http://www.pharaon.com/sop.html August 8, 1997
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O P H A R A O N W E B S I T E
WELCOME TO THE Pharaon Website established by friends of the international businessman, Dr. Ghaith Rashad Pharaon, as a channel of communication with his contacts, friends and business associates throughout the world and with those interested in the many projects and operations in which he is personally involved.
A CITIZEN OF Saudi Arabia, Dr. Pharaon has been active in business ventures in many countries - from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, South America, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Through this Website, the friends of Dr. Pharaon plan to provide news about these activities, express his views on general international business developments and state his version of those events in which he was involved that are under adjudication in various countries. They may provide information on the hotel business in Argentina, the oil industry in Pakistan, construction in Saudi Arabia or the still continuing legal proceedings growing out of the liquidation of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).
IN TURN, THEY LOOK forward to reaction and comment - and perhaps even previously unavailable information on the various events from new sources. He welcomes such response either through this Website or his E-mail address
"Webmaster@Pharaon.com" and will seek to respond as appropriate.
THOSE NOT FAMILIAR with Dr. Pharaon's background will find a brief summary of his personal history of great interest and useful as background for the information and communications which will appear on this Website.
BORN IN SAUDI ARABIA in 1940, the son of a Syrian doctor who had become the personal physician and a trusted advisor to the then King Ibn Saud, young Ghaith Pharaon was raised in the customs and culture of the Saudi Arabian royal society of the day. As a young man, he decided to seek a Western education as did a great many of his contemporaries. He turned first to Europe for his secondary education and then to the United States for his college and entered the Colorado School of Mines in 1959 to pursue a petroleum engineering degree. Three years later, he transferred to Stanford University in California, one of America's premier educational institutions, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering.
AFTER STANFORD, DR. PHARAON entered the Harvard Business School in another of America's leading academic centers and emerged in 1965 with the degree of Master in Business Administration (MBA) - a degree and training which became common to a number of other Saudis and Middle Easterners who later rose to prominence in government, business and commerce in the area. Dr. Pharaon (his father's professional title was passed on to him by the Saudis as a matter of courtesy) was one of the leading students in the Harvard Business School Class of 1965 and on October 5, 1990, he was asked to give the Opening Day address at his 25th Anniversary Reunion as one of his Class's most successful graduates.
LIKE HIS CONTEMPORARIES, Dr. Pharaon returned to Saudi Arabia - in his case, to the City of Jeddah - to take part in the development of Saudi Arabia in the oil boom years of the latter sixties and the seventies. His particular focus turned toward the construction programs that marked Saudi Arabia in those years. As his business grew, he became a major supplier of cement and other construction supplies throughout the Middle East. Gradually, he branched into other lines of business. He and his family invested in hotels, oil companies, banking and insurance companies until by the eighties, he was a prominent Middle Eastern businessmen and investor.
AMONG THE VENTURES IN which he invested in that period was the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, then being developed by an almost legendary Pakistani banker, Agha Hasan Abedi. Mr. Abedi is now deceased but in his years as the guiding force behind BCCI, he developed an international banking structure and operation that provided a major challenge to the established Western banking community. BCCI, under the leadership of Abedi who was familiar with the Middle Eastern traditions and ways of doing business based on personal trust and confidence, took advantage of its local connections in countries like Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia to further its activities and hide many aspects of its operations.
EVENTUALLY IN THE EARLY 1990's, BCCI was found guilty of a range of fraudulent practices and was closed down in the many countries in which it operated. It is presently in the process of liquidation. Prominent Middle Eastern businessmen like Dr. Pharaon soon discovered that they had been used to camouflage the bank's irregular practices. The liquidators of BCCI as well as various authorities are trying to use these individuals as scapecoats.
BUT THIS WEBSITE is not a story of BCCI's admittedly improper practices; rather, it is intended to discuss Dr. Pharaon's activities. Insofar as Dr. Pharaon's relations with BCCI are concerned, he has been charged with civil violations in the United States in connection with his relations with BCCI and, under certain circumstances, these violations have been turned into a criminal indictment against him by the United States.
DR. PHARAON HAS STATED both in legal documents filed in court cases and in public, his innocence of any criminal activities. In civil terms, at worst, he has been guilty of technical violations of American banking regulations - probably the most technically detailed in the world - for which relatively minimal civil fines have been levied in the past. It is noteworthy that the U.S. Federal Reserve is seeking a penalty payment of $37,000,000 aginst Dr. Pharaon while the highest penalty ever charged by such regulatory authority in the past has been $600,000. By questionable coincidence, the imposition of this $37 million dollar fine came on the same day as the announcement of the sale for the same amount of an insurance company in Georgia owned by the Pharaon family.
CONTRARY TO THE PORTRAYAL by the liquidators and other regulatory authorities, Dr. Pharaon's banking relationships through the years have involved the largest international banks and financial institutions in the world and his relationship with BCCI was just one of many. At most, he was a passive investor in BCCI, largely attributable to previous banking transactions in other areas and ventures with Mr. Abedi.
HE HAS REFUSED TO accept any offer of a plea bargain which a number of his investment associates have done in order to remove a burden from their shoulders. Characteristically, his response has been that he would not admit to a criminal charge of which he is not guilty if only because he wants to maintain his personal reputation and family honor.
THESE, THEN - DR. PHARAON'S business activities, his international interests, his involvement with the BCCI liquidation and subsequent litigation - will provide the substance of this Website. All that and communication with friends, contacts, associates and interested individuals throughout the world.
WELCOME - and come aboard. Let us hear from you.