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Bribery was a key component of BCCI's strategy for asset growth worldwide,
from the earliest days of the bank. In some case, the recipients of
funding from BCCI may not have considered the payments to be "bribes," but
simply a mechanism by which BCCI obtained what it wanted from an official,
and in return the official helped BCCI, such as BCCI's payments to two of
the Gulf emirs in return for the use of their names as nominees for the
purchase of First American.
In other cases, the bribes were naked and direct quid pro quos, such as
BCCI's payments to Central Bank officials in return for Central Bank
deposits in countries like Peru. In other cases, BCCI made campaign
contributions to politicians, such as it did with General Zia in Pakistan
and Carlos Andres Perez in Venezuela. In still other cases, BCCI's
payments came in the guise of charitable contributions, and provided BCCI
with an entree to generate deposits from others, as in the case of
President Jimmy Carter.
Among the Americans who BCCI provided with financial assistance in
addition to Carter, were U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew
Young, Bert Lance, and Jesse Jackson. Abroad, important figures with
extensive contact with BCCI included former British Prime Minister James
Callahan, then United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cueller,
Jamaican prime minister Edward Seaga, Antiguan prime minister Lester Byrd;
a large number of African heads of state; and many Third World central
bank officials.
The courting of important governmental and political figures was a task
ordinarily undertaken directly by Abedi, usually with considerable
secrecy. Typically, a local BCCI official would make contact with a key
national political figure, who would then be passed on to Abedi. Abedi
would then assess that official's needs and try to put together a
transaction suitable to the official's status and needs.
In some cases, Abedi would not make a "bribe" per say, but would instead
use BCCI's resources to build goodwill, which he in turn would then make
use of to generate assets elsewhere. This was Abedi's approach, for
example, with President Jimmy Carter, who received millions of dollars in
BCCI funding for charitable activities, and then travelled with Abedi to
developing nations, providing Abedi with entry to their leaders and,
often, the assets of their central banks.
Abedi used a similar approach with Jesse Jackson and Andrew Young, both of
whom had business expenses paid for by BCCI, and either solicited business
for BCCI in return, or offered to do so.
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.
In other cases, however, BCCI would make direct payments to key officials,
sometimes in suitcases filled with cash. As BCCI officer Abdur Sakhia
stated in interviews with Subcommittee staff:
Abedi's philosophy was to appeal to every sector. President Carter's main
thing was charity, so he gave Carter charity. [Pakistani President] Zia's
brother in law needed a job, he got a job. [Bangldeshi President] Ashraf's
mistress needed a job, she got a job. Admission of your son to a top
college, he would arrange it somehow.
According to Sakhia, there was a world wide list of people who were in the
payoff of BCCI. It was my understanding this included the family of Indira
Ghandi, Ashad of Bangladesh, and General Zia. In Africa, most of the
leaders of Africa in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mugabe, and others, were all
understood to have received money.
According to both Sakhia and BCCI's Paris manager, Nazir Chinoy, BCCI
official Alauddin Sheikh would sometimes take cash to people at Abedi's
request.(55) Both officials stated that they understood that Nigerian
central bankers were paid off in cash by Mr. Sheikh at a World Bank
meeting in Seoul, Korea.
Chinoy said that such payments were typically made in great secrecy, but
that it was obvious to him and others at BCCI what was going on. He
described one such apparent payment by Abedi to President Mugabe in
Zimbabwe.
I accompanied Mr. Abedi and Mr. Sheikh to the opening of a joint venture
with Zimbabwe. I believe that to get permission to open that venture,
money was paid to President Mugabe and to Nkomo. The basis I am making
this statement was that when I went there with Mr. Sheikh, I was acting as
Mr. Abedi's personal assistant or secretary. Mr. Sheikh went off on his
own to see Nkomo who was the chief opposition at that time, and then he
went off to see President Mugabe, and when they talked they wanted me out
of the room.
A number of us were there for the opening. But only Sheikh and Abedi left
in the room with these two political figures. Otherwise I was accompanying
him and acting with him. Sheikh carried a bag with him. At the time I had
a suspicion that you don't get permission as a foreign bank so easily
without a payment. Without favors, it wouldn't be so easy to get a bank
that fast, especially given the opposition of the British banks who were
already established there. And I can think of no other reason for the
exclusion of everyone but Sheikh and Abedi.
The New York District Attorney's indictment of BCCI alleged that in 1986
and 1987, BCCI president Abedi and number two official, Swaleh Naqvi,
opened a bank account in a Swiss bank in Panama to "transmit bribes and
kickbacks in the amount of a percentage of the deposits maintained by the
Central Reserve Bank of Peru to the two senior officers of that bank," in
a total amount of $3 million, in return for Peru maintaining large central
bank deposits in BCCI.
These bribes were paid following a meeting involving BCCI officials and
Peruvian president Alan Garcia. According to BCCI official Akbar Bilgrami,
the purpose of the meeting was to make sure that President Garcia would
not undercut the decision by the Central Bank and that if the payments
were made to the Central Bankers, BCCI would indeed receive the Peruvian
deposits in return. Upon returning from Peru, Shafi told Bilgrami that
Garcia had given his blessing to the transaction.
Chinoy contended that BCCI was simply efficiently exploiting the
prevailing business practices in many of the countries in which it
operated, suggesting that in Nigeria and many other African countries it
was not possible to do business without buying presents, giving kickbacks,
or making bribes to officials.
Commission means kick-back. The government approves a $300 million
contract. A multinational corporation agrees with the government which has
helped him, 10 percent gets kicked back. A company is established abroad
or they nominate a cousin or someone who is paid 3 percent. It is known as
a commission but it is actually a kickback. It is the only way to do
business.
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