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Kerry slams Bank on BCCI
The Observer ^ | 19/12/04 | Conal Walsh

Posted on 12/19/2004 7:52:45 AM PST by flitton

Senator John Kerry has slated the Bank of England over its handling of the BCCI banking disaster and warned that the City remains vulnerable to another major scandal. The defeated presidential candidate's words will boost BCCI's creditors, who are suing the Bank of England for allegedly turning a blind eye to fraud at BCCI. Kerry expressed solidarity with the creditors yesterday and told The Observer: 'The Bank of England failed to supervise BCCI properly.'

Kerry is an acknowledged expert on the long-running BCCI affair, having led a US Senate investigation into the rogue bank more than 10 years ago. BCCI, headquar tered in London, collapsed in 1991 with undeclared debts of £7 billion.

Kerry also said yesterday that banking supervision had improved since BCCI but warned it was 'still necessary' for regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to tighten their anti-money laundering procedures. 'Financial transparency is more important than ever, and we're going to need to continue to be vigilant to prevent any would-be rogue bank from creating another round of victims,' he said.

Following BCCI's crash, the Bank of England was criticised by Kerry and others for failing to protect investors and depositors. It was later stripped of its regulatory functions, which were passed on to the newly-created Financial Services Authority.

BCCI's victims are currently suing the Bank of England for up to £1bn compensation, alleging that Thread- needle Street officials acted with wilful negligence amounting to 'misfeasance in public office'.

The high-profile case at the High Court in London is expected to run for at least another year.

The Bank of England denies the allegation and is fiercely resisting the claim, which threatens to remove the statutory immunity that government departments have against being sued. A Bank spokesman declined to comment on Kerry's remarks, but added: 'Public officials in America enjoy the same immunity'.

Christopher Grierson of Lovells, the law firm representing BCCI's creditors, said: 'We are very pleased to hear that Senator Kerry supports our action.'


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: banking; bcci; ichabodcrane; johnkerry; lurch; nowarhero; swiftees; tarayzasboytoy
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To: flitton
Kerry is an acknowledged expert on the long-running BCCI affair, having led a US Senate investigation into the rogue bank more than 10 years ago.

WoW! Kerry has moved from his Vietnam service 35 years ago to his bank investigation 10 years ago. At this rate, he will be in 2004 by the time he kicks off his 2008 campaign.
21 posted on 12/19/2004 8:24:26 AM PST by TomGuy (America: Best friend or worst enemy. Choose wisely.)
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To: FormerACLUmember

Yeah, Kerry actually did run the Congressional committee that investigated BCCI. His name is on the front page of the report.


22 posted on 12/19/2004 8:29:57 AM PST by angkor
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To: FormerACLUmember
The message from Kerry is clear: Back off, Clintonistas. The party is MINE.

I disagree. The Clintons showed they still own the Party shortly after Kerry locked up the nomination.

Kerry, early in the primaries, stated his first action as party nominee would be to replace McAuliffe. The Clintons stopped that and McAuliffe stayed on. Clintons showed they still own the Party. To insure their control further, the infiltrated the Kerry campaign with many of their own people.

Kerry owns the party about as much as Al did in 2000.

Each has been the party torchbearers for 2000 and 2004, respectively. But Bill and Hill still hold the match that lights the torch.
23 posted on 12/19/2004 8:30:31 AM PST by TomGuy (America: Best friend or worst enemy. Choose wisely.)
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To: flitton

Who is Kerry?


24 posted on 12/19/2004 8:31:27 AM PST by Principled
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To: TomGuy; T'wit; Uncle Bill; Jim Robinson; Alamo-Girl; quidam

Is it time to get the band together???

I miss the old scandals.

Pinz


25 posted on 12/19/2004 8:35:31 AM PST by pinz-n-needlez
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To: T'wit

IIRC, Clark Clifford, the 'venerable' Demo'rat operative was a major mover of BCCI.


26 posted on 12/19/2004 8:35:41 AM PST by expatpat
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To: Principled
Who is Kerry?

He has something to with that Edwards guy who talks to ghosts from the other side. If I remember right, there is something about crossover or crossdressing or some such.
27 posted on 12/19/2004 8:35:43 AM PST by TomGuy (America: Best friend or worst enemy. Choose wisely.)
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To: TomGuy
I disagree. The Clintons showed they still own the Party shortly after Kerry locked up the nomination.

My impression is that there is a behind the scenes war for control of the party. I agree with you that the Clintons have the upper hand.

But this article is proof to me that Kerry is going to be a tougher competitor than the semi-psychotic Gore.

28 posted on 12/19/2004 8:38:04 AM PST by FormerACLUmember (Free Republic is 21st Century Samizdat)
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To: flitton
Senator John Kerry has slated the Bank of England for....

You can color me dense, but what does the author MEAN by "has slated"?

29 posted on 12/19/2004 8:38:36 AM PST by Carolinamom (Christ is the biggest part of CHRISTmas.)
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To: angkor
Kerry actually did run the Congressional committee that investigated BCCI. His name is on the front page of the report.

Absolutely true. AND he knows where the Clintons buried some of the bodies. By that I mean he has hard proof of bribery on a colossal scale.

30 posted on 12/19/2004 8:40:15 AM PST by FormerACLUmember (Free Republic is 21st Century Samizdat)
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To: flitton
I would like to know more about the money laundering within the Kerry campaign.

Perhaps this is why he brings this up now.

31 posted on 12/19/2004 8:40:41 AM PST by Cold Heat (What are fears but voices awry?Whispering harm where harm is not and deluding the unwary. Wordsworth)
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To: Carolinamom

It means criticised. Once again divided by a common language :-)


32 posted on 12/19/2004 8:40:51 AM PST by flitton (Merry Christmas one and all)
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To: FormerACLUmember

The Bank of England basically runs the world, I don't think I'd be getting on their bad side unless: (a)my life insurance is all paid up, or (b)it's all a scam, and everyone at the top knows it is. I vote for (b).


33 posted on 12/19/2004 8:47:39 AM PST by The Loan Arranger (The modern definition of 'racist' is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal.)
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To: flitton

The name sounds vaguely familiar - what's a Kerry?


34 posted on 12/19/2004 8:58:27 AM PST by NCjim
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To: FormerACLUmember; T'wit; TomGuy

Well a little search revealed this gem from 1998.

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a36819f2841a3.htm


35 posted on 12/19/2004 9:04:05 AM PST by flitton (Merry Christmas one and all)
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To: flitton

Hillary Clinton and Webb Hubbell Represented Systematics During The BCCI Takeover Of First American


Allegations Regarding Vince Foster, the NSA, and Banking Transactions Spying, Part IV

by J. Orlin Grabbe

In an April 5, 1995, letter to Michael Geltner (10 E Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003)--an attorney for Agora, Inc.-- Charles O. Morgan asserts;

"6. Webster Hubbell never served as an attorney or in any other capacity for ALLTEL Corporation, or for any of its operations or subsidiaries, other than a single instance in 1983, when Systematics, Inc., engaged Mr. Hubbell to pursue a competitor that was using Systematics, Inc.'s propriety software without authorization; ..."

In his admirable zeal to defend his client Systematics, Mr. Charles O. Morgan apparently forgot to do any research regarding the allegations he was denying. For his denial is mistaken. Web Hubbell (along with Hillary Rodham Clinton) represented Systematics in a 1978 lawsuit.

In 1978 Jackson Stephens tried to take over Financial General Bankshares (FGB) in Washington, D.C. (FGB was later acquired by BCCI, renamed First American, and run by Robert Altman and Clark Clifford. Robert Altman was later acquitted of misleading regulators, and the case against Clifford was dropped due to his age and infirmity.) In the Stephens' takeover attempt, FGB sued--among others--Systematics. Briefs for Systematics were submitted by C.J. Giroir, Web Hubbell, and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The essential details may be found in the article "Who is Jack Ryan?" (Wall Street Journal, Monday, August 1, 1994):

"Attorneys for Mr. Clifford and Mr. Altman included independent counsel Robert Fiske and Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, as well as Robert Bennett, president Clinton's attorney in the Paula Corbin Jones case. And, of course, Arkansas investment banking giant Stephens Inc., which says all connections with the BCCI front men ended in 1978, does acknowledge it handled their initial brokerage for the purchase.

"Indeed, in the early takeover maneuvers Financial General Bankshares, First American's predecessor company, brought a 1978 lawsuit naming 'Bert Lance, Bank of Credit & Commerce International, Agha Hasan Abedhi, Eugene J. Metzger, Jackson Stephens, Stephens Inc., Systematics Inc. and John Does numbers 1 through 25.' The suit was ultimately settled, but intriguingly, briefs for Systematics, a Stephens property, were submitted by a trio of lawyers including C.J. Giroir and Webster L. Hubbell and signed by Hillary Rodham."

First American was subsequently used by the CIA to manage and launder money for covert operations. As noted in a U.S. Senate report:

"After the CIA knew that BCCI was as an institution a fundamentally corrupt criminal enterprise, it continued to use both BCCI and First American, BCCI's secretly held U.S. subsidiary, for CIA operations. ...

"Kamal Adham, who was the CIA's principal liason for the entire Middle East from the mid-1960s through 1979, was the lead frontman for BCCI in its takeover of First American, was an important nominee shareholder for BCCI, and remains one of the key players in the entire BCCI affair." (Senator John Kerry and Senator Hank Brown, *The BCCI Affair: a Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate*, GPO, December 1992.)

The Arkansas connection to CIA covert operations and First American may help explain why "independent" counsel Robert Fiske failed to find much evidence of wrong-doing in his investigation into Whitewater.

And perhaps it also helps explain why Charles O. Morgan does such sloppy research, for as we have seen, Web Hubbell represented his client Systematics Inc. five years prior to the "single instance in 1983" that Charles O. Morgan claims. Does Charles O. Morgan have a blind spot where intelligence activities are concerned?

Surely he has thought about the issue, for in his April 5, 1995, letter to Michael Geltner, Morgan sweepingly asserts:

"4. None of ALLTEL's operations or subsidiaries has ever had any connection in any capacity with the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, or any other similar agency in the United States Government; ..."

How can Charles O. Morgan possibly know this about his client, given that he doesn't even know about that Systematics Inc. was a defendent in a lawsuit brought by Financial General Bankshares, or that Systematics was involved in a takeover attempt of FGB/First American even prior to BCCI's? The BCCI affair was hardly a minor political story.

So what does Charles O. Morgan deny about Vincent Foster?


36 posted on 12/19/2004 9:08:12 AM PST by FormerACLUmember (Free Republic is 21st Century Samizdat)
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To: flitton

"Senator John Kerry"

Hanoi Kerry is NOT a US Senator!

Kerry was an illegal candidate
and is an illegal US Senator per
US Constitution 14th Amendment Section 3

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1300479/posts


37 posted on 12/19/2004 9:16:42 AM PST by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub (US Senate AND Main Stream Right Wing Media READ US Constitution 14th Amendment Section 3)
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To: Lloyd227
(snip) from Whitewater, The Wall Street Journal,A Journal Briefing, Vol.1

Our suspicions are further aroused,we admit, because of the relationship of senior Justice officials to the BCCI case. The most powerful person at Justice now is Jamie Gorelick, the deputy attorney general who in private life played a role in representing Clark Clifford and Robert Altman, the pair who ran Washington's First American Bank when it was illegally owned by BCCI.

38 posted on 12/19/2004 9:29:31 AM PST by BARLF
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To: flitton

Well, if you're picking on banks, Kerry, how about Paribas?


39 posted on 12/19/2004 9:36:02 AM PST by mewzilla
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To: flitton
change the Google search terms to "BCCI democrats" and you get the stuff that we've posted, Hillary, Stephens, Riady, Clifford, etc., but you also get the idea that there's a coordinated effort by the MoveOn.ORG types to spin this as a BUSH scandal:

The BCCI Affair
... Former Defense Secretary Clark Clifford was an essential BCCI frontman. High-ranking
Republicans and Democrats played a crucial role, as well as top corporate ...
www.mediawar.info/CIObcci.htm - 101k - Cached - Similar pages

This one says that remnants of BCCI funded the Bush "election fraud" in this year's election

Unverified ,but thought everyone would like to read this.. ...
... was invested in by Abu Dhabi's ruler (the main owner of BCCI) and whose ... Submitted
by Democrats.com Blog (trackback) (not verified) on November 25, 2004 - 12 ...
blog.democrats.com/node/887 - 40k - Cached - Similar pages

Sen. Kerry Reaps Political Rewards for His Part In BCCI ...
... "People won't understand all the details of BCCI, but BCCI itself plays ... about politics
in America right now is, `Nobody's representing us.'" Democrats, she says ...
rope.wrko-am.fimc.net/howie/xfiles/kerry/kerry_3.htm - 11k - Cached - Similar pages

Daily Kos :: It was BCCI after all (aside from the fraud)
... How does Rove attack BCCI? "Uhhhh....Kerry ... as President. Un...See, Democrats
are always trying to be negative and break things up!". ...
pronin2.dailykos.com/story/2004/12/3/34430/2399 - 20k - Cached - Similar pages

This may also be a shot across the bow for Hillary... "you fight me in 2008 and I'll lay this at your feet"

Kerry Emerging From Obscurity on High Profile Investigations
... Kerry said he has not hesitated to point out the prominent Democrats involved with
BCCI and that the BCCI case, and Paul's connection to it, emerged after he ...
rope.wrko-am.fimc.net/howie/xfiles/kerry/kerry_2.htm - 9k - Cached - Similar pages

Progressive News - The Democrats V-Word by David Corn
... (In another demonstration of his values, Kerry investigated the corrupt BCCI
bank—a ... It is not only right for Democrats—progressive or otherwise—to promote ...
progressivetrail.org/articles/040707Corn.shtml - 18k - Cached - Similar pages

Democrats & Liberals:: Kerry - Capable!
Democrats & Liberals: Archives. ... As a Senator he showed in his leadership of the BCCI
investigations he has the tenacity to delve into complex situations ...
www.watchblog.com/democrats/archives/001588.html - 38k - Cached - Similar pages

This one is priceless (along with the rest of the fantasy on the page).  You have to go down a bit to find the BCCI references, but they state, but then ignore, the Democrat's direct connections while implying that this is a Republican scandal because the cousin of a friend or Bush's knew someone who may have worked for a company BCCI invested in.  That's an exageration, but not by much.

RECOVERED HISTORY: Tales from the memory hole. The Progressive ...
... 1888: The same one point divided the Democrats(Cleveland) and the Republicans (Harrison)
with the Prohibitionists and Union Labor getting 2 ... The BCCI affair. ...
prorev.com/recovered2.htm - 51k - Cached - Similar pages

Folks, this is an organized campaign by the lunatic left.  Watch for this to push the Oil-for-Food scandal totally off the radar screen for the MSM in the next week or so.  They have their marching orders.

40 posted on 12/19/2004 9:52:53 AM PST by Phsstpok (Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform - Mark Twain)
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