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1994-05-02
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<text>
<title>
Closure 'Warning to the Third World'
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Joint Publications Research Service, September 5, 1991
Political: BCCI Closure "Warning to the Third World"
</hdr>
<body>
<p>By Sheni Humayun, [Islamabad, The Muslim in English, 7 Aug 91,
p. 7]
</p>
<p> The seizure of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International
(BCCI) should not have come as a surprise. It is not only
timely but should serve as a warning shot to the dynamic and
ambitious Third World countries, especially Muslim,
personalities who want to equal or surpass their Western
counterparts in any field of activity. They must remain as an
underdog. And subservient to the First World, otherwise...Such
are the ground rules of the New World Order. It is time that we
understand this brutal reality.
</p>
<p> The alacrity and indecent haste with which the Bank of
England acted on Friday, the 12th July, is understandable. The
concerted action taken by banking regulators in Britain,
Luxembourg, the United States, Switzerland, Spain, France, and
Cayman Islands is unprecedented in banking history. But this
had to be done before the leaders of the seven richest nations
met in London. The thorn that was prickling the financial
bastions of the Western world had to be removed once and for
all. The Tower of London, which has been a scene of so many
beheadings in British history, is the perfect setting for the
G-7 [Group of Seven] luncheon to gloat over Mr. Major's major
achievement of the decade--crucifixion of BCCI, a Third World
financial institution that had rocked the very foundations of
the Western fiance houses. Amen!
</p>
<p> BCCI was founded 19 years ago, in 1972, by Mr. Agha Hasan
Abedi, a Pakistani banker with a vision and dynamism. Its
headquarters at London was established in the same building
that was the seat of the British East India Company, the
notorious business establishment that had paved the way for
British rule over the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent, by
treacherously overthrowing the Muslim Mughal kingdom.
</p>
<p> Although the Western media is trumpeting charges of BCCI's
illicit connections with the Arab shareholders, with such names
being thrown as that of G.R. Pharon; forgetting the fact that
BCCI was founded in a partnership with the Bank of America,
with policy and operating control resting with Mr. Agha Hasan
Abedi. Later on the Bank of America withdrew from the
partnership, mainly because of BCCI's overshadowing it.
</p>
<p> BCCI, in a short span, established its influence in Europe,
the United States and the Third World countries. It has 350
branches worldwide with connections in about 70 countries. It
was no mean feat by a person of Third World origin. FInancial
wizards of the First World were awestruck.
</p>
<p> Mr. Agha Hasan Abedi had decided to come to grips with the
Western financial world, that had so far bled the Third World
economies white (or red in financial jargon), on their own home
turf and by adopting their own rules of the game. This was
really too much to be swallowed. King Faisal and Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto had also paid the price for drumming the West in a
political arena.
</p>
<p> Mr. Abedi had become a legend, a folklore hero; for the
modesty and a humanitarian approach to life. He was the
benefactor of innumerable families, students and patients. He
was not only a financial genius, he had other plans as well. He
was creating a brain trust, a thinktank of intellectuals from
the Third World countries. He was well above caste, creed and
color prejudices. His dream was that the South should compete
with the North. But dreams are not allowed to come true. Martin
Luthor King, the Negro leader, lost his life for he had a dream
in the white world.
</p>
<p> Mr. Abedi was sought after by presidents, Sheikhs,
industrialists, and those who had money, for financial advice.
People listed in the international Who's Who accosted him at
airports where he was in transit, to solicit his opinion in
their investment portfolios.
</p>
<p> He bailed out financially troubled Bert Lance, ex-Director of
Budget of the United States and a close friend of former
American President Jimmy Carter, by arranging the purchase of
the National Bank of Georgia's shares by Arab investors. BCCI
provided banking expertise and turned the Georgia bank into a
strong, viable financial institution. In 1981, BCCI took
control of Independence Bank of Encino, California and Centrust
Savings and Loans of Miami. This is not a final list.
</p>
<p> This was the period when the West was worried about the
riches of Middle East oil barons and desperately wanted them to
invest in the United States and Europe. All and sundry were on
sale. One had to pay the price they were asking. Mr. Abedi
brought the investments and arranged expertise so that his
investors were not losers. Mr. Abedi had the Midas touch. His
advice-oriented investments always yielded good profits.
</p>
<p> The Western media has gone into a frenzy and is connecting
all sorts of allegations against BCCI and its mentor. Even the
Central Intelligence Agency of America, known for its
undercover and illicit dealing and nurturing the present
incumbent of the White House, is being linked with BCCI. The
founding of BCCI is being termed as a conspiracy "to promote
Arab interests in the United States presumably in hopes of
influencing U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East," forgetting
that there was a time when the West itself was ready to dance
at the crooking of the little finger of the oil-rich Arab
Sheikhs. Mr. Haig, the then-Secretary of State, was sacrificed
at the altar of Arab wishes. And Mr. Shultz was brought in,
because he was an "in man" in the Middle East due to his
business connections with the Arabs.
</p>
<p> Mr. Abedi has his weaknesses: he trusted everybody and he
never developed a line of succession. Everybody looked towards
him. It was a one-man operation--Mr. Abedi's. Unfortunately,
his second-in-commands were people of low integrity, were ready
to do anything for remaining in Mr. Abedi's good books. They
were mediocre people, with no loyalty to their master, fighting
with each other for their survival at all costs. Coming from
nowhere, today they are multi-multi-millionaires; even ready to
cooperate with the enemy--Bank of England.
</p>
<p> Fate has, however, been kind to Agha Saheb. It is a blessing
in disguise that in 1988 he suffered from two consecutive heart
attacks, underwent a heart transplant and returned from London
to Pakistan to rest and recuperate. His control over BCCI
finished about three years ago.
</p>
<p> The writing on the wall was clear when BCCI was implicated in
the drug-laundering case in Tampa, Florida last year. It was not
difficult to understand as to what the authors of the "New
World" had decided to do with BCCI.
</p>
<p> The United States troops had invaded Panama and her
President Noriega, a CIA operative and close confidant of Mr.
Bush was brought to America to face charges of involvement in
drug dealings [sentence as published]. There were allegations
of linkage between BCCI and Noriega and consequently, with
Abedi.
</p>
<p> Had Mr. Abedi been in good health and in effective control of
BCCI now, who knows, they would have made him another Noriega.
The damage Mr. Agha Hasan Abedi has done to the Western
financial system, in understanding its intricacies and
mysterious doings is really unpardonable from their point of
view. How dare a Third World citizen single-handedly challenge
the Western leadership by getting into their system. BCCI had
grown like a cancer threatening the centuries-old deep-rooted
foundations of Western mastery over the Third World countries,
thus destroying their monopoly and their rich loot of
underdeveloped nations.
</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>