In this section I explore the connections concerning George Bush II's
ineptitude as a businessman, a man who should have been investigated
for stock fraud and insider trading, as well as his connection to the
now defunct bank, BCCI. BCCI funneled money to Bush to bail out his
company, was alleged to have laundered drug money and later collapsed
in a bank fraud scandal.
Bush was a failed businessman. Every Business he founded folded. The
one successful venture he ever had was one he bought a part ownership
share in the Texas Rangers Baseball team. However, that money was
fraudently obtained from when he sold his share in Harken Energy
stock, just before the company's stock price folded.
Bush was investigated by the SEC for insider trading, but the charges
were dropped. It turns out that the head of the SEC was appointed by
Bush's Father, who was president at the time.
In 1977 Bush founded his first company, Arbusto Energy. Bush's company
struggled and never found any oil. Then Phillip Uzielli a friend of
James Baker bailed Bush out. He gave Bush 1 million dollars in
exchange for 10% of the company. However, Arbusto Energy was only
worth $382,000 according to Time magazine. Uzielli paid 26 times the
market price of Arbusto for his 10% share. Obviously he was paying for
influence.
In 1984 Bush merged Arbusto with another one of his companies,
Spectrum 7. In 1985, Spectrum 7 lost 1.6 million dollars. Bush was
doomed for failure. The oil boom in Texas had long ended. The next
year Spectrum 7 owed over 3 million dollars. Then as if there was
really a stroke of luck, Billionaire financier George Soros bailed him
out and bought his company for 2.25 million. Bush made 600,000 dollars
out of the deal, including a seat on the board of directors making
120,000 dollars a year. In 1989 after Spectrum 7 merged with Harken
energy, Harken lost 12 million dollars. In 1990 Harken lost 40 million
dollars. (Unger, 118)
On June 22nd 1990 Bush sold 212,140 shares of Harkens stock for
$848,560. It turns out Harken's second quarter losses were 23 million
dollars. It was at this point that the SEC decided to investigate Bush
for insider trading. However Bush declined to hand over any documents
citing Attorney Client privilege. August 21st 1991 the SEC decided not
to charge Bush with insider trading.
It turns out that the Chairman of the SEC, Richard Breedon, was a
former lawyer from James Baker's law firm Baker-Botts, and had been
nominated by Bush's Father, the President at the time, to the post as
head of the SEC. (124) James Baker was Bush's father's Secretary of
State. Furthermore the SEC's general counsel, James Doty also belonged
to James Baker's lawfirm. Doty later recused himself. Doty also
represented Bush when he tried to buy the Texas Rangers Baseball team.
Bush's lawyer Robert Jordan was law partners with Doty and Breedon in
the Baker-Botts lawfirm. Bush later appointed him to be ambassador to
Saudi Arabia.
Source: Craig Unger, "House of Bush House of Saud"
It was Paul Krugman, the syndicated columnist for the new york times,
who said that: "Mr. Bush profited personally from aggressive
accounting identical to recent scams [Enron and Arthur Anderson] that
have shocked the nation."
Paul Krugman, "Succeeding in Business," New York Times, July 7, 2002
Obviously Bush circumvented what it takes to achieve the american
dream. He was immune from failure because his father secured investors
to invest in a failing company and when the company folded Bush's
father, the president sheilded him from sanctions by the SEC. Needless
to say the SEC was also packed with Bush supporters. The fact that the
investigation was riddled with conflicts of interests says alot about
the respect that the Bush dynasty has for the rule of law when it
comes to themselves.
