BCCI returns to haunt Bank of England

[RainDog]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1115267,00.html

BCCI returns to haunt Bank of England

A court case looking at events in the 1980s could set a precedent for suing regulators

Simon Bowers
Saturday January 3, 2004
The Guardian

...The central allegation facing the Bank (of England) is that it deliberately perpetuated the charade of BCCI as an overseas bank, allowing it to operate outside Bank of England full regulatory control throughout the 1980s.

...As early as February 1979 Frank Hall, a senior lawyer at the Bank, wrote an internal memo to colleagues concerning the imminent Banking Act. In it he said: "I should be grateful if you could let me know whether ... there are any companies which are not registered in the UK but which have their principal place of business or place of central management or control here ... but which we should not want to recognise."

Copies of the memo, which was circulated among senior department officials, show several hand-written annotations. "I can't think of any, can you?" says one, to which another official replies: "No."

A string of other internal memos make clear the Bank's state of panic. In 1982 BCCI was described as "on its way to becoming the financial equivalent of the SS Titanic!".

The following year yet another Bank analyst wrote a report on BCCI entitled "Why action is now urgently required". It suggested the Bank was left with "two basic choices": to close BCCI down or to insist it be redesignated a UK bank, under full Bank of England supervision.

[ozymandius]

1. Now if Kerry would let loose what he knows about Bush and BCCI

then we would all feel better. This was some of the best investigative work that Kerry and the Senate have done. I wonder why they are sitting on all the information that implicates the Bush family's full complicity in the BCCI morass.

[0007]

2. What's stopping Mr. Kerry? He has said a little but not enough!

[ozymandius]

4. Kerry still holds the "security" cards with Rand Beers.

I've been wondering when he is planning to pull that ace out his sleeve.

[jamesinca]

3. Maybe an Oct surprise

If Bush should have a lead going into the Nov matchup, maybe he will spring it with no time for a defense from Bush. If he does it now, Bush has all the time in the world to formulate a defense and let it fade with time. If Bush is trailing in the polling, this may just insure a Dem win with that kind of information. If he does not bring this up I will be very upset with Sen. Kerry. Come Sept. if this has not made the press, we need to send a lot of letters to Sen. Kerrys office asking why and if he will release this.

[RainDog]

10. Kerry needs to realize he can't just wait.

If he wants to energize the base, like Dean, he cannot avoid questions about Bush NOW.

He doesn't have to go into everything...and shouldn't. But he should put it on the table for the dems so that it can still be an issue if Kerry doesn't win the primary.

The problem, though, is that politicians across the board are implicated in BCCI crookedness, and I don't know if there is a candidate who has the courage to take on the monster that influence peddling and financing of politics and war, both here and around the world, including Iran/Contra, Al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein, and more.

It is essential for the health of democracy, imo, for this financial empire to fall.

[bobthedrummer]

5. Reagan/Bush/Thatcher, The Saudis, and BCCI

it is complex, this is a long article complete with some flow charts that covers the time period under discussion, some of the money went to OBL and helped fund other terrorist activities among other things.
http://cryptome.org/soil/soiled-dove2.htm

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. fascinating, but not really relevant

that article is about arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The only mention of BCCI is that the arrangement of holding companies is similar ("the hallmark of the Middle Eastern way of doing business") and that Wafic Said could be stupid enough to invest in a BCCI affiliate, and lose money (which rather suggests he wasn't an insider in BCCI).

Did you mean to link to another article?

[SpiralHawk]

6. Oh, what a tangled web we weave

When BCCI/BFEE practices to deceive.

[reprehensor]

7. BCCI - related media.

Check out Dave Emory's archives here, lots of interesting stuff.
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/DX

And if you haven't read 'Forbidden Truth' by Brisard & Dasquie, go get it! BCCI is mentioned in some detail, as well as the fact that Bush Jr got financing for one of his oil companies from an investor acting on behalf of the Bin Laden family. Seriously.

[RainDog]

8. Yes. Forbidden Truth Also shows the bin Laden family's

bizzes which connect to England.

The Saudi Investment Co is the Saudi BinLaden Group (SICo). They are located in Geneva, Switz. (and associated with BCCI).

They have four companies,

1. Islay Holdings is related to Globe Administration Ltd in London.

and--

2. SICO Curacao

3. Falken Ltd, and

4. Tropiville Corporation NV

(all in the Dutch Antilles)

Falken and Tropiville connect via

a. Russell Wood Holdings, Ltd., and
b. Russell Wood ltd.

both in the UK.

These connect to

(again) -Globe Administration ltd.

and

Falcon Capital Management Ltd

Falcon Capital Nominees Ltd

Falcon Properties Ltd.

Turkey Rock Ltd.

Saffron Advisors UK Ltd.

(all of these are based in London)

Falcon Properties Ltd relates to

ATTOCK OIL Company, LTD, in London,

which is affliated with Ghaith Pharon.

Ghaith Pharon whose biz partner invested in Harken Energy for Khalid bin Mahfouz, bro-in-law of bin Laden for an 11% stake.

Pharon (288 million) along with bin Mahfouz (152.5 million) and the Gokal family, (1.2. BILLION) were the prime beneficiaries from loans to shareholders revealed in a BCCI audit by Price Waterhouse. (these loans were basically unsecured...undersecured if you count the fake bizzes pyramid schemes as security).

bin Mahfouz and bin Laden were connected via marriage (bin Laden's sister and bin Mahfouz) and also by the following companies-

Al Khaleejla for Export, Promotion and Marketing
International Development Foundation
Saudi Sudanese Bank

The International Development Foundation has the same address as the International Islamic Relief Organization (2 Worcester Street, Oxford). The IRO is considered one of Osama's recruitment centers.

Mohammed Salim bin Mahfouz is the founder of IDF with his partner, Mohammed Saleh Affara...who was implicated in the Sawari-2 arms sales incident with Saudi Arabia.

This foundation's Kenya branch was associated with bin Laden in the FBI investigation into the attacks on the American Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam on August 7, 1998.

The Kenya offices were closed when documents seized in Sept 98 connected the Islamic Relief with bin Laden operations by providing material support for the attacks against the Nairobi American embassy.

Khalid bin Mahfouz was called the most powerful banker in the middle east by the US Senate report on BCCI.

...it's a tangled web they weave to deceive, and bilk and steal and kill...

[RainDog]

9. here is the related link to BCCI in GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php

[reprehensor]

11. Link didn't work for me.

Here's another BCCI-related article by Peter Dale Scott:
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~pdscott/q4b.html

[Unknown Known]

13. Here's the link - well worth the read with lots of info

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=977792