastated, as their lite's savings melt away, An ex-president ot reru races indictment because of BCCI Ibe national treasury of Nigeria has vanished How could such an "outsider" bank shake up the "will of Allah."

Sultan al-Nahyan, one of the wealthiest men on earth.

fill jobs that the great boom of the 1970s created. can shares bought with money borrowed from BCCI.

ous operations. money from heroin sales by the rebels. Closing down down BCCI on July 5. However, a British High Court official quarters, as prominent citizens are exposed as liars can banks would not let them in the door.

be looted for their enrichment at the expense of the work-