Bush was also tied to a bank called BCCI: a bank prosecuted for fraud
and linked to the drug trade
Bank of Credit Commerce International (BCCI)
biggest share holder, Khalid bin Mafouz, (indicted for fraud) founded
by Agha Hasan Abedi notable fact: funneled money to George W. Bush
At one time BCCI was the fastest growing bank in the world. In 1972 it
was worth 200 million. In 1977 it was worth 2 billion. BCCI laundered
Saudi money to Iraq to faccilitate arms purchases. (78) It was also
used by the US and Saudi Arabia to funnel money to the Afghani
Mujahadin, (112) and the Nicaraguan Contras, the latter were known
drug traffikers. (Unger, 34) BCCI also funneled money to bail out
President George W. Bush's failing company, Harken energy. (112)It was
Arkansas investment banker, Jackson Stephens who managed to raise 25
million to bail out Bush. Money was wired to Bush through the Union
Bank of Switzerland. UBS was linked to BCCI via a joint venture in a
Geneva bank.(121) Bush was also bailed out by, Abdullah Taha Bakhsh.
His investment gave him 17.6% equity in Bush's company. He was also
connected to BCCI, via his control of the Saudi Finance company which
was partly owned by BCCI shareholders.(121) He was also business
associates of Khalid bin Mafouz.
The 1992 Senate investigation into BCCI noted that their common
business practices were to operate through, "shell corporations, bank
confidentiality, and secrecy havens,, layering of corporate structure,
front men and nominees,..kickbacks and bribes, intimidation of
witnesses, and retention of well placed insiders to discourage
govermental action." (121-122)
There were also credible reports that suggested BCCI laundered drug
money and that the Justice Dept. impeded Congressional investigations
regarding BCCI's link to drug traffiking.(126)
BCCI went out of business in 1991.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
see Bert Lance
also see a Wall Street Journal article, "Family Ties" written by
Thomas Petzinger, Peter Truell, and Jill Abramson pg. A1
Also see:
"Outlaw Bank," Financial Times, July 13th, 1992
The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations,
Senator John Kerry, and Sen. Hank Brown, December 1992, 102nd
Congress, 2nd session,, Senate print 102-140
Google search terms:
James Bath, BCCI, Ghaith Pharon, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan
(United Arab Emirates)
James Bath was friends with, James Baker III, and Bush when he served
in the Texas National Guard. He was also business associates with
Khalid bin Mafouz. Bath was also Salem Bin Laden's personal
representative to America when hefunneled 50,000 dollars to bush to
help him set up Arbusto energy in 1978 and 1979.
Book Source: Unger, Craig. "House of Bush House of Saud," 2004
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BCCI The Bush CIA drug bank
http://www.geocities.com/s011023/The_BCCI_Debacle.html
Bush Stock Fraud and his link to BCCI
BACK HOME
BCCI: THE ARABS AND BUSH'S DRUG BANK?
BCCI FUNNELED MONEY TO BUSH'S COMPANY HARKEN. BCCI LAUNDERED
PANAMANIAN & COLUMBIAN DRUG MONEY, ARMS SALES TO PAKISTAN, ACTED AS A
BANKER TO THE ABU NIDAL TERRORIST ORGANIZATION, 'MANAGED
PROSTITUTION,' & FUNNELED MONEY TO THE (DRUG RUNNING CONTRA DEATH
SQUADS. <--(GHWB'S PET PROJECT!))
EXCERPTS from: "The BCCI Affair - BCCI's Criminality"
from (Federation of American Scientists)
Source: BCCI's Criminality
A SHOCKING DISCOVERY
(BCCI: management of prostitution) [Notable Excerpt]
"According to one U.S. investigator with substantial knowledge of
BCCI's activities, some BCCI officials have acknowledged that some of
the females provided some members of the Al-Nahyan family were young
girls who had not yet reached puberty, and in certain cases, were
physically injured by the experience. The official said that former
BCCI officials had told him that BCCI also provided males to
homosexual VIPs.(74) "
74. Staff interviews, U.S. investigator, February, 1992. "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary Excerpts from BCCI's Criminality
"BCCI's founder, Agha Hasan Abedi and his assistant, Swaleh
Naqvi" (Pakistani Bank)
"made up of multiplying layers of entities, related to one another
through an impenetrable series of holding companies, affiliates,
subsidiaries, banks-within-banks, insider dealings and nominee
relationships. By fracturing corporate structure, record keeping,
regulatory review, and audits, the complex BCCI family of entities
created by Abedi was able to evade ordinary legal restrictions on the
movement of capital and goods as a matter of daily practice and
routine. In creating BCCI as a vehicle fundamentally free of
government control, Abedi developed in BCCI an ideal mechanism for
facilitating illicit activity by others, including such activity by
officials of many of the governments whose laws BCCI was breaking. "
"Though fragmentary, these records are also voluminous, amounting to
at least 9,000 boxes in New York and Miami alone, and several million
pages. Foreign BCCI document repositories of BCCI, especially in the
United Kingdom, the Grand Caymans, and "Abu Dhabi," are even larger,
with access for U.S. investigators limited by foreign bank
confidentiality, privacy laws, and the willingness of the foreign
jurisdictions to cooperate. "
"largest case of organized crime in history, spanning over some 72
nations, " "involving billions of dollars; money laundering in Europe,
Africa, Asia, and the America"
"BCCI's bribery of officials in most of those locations; its support
of terrorism, arms trafficking, and the sale of nuclear technologies;
ITS MANAGEMENT OF PROSTITUTION; its commission and facilitation of
income tax evasion, smuggling, and illegal immigration; its illicit
purchases of banks and real estate"
"shell corporations, bank confidentiality and secrecy havens, layering
of corporate structure, front-men and nominees"
""kick-backs and bribes, intimidation of witnesses, and retention of
well-placed insiders to discourage governmental action.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Senate investigator Jack Blum... it had 3,000 criminal customers."
"On December 18, 1991, in an agreement with the Justice Department and
New York District Attorney, BCCI's liquidators pled guilty to having
engaged in a criminal conspiracy through financial fraud, and thereby
constituting a Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization
(RICO), whose entire assets, legitimate and illegitimate, were subject
to confiscation by the government. " "Specific crimes admitted to by
BCCI's liquidators in the agreement included:
** Seeking deposits of drug proceeds and laundering drug money" AMONG
OTHER CRIMES.. see: Superseding Information, U.S. v. BCCI, Crim. No.
91-0655, U.S. District Court for the District of Colombia, December
19, 1991.
"its chief executive officer in the Americas, knowledge of money
laundering, drug trafficking, loans created in "bogus" names, and
advances of funds to non-existent companies in London, Luxembourg,
Cyprus, Malta, the Channel Islands, "
"BCCI's financial empire was built on the fiction that it was heavily
capitalized by oil-rich Arab leaders, when the reality was that most
of them -- and according to some credible information, all of them --
were acting as nominees, providing either their names to BCCI, or
their names plus their funds in the form of deposits to BCCI to get a
guaranteed no-risk return, rather than as actual investors at risk. "
"Not having the actual capital base, BCCI simply pretended it was
there, and enlisted the reputations of its shareholders to assist it
in so pretending, in order to lure others to deposit their funds with
BCCI."
"Manhattan prosecutor Robert Morgenthau[Hans Morgenthau's
cousin?]..BCCI's liquidators plead guilty as part of the December,
1991 plea agreement, "
"[BCCI's] scheme was premised on the fact that banks rely on credit.
The essence of the scheme was to convince depositors and other banking
and financial institutions, by means of false pretenses,
representations, and promises that the BCC Group was a safe financial
repository and institution for funds, and thereby defendants acted to
persuade depositors and banking and other financial institutions to
provide the BCC Group banks with deposits and credit" (People v. BCCI,
Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, July 29,
1991. )
"Employing the ruling families of a number of Middle Eastern states as
nominees for BCCI, who pretended to be at risk in BCCI but who were in
fact guaranteed to be held harmless by BCCI for any actual losses. "
"Using bank secrecy havens including Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands
to avoid regulation on a consolidated basis by any single regulator of
BCCI, and thereby to permit BCCI to transfer assets and liabilities
from bank to bank as needed to conceal BCCI's true economic status. "
People v. BCCI, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New
York, July 29, 1991.
"BCCI's own auditors, PRICE WATERHOUSE" (now TD Waterhouse) June 22,
1991, the "Sandstorm Report," (provided to the Bank of England) was
the final evidence that lead to the shutdown of BCCI globally on July
5, 1991 (Price Waterhouse, Draft Report on Sandstorm SA Under S. 41 of
the Savings Act of 1987. )
"$600 million of BCCI deposits not recorded in BCCI's books"
"Other major losses related to BCCI accounts in related entities,
including ICIC in the Grand Caymans, sometimes know as BCCI's "bank-
within-a-bank," the Bank de Commerce et Placements, a BCCI subsidiary
in Switzerland, the Kuwaiti Investment Finance Company (KIFCO), a
secret BCCI subsidiary ostensibly owned by a BCCI nominee. "
"The Sandstorm report -- prepared by Price Waterhouse for the benefit
of BCCI's final group of managers, brought in for the purpose of
finding a way to help BCCI survive as a wholly-owned subsidiary of
"ABU DHABI" -- describes BCCI's fraud, rather kindly, as originating
in BCCI's sense of vulnerability in case of any losses because of its
lack of any lender of last resort and the hostile attitude of the
international banking community"
Price Waterhouse, Draft Report on Sandstorm SA Under S. 41 of the
Savings Act of 1987.
"BCCI's losses grew, so did its manipulation of accounts and its
frauds, as well as its use of affiliated and related entities such as
ICIC in the Grand Caymans, the Banque de Commerce et Placements in
Geneva, the National Bank of Oman, and the Kuwaiti Investment Finance
Corporation (KIFCO). " (Offshore Banks?)
Massihur Rahman, who was BCCI's chief financial officer (FOLLOWING
QUOTES ARE NOT FROM HIM)
"In its 1991 review, Price Waterhouse found that among the specific
techniques used by BCCI to hide its losses were:
** misappropriation of deposits without depositors knowledge to
provide funds to adjust non-performing and bogus loan accounts, and
Treasury losses.
** misappropriation of external funds deposited under trust with
Sandstorm [BCCI] and Fork [ICIC] to be managed on behalf of a few
prominent people who are also shareholders of [BCCI] Holdings.
** the creation of loans with no commercial substance in the names of
people without their knowledge.
** selling certificates of deposit placed with the Central Treasury
without informing the depositors, and using the proceeds to fund
adjustments.
** routing funds through [ICIC], LOANS, KIFCO, SDCC and other
affiliates and third parties to make adjustments prior to accounting
reference dates and audit confirmation dates, which were often
reversed at a later date.(29) "
Staff interviews, Akbar Bilgrami, July 13-14, 1992; Amjad Awan, July
20-21, 1992.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"As BCCI liquidators in the Grand Caymans found, ICIC was not really a
bank at all, but a post-office box location to "book" transactions
that were initiated, organized, and approved in other parts of BCCI.
In essence, ICIC was a "conduit" or mechanism for BCCI's fraud" (also
used holding companies, "Big Brother and the Holding Company")
Report of Grand Caymans Liquidators to Grand Caymans Court, August 30,
1991, Deloitte Ross Tohmatsu, International Credit and I nvestment
Company (Overseas) Ltd.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"ICIC lending included millions to major front-men for BCCI including
Ghaith and Wabel Pharoan, Faisal al Fulaij, Prince Turki, and Mohammed
Hammoud."
"Clark Clifford and Robert Altman in First American in 1988 with funds
lent him by BCCI" ????? (S&L) Price Waterhouse, Report to the Director
on ICIC Group, June 17, 1991, Sec. 1.
Money Laundering
"From the time of BCCI's indictment on drug money laundering charges
in Tampa, Florida in October, 1988, there was little doubt to anyone
looking at the facts that BCCI had been used to launder drug money. "
"The Customs agents working on the "C-Chase" case against BCCI, moved
millions of dollars in U.S. currency, representing the proceeds of
cocaine sales through BCCI Panama, BCCI Luxembourg, and LOANS
Switzerland as a result of the knowing participation of several BCCI
officials."
In regards to Panama and the Manuel Noriega CIA Cocaine connection to
BCCI see a book called "Divorcing the Dictator"
also see this quote available also further down the page:
"BCCI's clients for money laundering included Panamanian General
Manuel Noriega, [(CIA Link)] for whom it managed some $23 million of
criminal proceeds out of its London branches; Pablo Escobar, of the
Medellin cartel; Rodriguez Gacha, of the Medellin cartel; and several
members of the Ochoa family.(48) "
"As Robert Mazur, the Customs agent in Tampa who selected BCCI as the
target of the Customs money laundering sting testified, BCCI bank
executives volunteered methods to enhance and improve his techniques
for money laundering, and shortly before the sting ended the
operation, offered to introduce Mazur to other potential "cash"
customers for money laundering services from Bogota, Colombia.(38) "
Testimony of Robert Mazur, S. Hrg. 102-350, Pt. 3, p. 682.
"BCCI itself pled guilty to money laundering in January, 1990"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Testimony of Grant Smith, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, S. Hrg.
102-350, Pt. 3, p. 579. "Setting aside those instances where BCCI
managers knowingly promoted money laundering, BCCI seemed attracted to
traffickers for the same reasons that other banks have been found
attractive. First, traffickers seek international banks that are
sophisticated in wire transfers, that have branches in those parts of
the world where they operate, and which permit quick retrieval of
funds. Second, traffickers seek banks in those countries where
national banking laws afford maximum secrecy to depositors, permit
nominee accounts, and do not provide for close monitoring of cross
border transactions of currency movements"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(search terms: Akbar Bilgrami, Colombia, Pakistan)
also see columbia cocaine, pakistan-afghanistan heroin, then MEXICALI
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Abedi told him that he needed to increase BCCI's activity in Colombia
to $1 billion in local currency in deposits, and $1 billion in U.S.
denominated deposits -- funds which obviously could only be generated,
directly or indirectly, from the drug trade.(40) " Staff interviews,
Akbar Bilgrami, July 13-14, 1992.
US indictment of: Superseding Information, U.S. v. BCCI, Crim. No.
91-0655, U.S. District Court for the District of Colombia, December
19, 1991.
excerpts:
"1991 plea agreement with U.S. law enforcement outlines the systematic
nature of the money laundering as follows:
40. The BCCI Defendants and their affiliates . . . would and did
formulate and implement a corporate strategy for increasing BCCI's
deposits by encouraging placements of funds from the proceeds of drug
sales, in conscious disregard of the currency regulations, tax laws,
and anti-drug laws of the United States, and of other nations;
41. In furtherance of the BCCI Group's corporate strategy to pursue
deposits in disregard of United States and foreign law, the BCCI
Defendants . . . would knowingly offer a full range of services to
drug importers, suppliers and money launderers;
42. Co-conspirators would and did conduct . . . financial transactions
with narcotics drug proceeds including the wire transfer of said
proceeds from places in the United States to and through other places
outside the United States, with the intent to conceal and disguise the
nature, location, source and ownership of these drug proceeds.(41) "
""counter-balancing loan proceeds" its technique of crediting "counter-
balancing loan proceeds" to foreign corporate bank accounts designated
by drug traffickers; "
"Abdur Sakhia, formerly BCCI's chief officer in the United States
testified, it been obvious within BCCI as of 1983 that the bank had
adopted a conscious policy of soliciting drug funds when it decided to
purchase a bank in Colombia. It was obvious to Sakhia and other BCCI
officers then that BCCI's motivation for obtaining the Colombia bank
was its recognition that enormous amounts of U.S. currency were being
generated as a result of narcotics trafficking, and that Colombia
could become an extremely profitable operation for BCCI. "
Sakhia's Testimony:
We knew that the money that we would be getting in Colombia would be
drug money. We knew that all the dollar deposits we would be getting
would be drug money.(43) "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BCCI was getting branches in: "getting branches in lawless areas like
Cartegena, Cali and Medellin."
"BCCI's clients for money laundering included Panamanian General
Manuel Noriega, for whom it managed some $23 million of criminal
proceeds out of its London branches; Pablo Escobar, of the Medellin
cartel; Rodriguez Gacha, of the Medellin cartel; and several members
of the Ochoa family.(48) " 48. BCCI Records and customer lists, LACRO,
Federal Reserve, Miami.
"When it came to General Noriega, bribes were unnecessary, as BCCI
provided the far more important service of laundering $23 million of
his money and keeping it safe from other governments and his eventual
successors in Panama by insuring its disappearance following his
indictments. But to demonstrate BCCI's hospitality, the bank still
made sure that it provided Noriega with an expensive gift -- a $25,000
persian carpet, hand delivered with Abedi's regards to Noriega by
Alauddin Sheikh.(52) ""
51. Staff interview, Nazir Chinoy, March 9-16, 1991; BCCI documents,
Andrew Young trip to Nicaragua.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Support of Terrorism and Arms Trafficking
"First, as a principal financial institution for a number of Gulf
sheikhdoms, with branches all over the world, it was a logical choice
for terrorist organizations, who received payment at BCCI-London and
other branches directly from Gulf-state patrons, and then transferred
those funds wherever they wished without apparent scrutiny."
"Arms trafficking involving BCCI included the financing of Pakistan's
procurement of nuclear weapons[Abdul Khan, Iran, DPRK] through BCCI
Canada, as documented in the Parvez case, involving a Pakistani who
attempted to procure nuclear related materials financed by BCCI
through the United States. (61) " 61. Testimony of Alan Kreczo, Deputy
Legal Adviser, Department of State, S. Hrg. 102-350, Pt. 3, p. 599.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal and his link to BCCI
67. Testimony of Laurence Pope, Associate Coordinator for Counter-
Terrorism, Department of State, S. Hrg. 102-350, Pt. 3, p 580.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Training of Cartel Death Squads
ISRAEL ARMS SALES TO LATIN AMERICA (UZI's for LA street gangs? CIA,
Contras, LA Crack epidemic)
"The principals in the arms trafficking included Yair Klein, who had
previously been identified in Colombian drug enforcement documents as
involved in training paramilitary squads for the cocaine cartel in
Medellin; Pinchas Shahar, an Israeli intelligence operative, and
Maurice Sarfati, an Israeli "businessman" operating out of Miami and
Paris. "
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prostitution
"BCCI's involvement in prostitution arose out of its creation of its
special protocol department in Pakistan (ISI, BCCI) to service the
personal requirements of the AL-NAHYAN family of ABU DHABI, and on an
as-needed basis, other BCCI VIPs, including the families of other
Middle Eastern rulers."
SEE: Abdur Sakhia and Nazir Chinoy TESTIMONY & see (Begum Asghari
Rahim (United Bank) <-the Pimp "The prostitution handled by BCCI was
carried over from practices originally instituted by Abedi at the
United Bank, when working with a woman, Begum Asghari Rahim, he
cemented his relationship with the Al-Nahyan family through providing
them with Pakistani prostitutes. " (Nazir Chinoy)
"Among BCCI bank officials in Pakistan, Begum Rahim was reputed to
have in United Bank first won the favors or attention of the royal
family by arranging to get virgin women from the villages from the
ages of 16 to 20. " (child prostitution, AL-NAHYAN family of ABU
DHABI?)
"According to one U.S. investigator with substantial knowledge of
BCCI's activities, some BCCI officials have acknowledged that some of
the females provided some members of the Al-Nahyan family were young
girls who had not yet reached puberty, and in certain cases, were
physically injured by the experience. The official said that former
BCCI officials had told him that BCCI also provided males to
homosexual VIPs.(74) " 74. Staff interviews, U.S. investigator,
February, 1992.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"None of the BCCI officers interviewed by the Senate claimed to have
knowledge of a "black network" (sidenote: aka Louis Farrakhan,
hahaha... who killed Malcolm X, aw shit!) of intelligence operatives,
arms dealers, drug traffickers, burglars, or assassins employed by
BCCI, as described in a Time magazine cover-story on BCCI on August
15, 1991. " (Abedi)
websources: http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm