November 27, 2010 By Agniveer Leave a Comment
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हमारे पाठकों को अपने विद्यालय के दिनों में पढ़े इतिहास में अकबर का नाम और काम बखूबी याद होगा. रियासतों के रूप में टुकड़ों टुकड़ों में टूटे हुए भारत को एक बनाने की बात हो, या हिन्दू मुस्लिम झगडे मिटाने को दीन ए इलाही चलाने की बात, सब मजहब की दीवारें तोड़कर हिन्दू लड़कियों को अपने साथ शादी करने का सम्मान देने की बात हो, या हिन्दुओं के पवित्र स्थानों पर जाकर सजदा करने की, हिन्दुओं पर से जजिया कर हटाने की बात हो या फिर हिन्दुओं को अपने दरबार में जगह देने की, अकबर ही अकबर सब ओर दिखाई देता है. सच है कि हमारे इतिहासकार किसी को महान यूँ ही नहीं कह देते. इस महानता को पाने के लिए राम, कृष्ण, विक्रमादित्य, पृथ्वीराज, राणा प्रताप, शिवाजी और न जाने ऐसे कितने ही महापुरुषों के नाम तरसते रहे, पर इनके साथ “महान” शब्द न लग सका.
हमें याद है कि इतिहास की किताबों में अकबर पर पूरे अध्याय के अन्दर दो पंक्तियाँ महाराणा प्रताप पर भी होती थीं. मसलन वो कब पैदा हुए, कब मरे, कैसे विद्रोह किया, और कैसे उनके ही राजपूत उनके खिलाफ थे. इतिहासकार महाराणा प्रताप को कभी महान न कह सके. ठीक ही तो है! अकबर और राणा का मुकाबला क्या है? कहाँ अकबर पूरे भारत का सम्राट, अपने हरम में पांच हज़ार से भी ज्यादा औरतों की जिन्दगी रोशन करने वाला, उनसे दिल्लगी कर उन्हें शान बख्शने वाला, बीसियों राजपूत राजाओं को अपने दरबार में रखने वाला, और कहाँ राणा प्रताप, क्षुद्र क्षत्रिय, अपने राज्य के लिए लड़ने वाला, सत्ता का भूखा, सत्ता के लिए वन वन भटककर पत्तलों पर घास की रोटियाँ खाने वाला, जिसका कोई हरम ही नहीं इस तरह का छोटा और निष्ठुर हृदय, सब राजपूतों से केवल इसलिए लड़ने वाला कि उन्होंने अपनी लड़कियां, पत्नियाँ, बहनें अकबर को भेजीं, अकबर “महान” का संधि प्रस्ताव कई बार ठुकराने वाला घमंडी, और मुसलमान राजाओं से रोटी बेटी का सम्बन्ध भी न रखने वाला दकियानूसी, इत्यादि. कहाँ अकबर जैसा त्यागी जो अपने देश को उसके हाल पर छोड़ कर दूसरे देश भारत का भला करने पूरा जीवन यहीं पर रहा, और कहाँ राणा प्रताप जो अपनी जमीन भी ऐसे त्यागी के लिए खाली न कर पाया और इस आशा में कि एक दिन फिर से अपने राज्य पर कब्ज़ा कर लेगा, वनों में धूल फांकता, पत्नी और बच्चों को जंगलों के कष्ट देता सत्ता का भूखा!
अकबर “महान” की महानता बताने से पहले उसके महान पूर्वजों के बारे में थोड़ा जान लेना जरूरी है. भारत में पिछले तेरह सौ सालों से इस्लाम के मानने वालों ने लगातार आक्रमण किये. मुहम्मद बिन कासिम और उसके बाद आने वाले गाजियों ने एक के बाद एक हमला करके, यहाँ लूटमार, बलात्कार, नरसंहार और इन सबसे बढ़कर यहाँ रहने वाले काफिरों को अल्लाह और उसके रसूल की इच्छानुसार मुसलमान बनाने का पवित्र किया. आज के अफगानिस्तान तक पश्चिम में फैला उस समय का भारत धीरे धीरे इस्लाम के शिकंजे में आने लगा. आज के अफगानिस्तान में उस समय अहिंसक बौद्धों की निष्क्रियता ने बहुत नुकसान पहुंचाया क्योंकि इसी के चलते मुहम्मद के गाजियों के लश्कर भारत के अंदर घुस पाए. जहाँ जहाँ तक बौद्धों का प्रभाव था, वहाँ पूरी की पूरी आबादी या तो मुसलमान बना दी गयी या काट दी गयी. जहां हिंदुओं ने प्रतिरोध किया, वहाँ न तो गाजियों की अधिक चली और न अल्लाह की. यही कारण है कि सिंध के पूर्व भाग में आज भी हिंदू बहुसंख्यक हैं क्योंकि सिंध के पूर्व में राजपूत, जाट, आदि वीर जातियों ने इस्लाम को उस रूप में बढ़ने से रोक दिया जिस रूप में वह इराक, ईरान, मिस्र, अफगानिस्तान और सिंध के पश्चिम तक फैला था अर्थात वहाँ की पुरानी संस्कृति को मिटा कर केवल इस्लाम में ही रंग दिया गया पर भारत में ऐसा नहीं हो सका.
पर बीच बीच में लुटेरे आते गए और देश को लूटते गए. तैमूरलंग ने कत्लेआम करने के नए आयाम स्थापित किये और अपनी इस पशुता को बड़ी ढिटाई से अपनी डायरी में भी लिखता गया. इसके बाद मुग़ल आये जो हमारे इतिहास में इस देश से प्यार करने वाले लिखे गए हैं! बताते चलें कि ये देशभक्त और प्रेमपुजारी मुग़ल, तैमूर और चंगेज खान के कुलों के आपस के विवाह संबंधों का ही परिणाम थे. इनमें बाबर हुआ जो अकबर “महान” का दादा था. यह वही बाबर है जिसने अपने काल में न जाने कितने मंदिर तोड़े, कितने ही हिंदुओं को मुसलमान बनाया, कितने ही हिंदुओं के सिर उतारे और उनसे मीनारें बनायीं. यह सब पवित्र कर्म करके वह उनको अपनी डायरी में लिखता भी रहता था ताकि आने वाली उसकी नस्ल इमान की पक्की हो और इसी नेक राह पर चले. क्योंकि मूर्तिपूजा दुनिया की सबसे बड़ी बुराई है और अल्लाह को वह बर्दाश्त नहीं. इस देशभक्त प्रेमपुजारी बाबर ने प्रसिद्ध राम मंदिर भी तुडवाया और उस जगह पर अपने नाम की मस्जिद बनवाई. यह बात अलग है कि वह अपने समय का प्रसिद्ध नशाखोर, शराबी, हत्यारा, समलैंगिक (पुरुषों से भोग करने वाला), छोटे बच्चों के साथ भी बिस्मिल्लाह पढकर भोग करने वाला था. पर वह था पक्का मुसलमान! तभी तो हमारे देश के मुसलमान भाई अपने असली पूर्वजों को भुला कर इस सच्चे मुसलमान के नाम की मस्जिद बनवाने के लिए दिन रात एक किये हुए हैं. खैर यह वो “महान” अकबर का महान दादा था जो अपने पोते के कारनामों से इस्लामी इतिहास में अपना नाम सुनहरे अक्षरों से लिखवा गया.
ऐसे महान दादा के पोते स्वनामधन्य अकबर “महान” के जीवन के कुछ दृश्य आपके सामने रखते हैं. इस काम में हम किसी हिन्दुवादी इतिहासकार के प्रमाण नहीं देंगे क्योंकि वे तो खामखाह अकबर “महान” से चिढ़ते हैं! हम देंगे प्रमाण अबुल फज़ल (अकबर का खास दरबारी) की आइन ए अकबरी और अकबरनामा से. और साथ ही अकबर के जीवन पर सबसे ज्यादा प्रामाणिक इतिहासकार विन्सेंट स्मिथ की अंग्रेजी की किताब “अकबर- द ग्रेट मुग़ल” से. हम दोनों किताबों के प्रमाणों को हिंदी में देंगे ताकि सबको पढ़ने में आसानी रहे. यहाँ याद रहे कि ये दोनों लेखक सदा इस बात के लिए निशाने पर रहे हैं कि इन्होने अकबर की प्रशंसा करते करते बहुत झूठ बातें लिखी हैं, इन्होने बहुत सी उसकी कमियां छुपाई हैं. पर हम यहाँ यह दिखाएँगे कि अकबर के कर्मों का प्रताप ही कुछ ऐसा था कि सच्चाई सौ परदे फाड़ कर उसी तरह सामने आ जाती है जैसे कि अँधेरे को चीर कर उजाला.
तो अब नजर डालते हैं अकबर महान से जुडी कुछ बातों पर-
अकबर महान का आगाज़
१. विन्सेंट स्मिथ ने किताब यहाँ से शुरू की है कि “अकबर भारत में एक विदेशी था. उसकी नसों में एक बूँद खून भी भारतीय नहीं था…. अकबर मुग़ल से ज्यादा एक तुर्क था” पर देखिये! हमारे इतिहासकारों और कहानीकारों ने अकबर को एक भारतीय के रूप में पेश किया है. जबकि हकीकत यह है कि अकबर के सभी पूर्वज बाबर, हुमायूं, से लेकर तैमूर तक सब भारत में लूट, बलात्कार, धर्म परिवर्तन, मंदिर विध्वंस, आदि कामों में लगे रहे. वे कभी एक भारतीय नहीं थे और इसी तरह अकबर भी नहीं था. और इस पर भी हमारी हिंदू जाति अकबर को हिन्दुस्तान की शान समझती रही!
अकबर महान की सुंदरता और अच्छी आदतें
२. बाबर शराब का शौक़ीन था, इतना कि अधिकतर समय धुत रहता था [बाबरनामा]. हुमायूं अफीम का शौक़ीन था और इस वजह से बहुत लाचार भी हो गया. अकबर ने ये दोनों आदतें अपने पिता और दादा से विरासत में लीं. अकबर के दो बच्चे नशाखोरी की आदत के चलते अल्लाह को प्यारे हुए. पर इतने पर भी इस बात पर तो किसी मुसलमान भाई को शक ही नहीं कि ये सब सच्चे मुसलमान थे.
३. कई इतिहासकार अकबर को सबसे सुन्दर आदमी घोषित करते हैं. विन्सेंट स्मिथ इस सुंदरता का वर्णन यूँ करते हैं-
“अकबर एक औसत दर्जे की लम्बाई का था. उसके बाएं पैर में लंगड़ापन था. उसका सिर अपने दायें कंधे की तरफ झुका रहता था. उसकी नाक छोटी थी जिसकी हड्डी बाहर को निकली हुई थी. उसके नाक के नथुने ऐसे दीखते थे जैसे वो गुस्से में हो. आधे मटर के दाने के बराबर एक मस्सा उसके होंठ और नथुनों को मिलाता था. वह गहरे रंग का था”
४. जहाँगीर ने लिखा है कि अकबर उसे सदा शेख ही बुलाता था भले ही वह नशे की हालत में हो या चुस्ती की हालत में. इसका मतलब यह है कि अकबर काफी बार नशे की हालत में रहता था.
५. अकबर का दरबारी लिखता है कि अकबर ने इतनी ज्यादा पीनी शुरू कर दी थी कि वह मेहमानों से बात करता करता भी नींद में गिर पड़ता था. वह अक्सर ताड़ी पीता था. वह जब ज्यादा पी लेता था तो आपे से बाहर हो जाता था और पागलो के जैसे हरकत करने लगता.
अकबर महान की शिक्षा
६. जहाँगीर ने लिखा है कि अकबर कुछ भी लिखना पढ़ना नहीं जानता था पर यह दिखाता था कि वह बड़ा भारी विद्वान है.
अकबर महान का मातृशक्ति (स्त्रियों) के लिए आदर
७. अबुल फज़ल ने लिखा है कि अपने राजा बनने के शुरूआती सालों में अकबर परदे के पीछे ही रहा! परदे के पीछे वो किस बेशर्मी को बेपर्दा कर रहा था उसकी जानकारी आगे पढ़िए.
८. अबुल फज़ल ने अकबर के हरम को इस तरह वर्णित किया है- “अकबर के हरम में पांच हजार औरतें थीं और हर एक का अपना अलग घर था.” ये पांच हजार औरतें उसकी ३६ पत्नियों से अलग थीं.
९. आइन ए अकबरी में अबुल फजल ने लिखा है- “शहंशाह के महल के पास ही एक शराबखाना बनाया गया था. वहाँ इतनी वेश्याएं इकट्ठी हो गयीं कि उनकी गिनती करनी भी मुश्किल हो गयी. दरबारी नर्तकियों को अपने घर ले जाते थे. अगर कोई दरबारी किसी नयी लड़की को घर ले जाना चाहे तो उसको अकबर से आज्ञा लेनी पड़ती थी. कई बार जवान लोगों में लड़ाई झगडा भी हो जाता था. एक बार अकबर ने खुद कुछ वेश्याओं को बुलाया और उनसे पूछा कि उनसे सबसे पहले भोग किसने किया”.
अब यहाँ सवाल पैदा होता है कि ये वेश्याएं इतनी बड़ी संख्या में कहाँ से आयीं और कौन थीं? आप सब जानते ही होंगे कि इस्लाम में स्त्रियाँ परदे में रहती हैं, बाहर नहीं. और फिर अकबर जैसे नेक मुसलमान को इतना तो ख्याल होगा ही कि मुसलमान औरतों से वेश्यावृत्ति कराना गलत है. तो अब यह सोचना कठिन नहीं है कि ये स्त्रियां कौन थीं. ये वो स्त्रियाँ थीं जो लूट के माल में अल्लाह द्वारा मोमिनों के भोगने के लिए दी जाती हैं, अर्थात काफिरों की हत्या करके उनकी लड़कियां, पत्नियाँ आदि. अकबर की सेनाओं के हाथ युद्ध में जो भी हिंदू स्त्रियाँ लगती थीं, ये उसी की भीड़ मदिरालय में लगती थी.
१०. अबुल फजल ने अकबरनामा में लिखा है- “जब भी कभी कोई रानी, दरबारियों की पत्नियाँ, या नयी लडकियां शहंशाह की सेवा (यह साधारण सेवा नहीं है) में जाना चाहती थी तो पहले उसे अपना आवेदन पत्र हरम प्रबंधक के पास भेजना पड़ता था. फिर यह पत्र महल के अधिकारियों तक पहुँचता था और फिर जाकर उन्हें हरम के अंदर जाने दिया जाता जहां वे एक महीने तक रखी जाती थीं.”
अब यहाँ देखना चाहिए कि चाटुकार अबुल फजल भी इस बात को छुपा नहीं सका कि अकबर अपने हरम में दरबारियों, राजाओं और लड़कियों तक को भी महीने के लिए रख लेता था. पूरी प्रक्रिया को संवैधानिक बनाने के लिए इस धूर्त चाटुकार ने चाल चली है कि स्त्रियाँ खुद अकबर की सेवा में पत्र भेज कर जाती थीं! इस मूर्ख को इतनी बुद्धि भी नहीं थी कि ऐसी कौन सी स्त्री होगी जो पति के सामने ही खुल्लम खुल्ला किसी और पुरुष की सेवा में जाने का आवेदन पत्र दे दे? मतलब यह है कि वास्तव में अकबर महान खुद ही आदेश देकर जबरदस्ती किसी को भी अपने हरम में रख लेता था और उनका सतीत्व नष्ट करता था.
११. रणथंभोर की संधि में अकबर महान की पहली शर्त यह थी कि राजपूत अपनी स्त्रियों की डोलियों को अकबर के शाही हरम के लिए रवाना कर दें यदि वे अपने सिपाही वापस चाहते हैं.
१२. बैरम खान जो अकबर के पिता तुल्य और संरक्षक था, उसकी हत्या करके इसने उसकी पत्नी अर्थात अपनी माता के तुल्य स्त्री से शादी की.
१३. ग्रीमन के अनुसार अकबर अपनी रखैलों को अपने दरबारियों में बाँट देता था. औरतों को एक वस्तु की तरह बांटना और खरीदना अकबर महान बखूबी करता था.
१४. मीना बाजार जो हर नए साल की पहली शाम को लगता था, इसमें सब स्त्रियों को सज धज कर आने के आदेश दिए जाते थे और फिर अकबर महान उनमें से किसी को चुन लेते थे.
नेक दिल अकबर महान
१५. ६ नवम्बर १५५६ को १४ साल की आयु में अकबर महान पानीपत की लड़ाई में भाग ले रहा था. हिंदू राजा हेमू की सेना मुग़ल सेना को खदेड़ रही थी कि अचानक हेमू को आँख में तीर लगा और वह बेहोश हो गया. उसे मरा सोचकर उसकी सेना में भगदड़ मच गयी. तब हेमू को बेहोशी की हालत में अकबर महान के सामने लाया गया और इसने बहादुरी से हेमू का सिर काट लिया और तब इसे गाजी के खिताब से नवाजा गया. (गाजी की पदवी इस्लाम में उसे मिलती है जिसने किसी काफिर को कतल किया हो. ऐसे गाजी को जन्नत नसीब होती है और वहाँ सबसे सुन्दर हूरें इनके लिए बुक होती हैं). हेमू के सिर को काबुल भिजा दिया गया एवं उसके धड को दिल्ली के दरवाजे से लटका दिया गया ताकि नए आतंकवादी बादशाह की रहमदिली सब को पता चल सके.
१६. इसके तुरंत बाद जब अकबर महान की सेना दिल्ली आई तो कटे हुए काफिरों के सिरों से मीनार बनायी गयी जो जीत के जश्न का प्रतीक है और यह तरीका अकबर महान के पूर्वजों से ही चला आ रहा है.
१७. हेमू के बूढ़े पिता को भी अकबर महान ने कटवा डाला. और औरतों को उनकी सही जगह अर्थात शाही हरम में भिजवा दिया गया.
१८. अबुल फजल लिखता है कि खान जमन के विद्रोह को दबाने के लिए उसके साथी मोहम्मद मिराक को हथकडियां लगा कर हाथी के सामने छोड़ दिया गया. हाथी ने उसे सूंड से उठाकर फैंक दिया. ऐसा पांच दिनों तक चला और उसके बाद उसको मार डाला गया.
१९. चित्तौड़ पर कब्ज़ा करने के बाद अकबर महान ने तीस हजार नागरिकों का क़त्ल करवाया.
२०. अकबर ने मुजफ्फर शाह को हाथी से कुचलवाया. हमजबान की जबान ही कटवा डाली. मसूद हुसैन मिर्ज़ा की आँखें सीकर बंद कर दी गयीं. उसके ३०० साथी उसके सामने लाये गए और उनके चेहरे पर गधों, भेड़ों और कुत्तों की खालें डाल कर काट डाला गया. विन्सेंट स्मिथ ने यह लिखा है कि अकबर महान फांसी देना, सिर कटवाना, शरीर के अंग कटवाना, आदि सजाएं भी देते थे.
२१. २ सितम्बर १५७३ के दिन अहमदाबाद में उसने २००० दुश्मनों के सिर काटकर अब तक की सबसे ऊंची सिरों की मीनार बनायी. वैसे इसके पहले सबसे ऊंची मीनार बनाने का सौभाग्य भी अकबर महान के दादा बाबर का ही था. अर्थात कीर्तिमान घर के घर में ही रहा!
२२. अकबरनामा के अनुसार जब बंगाल का दाउद खान हारा, तो कटे सिरों के आठ मीनार बनाए गए थे. यह फिर से एक नया कीर्तिमान था. जब दाउद खान ने मरते समय पानी माँगा तो उसे जूतों में पानी पीने को दिया गया.
न्यायकारी अकबर महान
२३. थानेश्वर में दो संप्रदायों कुरु और पुरी के बीच पूजा की जगह को लेकर विवाद चल रहा था. अकबर ने आदेश दिया कि दोनों आपस में लड़ें और जीतने वाला जगह पर कब्ज़ा कर ले. उन मूर्ख आत्मघाती लोगों ने आपस में ही अस्त्र शस्त्रों से लड़ाई शुरू कर दी. जब पुरी पक्ष जीतने लगा तो अकबर ने अपने सैनकों को कुरु पक्ष की तरफ से लड़ने का आदेश दिया. और अंत में इसने दोनों तरफ के लोगों को ही अपने सैनिकों से मरवा डाला. और फिर अकबर महान जोर से हंसा.
२४. हल्दीघाटी के युद्ध में अकबर की नीति यही थी कि राजपूत ही राजपूतों के विरोध में लड़ें. बादायुनी ने अकबर के सेनापति से बीच युद्ध में पूछा कि प्रताप के राजपूतों को हमारी तरफ से लड़ रहे राजपूतों से कैसे अलग पहचानेंगे? तब उसने कहा कि इसकी जरूरत नहीं है क्योंकि किसी भी हालत में मरेंगे तो राजपूत ही और फायदा इस्लाम का होगा.
२५. कर्नल टोड लिखते हैं कि अकबर ने एकलिंग की मूर्ति तोड़ी और उस स्थान पर नमाज पढ़ी.
२६. एक बार अकबर शाम के समय जल्दी सोकर उठ गया तो उसने देखा कि एक नौकर उसके बिस्तर के पास सो रहा है. इससे उसको इतना गुस्सा आया कि नौकर को इस बात के लिए एक मीनार से नीचे फिंकवा दिया.
२७. अगस्त १६०० में अकबर की सेना ने असीरगढ़ का किला घेर लिया पर मामला बराबरी का था. न तो वह किला टोड पाया और न ही किले की सेना अकबर को हरा सकी. विन्सेंट स्मिथ ने लिखा है कि अकबर ने एक अद्भुत तरीका सोचा. उसने किले के राजा मीरां बहादुर को आमंत्रित किया और अपने सिर की कसम खाई कि उसे सुरक्षित वापस जाने देगा. तब मीरां शान्ति के नाम पर बाहर आया और अकबर के सामने सम्मान दिखाने के लिए तीन बार झुका. पर अचानक उसे जमीन पर धक्का दिया गया ताकि वह पूरा सजदा कर सके क्योंकि अकबर महान को यही पसंद था.
उसको अब पकड़ लिया गया और आज्ञा दी गयी कि अपने सेनापति को कहकर आत्मसमर्पण करवा दे. सेनापति ने मानने से मना कर दिया और अपने लड़के को अकबर के पास यह पूछने भेजा कि उसने अपनी प्रतिज्ञा क्यों तोड़ी? अकबर ने बच्चे से पूछा कि क्या तेरा पिता आत्मसमर्पण के लिए तैयार है? तब बालक ने कहा कि उसका पिता समर्पण नहीं करेगा चाहे राजा को मार ही क्यों न डाला जाए. यह सुनकर अकबर महान ने उस बालक को मार डालने का आदेश दिया. इस तरह झूठ के बल पर अकबर महान ने यह किला जीता.
यहाँ ध्यान देना चाहिए कि यह घटना अकबर की मृत्यु से पांच साल पहले की ही है. अतः कई लोगों का यह कहना कि अकबर बाद में बदल गया था, एक झूठ बात है.
२८. इसी तरह अपने ताकत के नशे में चूर अकबर ने बुंदेलखंड की प्रतिष्ठित रानी दुर्गावती से लड़ाई की और लोगों का क़त्ल किया.
अकबर महान और महाराणा प्रताप
२९. ऐसे इतिहासकार जिनका अकबर दुलारा और चहेता है, एक बात नहीं बताते कि कैसे एक ही समय पर राणा प्रताप और अकबर महान हो सकते थे जबकि दोनों एक दूसरे के घोर विरोधी थे?
३०. यहाँ तक कि विन्सेंट स्मिथ जैसे अकबर प्रेमी को भी यह बात माननी पड़ी कि चित्तौड़ पर हमले के पीछे केवल उसकी सब कुछ जीतने की हवस ही काम कर रही थी. वहीँ दूसरी तरफ महाराणा प्रताप अपने देश के लिए लड़ रहे थे और कोशिश की कि राजपूतों की इज्जत उनकी स्त्रियां मुगलों के हरम में न जा सकें. शायद इसी लिए अकबर प्रेमी इतिहासकारों ने राणा को लड़ाकू और अकबर को देश निर्माता के खिताब से नवाजा है!
अकबर महान अगर, राणा शैतान तो
शूकर है राजा, नहीं शेर वनराज है
अकबर आबाद और राणा बर्बाद है तो
हिजड़ों की झोली पुत्र, पौरुष बेकार है
अकबर महाबली और राणा बलहीन तो
कुत्ता चढ़ा है जैसे मस्तक गजराज है
अकबर सम्राट, राणा छिपता भयभीत तो
हिरण सोचे, सिंह दल उसका शिकार है
अकबर निर्माता, देश भारत है उसकी देन
कहना यह जिनका शत बार धिक्कार है
अकबर है प्यारा जिसे राणा स्वीकार नहीं
रगों में पिता का जैसे खून अस्वीकार है.
अकबर और इस्लाम
३१. हिन्दुस्तानी मुसलमानों को यह कह कर बेवकूफ बनाया जाता है कि अकबर ने इस्लाम की अच्छाइयों को पेश किया. असलियत यह है कि कुरआन के खिलाफ जाकर ३६ शादियाँ करना, शराब पीना, नशा करना, दूसरों से अपने आगे सजदा करवाना आदि करके भी इस्लाम को अपने दामन से बाँधे रखा ताकि राजनैतिक फायदा मिल सके. और सबसे मजेदार बात यह है कि वंदे मातरम में शिर्क दिखाने वाले मुल्ला मौलवी अकबर की शराब, अफीम, ३६ बीवियों, और अपने लिए करवाए सजदों में भी इस्लाम को महफूज़ पाते हैं! किसी मौलवी ने आज तक यह फतवा नहीं दिया कि अकबर या बाबर जैसे शराबी और समलैंगिक मुसलमान नहीं हैं और इनके नाम की मस्जिद हराम है.
३२. अकबर ने खुद को दिव्य आदमी के रूप में पेश किया. उसने लोगों को आदेश दिए कि आपस में “अल्लाह ओ अकबर” कह कर अभिवादन किया जाए. भोले भाले मुसलमान सोचते हैं कि वे यह कह कर अल्लाह को बड़ा बता रहे हैं पर अकबर ने अल्लाह के साथ अपना नाम जोड़कर अपनी दिव्यता फैलानी चाही. अबुल फज़ल के अनुसार अकबर खुद को सर्वज्ञ (सब कुछ जानने वाला) की तरह पेश करता था. ऐसा ही इसके लड़के जहांगीर ने लिखा है.
३३. अकबर ने अपना नया पंथ दीन ए इलाही चलाया जिसका केवल एक मकसद खुद की बडाई करवाना था. उसके चाटुकारों ने इस धूर्तता को भी उसकी उदारता की तरह पेश किया!
३४. अकबर को इतना महान बताए जाने का एक कारण ईसाई इतिहासकारों का यह था कि क्योंकि इसने हिंदू धर्म और इस्लाम दोनों का ही जम कर अपमान किया और इस तरह भारत में अंग्रेजों के इसाईयत फैलाने के उद्देश्य में बड़ा कारण बना. विन्सेंट स्मिथ ने भी इस विषय पर अपनी राय दी है.
३५. अकबर भाषा बोलने में बड़ा चतुर था. विन्सेंट स्मिथ लिखता है कि मीठी भाषा के अलावा उसकी सबसे बड़ी खूबी अपने जीवन में दिखाई बर्बरता है!
३६. अकबर ने अपने को रूहानी ताकतों से भरपूर साबित करने के लिए कितने ही झूठ बोले. जैसे कि उसके पैरों की धुलाई करने से निकले गंदे पानी में अद्भुत ताकत है जो रोगों का इलाज कर सकता है. ये वैसे ही दावे हैं जैसे मुहम्मद साहब के बारे में हदीसों में किये गए हैं. अकबर के पैरों का पानी लेने के लिए लोगों की भीड़ लगवाई जाती थी. उसके दरबारियों को तो यह अकबर के नापाक पैर का चरणामृत पीना पड़ता था ताकि वह नाराज न हो जाए.
अकबर महान और जजिया कर
३७. इस्लामिक शरीयत के अनुसार किसी भी इस्लामी राज्य में रहने वाले गैर मुस्लिमों को अगर अपनी संपत्ति और स्त्रियों को छिनने से सुरक्षित रखना होता था तो उनको इसकी कीमत देनी पड़ती थी जिसे जजिया कहते थे. यानी इसे देकर फिर कोई अल्लाह व रसूल का गाजी आपकी संपत्ति, बेटी, बहन, पत्नी आदि को नहीं उठाएगा. कुछ अकबर प्रेमी कहते हैं कि अकबर ने जजिया खत्म कर दिया था. लेकिन इस बात का इतिहास में एक जगह भी उल्लेख नहीं! केवल इतना है कि यह जजिया रणथम्भौर के लिए माफ करने की शर्त राखी गयी थी जिसके बदले वहाँ के हिंदुओं को अपनी स्त्रियों को अकबर के हरम में भिजवाना था! यही कारण बना की इन मुस्लिम सुल्तानों के काल में हिन्दू स्त्रियाँ जौहर में जलना अधिक पसंद करती थी.
३८. यह एक सफ़ेद झूठ है कि उसने जजिया खत्म कर दिया. आखिरकार अकबर जैसा सच्चा मुसलमान जजिया जैसे कुरआन के आदेश को कैसे हटा सकता था? इतिहास में कोई प्रमाण नहीं की उसने अपने राज्य में कभी जजिया बंद करवाया हो.
अकबर महान और उसका सपूत
३९. भारत में महान इस्लामिक शासन की सबसे बड़ी विशेषता यह थी कि बादशाह के अपने बच्चे ही उसके खिलाफ बगावत कर बैठते थे! हुमायूं बाबर से दुखी था और जहांगीर अकबर से, शाहजहां जहांगीर से दुखी था तो औरंगजेब शाहजहाँ से. जहांगीर (सलीम) ने १६०२ में खुद को बादशाह घोषित कर दिया और अपना दरबार इलाहबाद में लगाया. कुछ इतिहासकार कहते हैं की जोधा अकबर की पत्नी थी या जहाँगीर की, इस पर विवाद है. संभवतः यही इनकी दुश्मनी का कारण बना, क्योंकि सल्तनत के तख़्त के लिए तो जहाँगीर के आलावा कोई और दावेदार था ही नहीं!
४०. ध्यान रहे कि इतिहासकारों के लाडले और सबसे उदारवादी राजा अकबर ने ही सबसे पहले “प्रयागराज” जैसे काफिर शब्द को बदल कर इलाहबाद कर दिया था.
४१. जहांगीर अपने अब्बूजान अकबर महान की मौत की ही दुआएं करने लगा. स्मिथ लिखता है कि अगर जहांगीर का विद्रोह कामयाब हो जाता तो वह अकबर को मार डालता. बाप को मारने की यह कोशिश यहाँ तो परवान न चढी लेकिन आगे जाकर आखिरकार यह सफलता औरंगजेब को मिली जिसने अपने अब्बू को कष्ट दे दे कर मारा. वैसे कई इतिहासकार यह कहते हैं कि अकबर को जहांगीर ने ही जहर देकर मारा.
अकबर महान और उसका शक्की दिमाग
४२. अकबर ने एक आदमी को केवल इसी काम पर रखा था कि वह उनको जहर दे सके जो लोग अकबर को पसंद नहीं!
४३. अकबर महान ने न केवल कम भरोसेमंद लोगों का कतल कराया बल्कि उनका भी कराया जो उसके भरोसे के आदमी थे जैसे- बैरम खान (अकबर का गुरु जिसे मारकर अकबर ने उसकी बीवी से निकाह कर लिया), जमन, असफ खान (इसका वित्त मंत्री), शाह मंसूर, मानसिंह, कामरान का बेटा, शेख अब्दुरनबी, मुइजुल मुल्क, हाजी इब्राहिम और बाकी सब मुल्ला जो इसे नापसंद थे. पूरी सूची स्मिथ की किताब में दी हुई है. और फिर जयमल जिसे मारने के बाद उसकी पत्नी को अपने हरम के लिए खींच लाया और लोगों से कहा कि उसने इसे सती होने से बचा लिया!
समाज सेवक अकबर महान
४४. अकबर के शासन में मरने वाले की संपत्ति बादशाह के नाम पर जब्त कर ली जाती थी और मृतक के घर वालों का उस पर कोई अधिकार नहीं होता था.
४५. अपनी माँ के मरने पर उसकी भी संपत्ति अपने कब्जे में ले ली जबकि उसकी माँ उसे सब परिवार में बांटना चाहती थी.
अकबर महान और उसके नवरत्न
४६. अकबर के चाटुकारों ने राजा विक्रमादित्य के दरबार की कहानियों के आधार पर उसके दरबार और नौ रत्नों की कहानी घड़ी है. असलियत यह है कि अकबर अपने सब दरबारियों को मूर्ख समझता था. उसने कहा था कि वह अल्लाह का शुक्रगुजार है कि इसको योग्य दरबारी नहीं मिले वरना लोग सोचते कि अकबर का राज उसके दरबारी चलाते हैं वह खुद नहीं.
४७. प्रसिद्ध नवरत्न टोडरमल अकबर की लूट का हिसाब करता था. इसका काम था जजिया न देने वालों की औरतों को हरम का रास्ता दिखाना.
४८. एक और नवरत्न अबुल फजल अकबर का अव्वल दर्जे का चाटुकार था. बाद में जहाँगीर ने इसे मार डाला.
४९. फैजी नामक रत्न असल में एक साधारण सा कवि था जिसकी कलम अपने शहंशाह को प्रसन्न करने के लिए ही चलती थी. कुछ इतिहासकार कहते हैं कि वह अपने समय का भारत का सबसे बड़ा कवि था. आश्चर्य इस बात का है कि यह सर्वश्रेष्ठ कवि एक अनपढ़ और जाहिल शहंशाह की प्रशंसा का पात्र था! यह ऐसी ही बात है जैसे कोई अरब का मनुष्य किसी संस्कृत के कवि के भाषा सौंदर्य का गुणगान करता हो!
५०. बुद्धिमान बीरबल शर्मनाक तरीके से एक लड़ाई में मारा गया. बीरबल अकबर के किस्से असल में मन बहलाव की बातें हैं जिनका वास्तविकता से कोई सम्बन्ध नहीं. ध्यान रहे कि ऐसी कहानियाँ दक्षिण भारत में तेनालीराम के नाम से भी प्रचलित हैं.
५१. अगले रत्न शाह मंसूर दूसरे रत्न अबुल फजल के हाथों सबसे बड़े रत्न अकबर के आदेश पर मार डाले गए!
५२. मान सिंह जो देश में पैदा हुआ सबसे नीच गद्दार था, ने अपनी बहन जहांगीर को दी. और बाद में इसी जहांगीर ने मान सिंह की पोती को भी अपने हरम में खींच लिया. यही मानसिंह अकबर के आदेश पर जहर देकर मार डाला गया और इसके पिता भगवान दास ने आत्महत्या कर ली.
५३. इन नवरत्नों को अपनी बीवियां, लडकियां, बहनें तो अकबर की खिदमत में भेजनी पड़ती ही थीं ताकि बादशाह सलामत उनको भी सलामत रखें. और साथ ही अकबर महान के पैरों पर डाला गया पानी भी इनको पीना पड़ता था जैसा कि ऊपर बताया गया है.
५४. रत्न टोडरमल अकबर का वफादार था तो भी उसकी पूजा की मूर्तियां अकबर ने तुडवा दीं. इससे टोडरमल को दुःख हुआ और इसने इस्तीफ़ा दे दिया और वाराणसी चला गया.
अकबर और उसके गुलाम
५५. अकबर ने एक ईसाई पुजारी को एक रूसी गुलाम का पूरा परिवार भेंट में दिया. इससे पता चलता है कि अकबर गुलाम रखता था और उन्हें वस्तु की तरह भेंट में दिया और लिया करता था.
५६. कंधार में एक बार अकबर ने बहुत से लोगों को गुलाम बनाया क्योंकि उन्होंने १५८१-८२ में इसकी किसी नीति का विरोध किया था. बाद में इन गुलामों को मंडी में बेच कर घोड़े खरीदे गए.
५७. जब शाही दस्ते शहर से बाहर जाते थे तो अकबर के हरम की औरतें जानवरों की तरह सोने के पिंजरों में बंद कर दी जाती थीं.
५८. वैसे भी इस्लाम के नियमों के अनुसार युद्ध में पकडे गए लोग और उनके बीवी बच्चे गुलाम समझे जाते हैं जिनको अपनी हवस मिटाने के लिए भी प्रयोग किया जा सकता है. अल्लाह ने कुरान में यह व्यवस्था दे रखी है.
५९. अकबर बहुत नए तरीकों से गुलाम बनाता था. उसके आदमी किसी भी घोड़े के सिर पर एक फूल रख देते थे. फिर बादशाह की आज्ञा से उस घोड़े के मालिक के सामने दो विकल्प रखे जाते थे, या तो वह अपने घोड़े को भूल जाये, या अकबर की वित्तीय गुलामी क़ुबूल करे.
कुछ और तथ्य
६०. जब अकबर मरा था तो उसके पास दो करोड़ से ज्यादा अशर्फियाँ केवल आगरे के किले में थीं. इसी तरह के और खजाने छह और जगह पर भी थे. इसके बावजूद भी उसने १५९५-१५९९ की भयानक भुखमरी के समय एक सिक्का भी देश की सहायता में खर्च नहीं किया.
६१. अकबर ने प्रयागराज (जिसे बाद में इसी धर्म निरपेक्ष महात्मा ने इलाहबाद नाम दिया था) में गंगा के तटों पर रहने वाली सारी आबादी का क़त्ल करवा दिया और सब इमारतें गिरा दीं क्योंकि जब उसने इस शहर को जीता तो लोग उसके इस्तकबाल करने की जगह घरों में छिप गए. यही कारण है कि प्रयागराज के तटों पर कोई पुरानी इमारत नहीं है.
६२. एक बहुत बड़ा झूठ यह है कि फतेहपुर सीकरी अकबर ने बनवाया था. इसका कोई विश्वसनीय प्रमाण नहीं है. बाकी दरिंदे लुटेरों की तरह इसने भी पहले सीकरी पर आक्रमण किया और फिर प्रचारित कर दिया कि यह मेरा है. इसी तरह इसके पोते और इसी की तरह दरिंदे शाहजहाँ ने यह ढोल पिटवाया था कि ताज महल इसने बनवाया है वह भी अपनी चौथी पत्नी की याद में जो इसके और अपने सत्रहवें बच्चे को पैदा करने के समय चल बसी थी!
तो ये कुछ उदाहरण थे अकबर “महान” के जीवन से ताकि आपको पता चले कि हमारे नपुंसक इतिहासकारों की नजरों में महान बनना क्यों हर किसी के बस की बात नहीं. क्या इतिहासकार और क्या फिल्मकार और क्या कलाकार, सब एक से एक मक्कार, देशद्रोही, कुल कलंक, नपुंसक हैं जिन्हें फिल्म बनाते हुए अकबर तो दीखता है पर महाराणा प्रताप कहीं नहीं दीखता. अब देखिये कि अकबर पर बनी फिल्मों में इस शराबी, नशाखोर, बलात्कारी, और लाखों हिंदुओं के हत्यारे अकबर के बारे में क्या दिखाया गया है और क्या छुपाया. बैरम खान की पत्नी, जो इसकी माता के सामान थी, से इसकी शादी का जिक्र किसी ने नहीं किया. इस जानवर को इस तरह पेश किया गया है कि जैसे फरिश्ता! जोधाबाई से इसकी शादी की कहानी दिखा दी पर यह नहीं बताया कि जोधा असल में जहांगीर की पत्नी थी और शायद दोनों उसका उपभोग कर रहे थे. दिखाया यह गया कि इसने हिंदू लड़की से शादी करके उसका धर्म नहीं बदला, यहाँ तक कि उसके लिए उसके महल में मंदिर बनवाया! असलियत यह है कि बरसों पुराने वफादार टोडरमल की पूजा की मूर्ति भी जिस अकबर से सहन न हो सकी और उसे झट तोड़ दिया, ऐसे अकबर ने लाचार लड़की के लिए मंदिर बनवाया, यह दिखाना धूर्तता की पराकाष्ठा है. पूरी की पूरी कहानियाँ जैसे मुगलों ने हिन्दुस्तान को अपना घर समझा और इसे प्यार दिया, हेमू का सिर काटने से अकबर का इनकार, देश की शान्ति और सलामती के लिए जोधा से शादी, उसका धर्म परिवर्तन न करना, हिंदू रीति से शादी में आग के चारों तरफ फेरे लेना, राज महल में जोधा का कृष्ण मंदिर और अकबर का उसके साथ पूजा में खड़े होकर तिलक लगवाना, अकबर को हिंदुओं को जबरन इस्लाम क़ुबूल करवाने का विरोधी बताना, हिंदुओं पर से कर हटाना, उसके राज्य में हिंदुओं को भी उसका प्रशंसक बताना, आदि ऐसी हैं जो असलियत से कोसों दूर हैं जैसा कि अब आपको पता चल गयी होंगी. “हिन्दुस्तान मेरी जान तू जान ए हिन्दोस्तां” जैसे गाने अकबर जैसे बलात्कारी, और हत्यारे के लिए लिखने वालों और उन्हें दिखाने वालों को उसी के सामान झूठा और दरिंदा समझा जाना चाहिए.
चित्तौड़ में तीस हजार लोगों का कत्लेआम करने वाला, हिंदू स्त्रियों को एक के बाद एक अपनी पत्नी या रखैल बनने पर विवश करने वाला, नगरों और गाँवों में जाकर नरसंहार कराकर लोगों के कटे सिरों से मीनार बनाने वाला, जिस देश के इतिहास में महान, सम्राट, “शान ए हिन्दोस्तां” लिखा जाए और उसे देश का निर्माता कहा जाए कि भारत को एक छत्र के नीचे उसने खड़ा कर दिया, उस देश का विनाश ही होना चाहिए. वहीं दूसरी तरफ जो ऐसे दरिंदे, नपुंसक के विरुद्ध धर्म और देश की रक्षा करता हुआ अपने से कई गुना अधिक सेनाओं से लड़ा, जंगल जंगल मारा मारा फिरता रहा, अपना राज्य छोड़ा, सब साथियों को छोड़ा, पत्तल पर घास की रोटी खाकर भी जिसने वैदिक धर्म की अग्नि को तुर्की आंधी से कभी बुझने नहीं दिया, वह महाराणा प्रताप इन इतिहासकारों और फिल्मकारों की दृष्टि में “जान ए हिन्दुस्तान” तो दूर “जान ए राजस्थान” भी नहीं था! उसे सदा अपने राज्य मेवाड़ की सत्ता के लिए लड़ने वाला एक लड़ाका ही बताया गया जिसके लिए इतिहास की किताबों में चार पंक्तियाँ ही पर्याप्त हैं. ऐसी मानसिकता और विचारधारा, जिसने हमें अपने असली गौरवशाली इतिहास को आज तक नहीं पढ़ने दिया, हमारे कातिलों और लुटेरों को महापुरुष बताया और शिवाजी और राणा प्रताप जैसे धर्म रक्षकों को लुटेरा और स्वार्थी बताया, को आज अपने पैरों तले रौंदना है. संकल्प कीजिये कि अब आपके घर में अकबर की जगह राणा प्रताप की चर्चा होगी. क्योंकि इतना सब पता होने पर यदि अब भी कोई अकबर के गीत गाना चाहता है तो उस देशद्रोही और धर्मद्रोही को कम से कम इस देश में रहने का अधिकार नहीं होना चाहिए.
अब तो न अकबर न बाबर से वहशी
दरिन्दे कभी पुज न पायें धरा पर
जो नाम इनका ले कोई अपनी जबाँ से
बता देना राणा की तलवार का बल
इस धूर्त दरिन्दे के पर्दाफाश के बाद, भारत के सच्चे सपूत को अग्निवीर का शत शत नमन :
कोई पूछे कितना था राणा का भाला
तो कहना कि अकबर के जितना था भाला
जो पूछे कोई कैसे उठता था भाला
बता देना हाथों में ज्यों नाचे माला
चलाता था राणा जब रण में ये भाला
उठा देता पांवों को मुग़लों के भाला
जो पूछे कभी क्यों न अकबर लड़ा तो
बता देना कारण था राणा का भाला.
उपरलिखित तथ्यों का विस्तार जानने के लिए पढ़ें:
1. Akbar – the Great Mogul by Vincent Smith
2. Akbarnama by Abul Fazl
3. Ain-e-Akbari by Abul Fazl
4. Who says Akbar is Great by PN Oak
5. http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/modern/akbar_vs.html
6. http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/modern/akbar_ppg.html
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Marketing Concepts
A Professor at one of the IIMs was explaining marketing concepts to the Students:
1. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and say: "I am very rich.
"Marry me!" - That's Direct Marketing"
2. You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a
gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and
pointing at you says: "He's very rich.
"Marry him." -That's Advertising"
3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and get her telephone number. The next day, you
call and say: "Hi, I'm very rich.
"Marry me - That's Telemarketing"
4. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get up
and straighten your tie, you
walk up to her and pour
her a drink, you open the door (of the car)for her,
pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her ride and
then say:"By the way, I'm rich. Will you
"Marry Me?" - That's Public Relations"
5. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks
up to you and says:"You are very rich!
"Can you marry ! me?" - That's Brand Recognition"
6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" She gives you
a nice hard slap on your face. -
"That's Customer Feedback"
7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" And she
introduces you to her husband. -
"That's demand and supply gap"
8. You see a gorgeous girl at a
party. You go up to
her and before you say anything, another person come
and tell her: "I'm rich. Will you marry me?" and she
goes with him -
"That's competition eating into your market share"
9. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and before you say: "I'm rich, Marry me!" your
wife arrives. -
"That's restriction for entering new markets"
1. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and say: "I am very rich.
"Marry me!" - That's Direct Marketing"
2. You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a
gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and
pointing at you says: "He's very rich.
"Marry him." -That's Advertising"
3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and get her telephone number. The next day, you
call and say: "Hi, I'm very rich.
"Marry me - That's Telemarketing"
4. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get up
and straighten your tie, you
walk up to her and pour
her a drink, you open the door (of the car)for her,
pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her ride and
then say:"By the way, I'm rich. Will you
"Marry Me?" - That's Public Relations"
5. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks
up to you and says:"You are very rich!
"Can you marry ! me?" - That's Brand Recognition"
6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" She gives you
a nice hard slap on your face. -
"That's Customer Feedback"
7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" And she
introduces you to her husband. -
"That's demand and supply gap"
8. You see a gorgeous girl at a
party. You go up to
her and before you say anything, another person come
and tell her: "I'm rich. Will you marry me?" and she
goes with him -
"That's competition eating into your market share"
9. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to
her and before you say: "I'm rich, Marry me!" your
wife arrives. -
"That's restriction for entering new markets"
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Anti Hindus Who Speak of "Bhagwa Aatank" Should Answer These Questions?
by Amitesh Kumar on Monday, November 22, 2010 at 12:24pm
1. How long has been the so-called “Hindu Terror ”existed in India? On the other hand, how long has been the tyranny of Islam and Jihad activities been in existence not only in India but also Worldwide?
2. Did Hindus ever-hijack Aircrafts or blown up important building like Embassies worldwide?
3. How may hostages have Hindus Killed worldwide?
4. Can you really compare Jihad with Hindu Terror at all?
5. How long Hindus have been terrorized in their own country? * Be honest in your expression of events?
6. Did 9/11, 7/7, (US AND UK) and 17/08/04, 05/07/05, 25/10/05, 28/12/05 26/11/08, 27/09/08, 13/09/08, and many more attacks in India including the Indian Parliament attack on 13/12/2001 be compared?
7. Were those attacks by HINDU TERRORISTS?
8. There is ample evidence that Hindus have been Terrorized in India by the Jihadi organizations from the neighboring Islamic Nations.
9. One scooter disaster by Hindus has been blamed as Hindu Terror. How many Non- Hindus have been killed so far by so-called “Hindu Terrorists” until today?
10. The figure of Hindu victims of Jihadi terror attacks in India is there, if you need it for the record. I hope media takes the reality issues about the terror attack at least in India.
1. How long has been the so-called “Hindu Terror ”existed in India? On the other hand, how long has been the tyranny of Islam and Jihad activities been in existence not only in India but also Worldwide?
2. Did Hindus ever-hijack Aircrafts or blown up important building like Embassies worldwide?
3. How may hostages have Hindus Killed worldwide?
4. Can you really compare Jihad with Hindu Terror at all?
5. How long Hindus have been terrorized in their own country? * Be honest in your expression of events?
6. Did 9/11, 7/7, (US AND UK) and 17/08/04, 05/07/05, 25/10/05, 28/12/05 26/11/08, 27/09/08, 13/09/08, and many more attacks in India including the Indian Parliament attack on 13/12/2001 be compared?
7. Were those attacks by HINDU TERRORISTS?
8. There is ample evidence that Hindus have been Terrorized in India by the Jihadi organizations from the neighboring Islamic Nations.
9. One scooter disaster by Hindus has been blamed as Hindu Terror. How many Non- Hindus have been killed so far by so-called “Hindu Terrorists” until today?
10. The figure of Hindu victims of Jihadi terror attacks in India is there, if you need it for the record. I hope media takes the reality issues about the terror attack at least in India.
Oldest and acclaimed Catholic University offers Hinduism classes
Nov 22, 2010
Kartik Krushna Pratipada, Kaliyug Varsha 5112
Catholic University Leuven (Belgium), oldest existing Catholic university in the world founded in 1425, is offering Hinduism classes in English and Dutch.
These Hinduism courses will acquaint students with Veda, Bhagavad-Gita, Upanishads, epics and Puranas, tantric and bhakti traditions, concept of salvation, philosophical traditions, etc. On the oral exam, students are supposed to be able to explain cited Sanskrit terms. It is included in Master of Theology and Religious Studies and some other programs.
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, founded by Pope Martin V, has about 37000 students from all over the world and offers 120 postgraduate academic programs with revenue of about $890 million. Mark Waer is the Rector.
Prominent Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, described Catholic University's action as "a step in the right direction". Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, argued that religion was a complex element of our lives and religion comprises much more than one's own individual experience or specific tradition. God, as a sign of God's munificence and benevolence, constructively wished presence of different faiths.
Rajan Zed urged the schools/departments of religion of other major world universities to strengthen their Hinduism sections. Hinduism being the oldest religion with rich philosophical thought and a vast array of scriptures needed more exploration. Zed especially asked the Harvard, Cambridge, Yale, Princeton, Oxford, Stanford, Columbia, McGill, Australian National, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Heidelberg, Uppsala, and Utrecht universities to further enrich their Hinduism resources. (ANI)
Source: Sify
Kartik Krushna Pratipada, Kaliyug Varsha 5112
Catholic University Leuven (Belgium), oldest existing Catholic university in the world founded in 1425, is offering Hinduism classes in English and Dutch.
These Hinduism courses will acquaint students with Veda, Bhagavad-Gita, Upanishads, epics and Puranas, tantric and bhakti traditions, concept of salvation, philosophical traditions, etc. On the oral exam, students are supposed to be able to explain cited Sanskrit terms. It is included in Master of Theology and Religious Studies and some other programs.
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, founded by Pope Martin V, has about 37000 students from all over the world and offers 120 postgraduate academic programs with revenue of about $890 million. Mark Waer is the Rector.
Prominent Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, described Catholic University's action as "a step in the right direction". Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, argued that religion was a complex element of our lives and religion comprises much more than one's own individual experience or specific tradition. God, as a sign of God's munificence and benevolence, constructively wished presence of different faiths.
Rajan Zed urged the schools/departments of religion of other major world universities to strengthen their Hinduism sections. Hinduism being the oldest religion with rich philosophical thought and a vast array of scriptures needed more exploration. Zed especially asked the Harvard, Cambridge, Yale, Princeton, Oxford, Stanford, Columbia, McGill, Australian National, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Heidelberg, Uppsala, and Utrecht universities to further enrich their Hinduism resources. (ANI)
Source: Sify
Monday, November 15, 2010
Sonia Gandhi: In Maino country In pursuit of the Italian connection
India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
Vol. 15 :: No. 09 :: Apr. 25 - May 08, 1998
COVER STORY
In Maino country
In pursuit of the Italian connection, a trip to a tiny, dusty industrial town on the suburbs of Torino where Sonia Gandhi grew up.
VAIJU NARAVANE
recently in Orbassano
THE car hurtles down the dangerous and ageing motorway between Milan and Turin at 170 km an hour. The motorway, Italy's first, was converted from a two-lane road to a three-lane highway to cope with the ever-increasing traffic between the country's two largest industrial cities. The third lane was created by carving out a certain width each from the security lane and the two existing lanes, with the result that the width of the lanes now do not conform to European Union norms. So when an agitated and reckless driver overtakes me, horn blaring, at some 190 kmph on the right (wrong) side, I begin mentally saying my adieux.
It is a big car, a powerful Alfa Romeo 155 Turbo 2.5, 16V injection, loaned to me by a friend (how else will you get to that godforsaken place, he had said rhetorically, tossing me the keys), and it eats up the kilometres effortlessly. The cherry trees are in bloom and the paddyfields that make up the flat monotonous landcape of the plains of the Po river are thirsting for water after a mild but very dry winter.
This is my third foray into the land of Sonia Mainoputri. Late for a "photo appointment" with Avtar Singh Rana, the director of design and development of Fiat's Lancia cars, who is also a municipal councillor for Orbassano, I step on the accelerator pedal.
The first time I went to the tiny, dusty industrial suburb on the outskirts of Torino where Sonia Gandhi grew up was just after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991. The town of 22,000 inhabitants then talked of nothing but the "tragic end of the fable of our local Cenerentola" (Cinderella). Now that Sonia has seized the reins of the Congress party, the comments are more caustic, especially from people who knew her as a child and as a young girl.
In the small unpretentious first-floor office of Orbassano's Mayor Graziano Dell'Acqua, an overly pink picture of Rajiv Gandhi smiles down from the wall that he shares with a silver crucifix and a photo of Italy's President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. The bespectacled, mild-mannered man who sits at the functional but cluttered desk gives a faint smile. "Yes, I know that photograph looks like one of the holy pictures of the saints issued by the Church. It seems apt here somehow, for in India you do tend, don't you, to give a divine aura to your defunct political leaders," says Dell'Acqua. "Sonia's mother Paola Predebon came to see me after the assassination with a message from Sonia asking if we would honour the memory of her husband. I was very happy to oblige."
V.SUDERSHAN
At the Rajiv Gandhi samadhi on his first death anniversary, Sonia Gandhi with Priyanka, Rahul, mother Paola Predebon and sister Nadia.
The municipal building sits cheek-by-jowl with the church in Orbassano's main square, a small crossroads with a bar at either end where the locals meet to raise a glass or two after Mass. Most of Orbassano's inhabitants either work at nearby Fiat factories or are in some way dependent on the automobile giant. With the exception of the church square which has a certain distinction, albeit dubious, Orbassano is a muddle of ill-constructed apartment blocks and individual houses, hurriedly slapped together in the early 1950s when industrial suburbs mushroomed overnight in the wake of the post-War boom in northern Italy. There is no beauty and little charm. Orbassano is resolutely low brow, resolutely middle class.
"This is not a rich town despite the fact that it has always been at a crossroads. When I came here in 1961 there were only 6,000 inhabitants. We have had three successive waves of "immigration" - first from Calabria, then Sicily and then Sardinia. Sonia's father came here even before that, in the 1950s. I remember Sonia as a young girl. She was like any other teenager enjoying dancing, dressing up and going out. She hasn't been back since I have been Mayor, or if she has, we haven't known of it. Just as well, it would present a serious security problem we wouldn't be able to handle. We are proud of her for she is the daughter of the soil who has made good. We have two celebrities from Orbassano. The first is Cardinal Martini, the Archbishop of Milan, and the second is Sonia Gandhi. I know she has renounced her Italian nationality, but I would gladly make her an honorary citizen of Orbassano. I don't know what she's like now, but I think if he chose her," says Dell'Acqua, throwing an arch look at the picture of Rajiv Gandhi, "then she must be a very special person."
"Even so, I wonder if we in Italy would accept a foreigner, and a woman at that, to take over a party which has symbolised the country's struggle against foreign rule and which continues to enjoy great, if diminished, support across the land. That a certain section of Indians have trusted her with their destiny speaks volumes for the tolerance of India," concludes Dell'Acqua.
IN the church square, the sun is shining. It is a hot, brilliant day, unusual for this time of the year. A funeral is in progress. A 67-year-old man has died and almost all the mourners are above 50 years of age. Many of them know the Maino family. Paola Predebon is a devout Catholic and a regular churchgoer. "She wasn't like this when her husband was alive. She had too much on her hands in the house; there were her three girls to bring up; and then Eugenio was a demanding husband, an authoritarian man. Now with Nadia and Sonia away and only Anushka here, she has a lot of time for herself. Although she does go away quite a lot to visit her daughters, especially the younger one whose diplomat husband is now posted in London, I believe," says a silver-haired woman, who, with a coquettish and conspiratorial glance at her companion, a shocking bottle blonde, identifies herself as Giuseppina. She refuses to give her family name, and says she cannot tell me more. "I haven't seen Paola in a while, you know," she confides.
The old gentleman carrying a cane and downing a glass of Fernet Branca in the bar around the corner from the municipal office is loquacious. "I knew Stephano, or Eugenio Maino as he liked to be called, quite well. He has been dead these past ten years or more. Came here penniless as a mason and made good. Started a small construction business. Brought up his daughters in the old traditional way - church, confirmation, communion. Suspicious of foreigners, he was. I don't think Sonia's marriage pleased him very much. He certainly didn't go for it and the girl was given away by her maternal uncle Mario Predebon."
I ask him about Eugenio Maino's alleged Fascist sympathies. "That shouldn't surprise you. He came from Asiago not far from Vicenza in the Veneto region where nationalism was strong. He fought in the Russian campaign alongside the Germans and remained true to Fascist Nationalist ideology all his life. I have even heard it said that he belonged to the Salo Republic that Mussolini set up in 1943 after he was ousted by his son-in-law. That is what people say but I have no confirmation of it. He even gave his three daughters Russian names in honour of the campaign in which he fought. He venerated the Duce. Many still do," says Giovanni, referring to Italy's war-time Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
I set off for the Maino residence. The last time I visited, it was closed and shuttered. Now the windows are open and there is a large metal blue car parked in the driveway behind the high gate with its prominently displayed "Beware of Dog" sign. Number 14 Via Bellini is a large two-storey house painted a dull, dark ochre with chocolate brown shutters. In a generally poor and run-down area, the house is conspicuous by its neat and well-kept appearance. The neighbourhood is a mixture of Sardinian, Sicilian and Calabrese with a sprinkling of north Italian names: Podda, Eroe, Bertorino, Gallino.
There are three names on the interphone outside. Maino A., Maino N. and Maino Predebon. I know that Anushka, Sonia's elder sister, is in town. I ring the bell.
"Who is it?" a querulous voice answers.
"An Indian journalist. I would like to speak to someone from the family," I answer.
The voice immediately becomes tough, aggressive. "There is no one here. Go away," it says peremptorily.
"When will they be back?" I persist.
"I don't know, not for a while. I am just the maid. I can't tell you anymore." I know that voice. It bears an uncanny resemblance to Sonia Gandhi's. The reaction does not surprise me.
As I walk away from the house I bump into two teenage girls, Serena and Sylvia. "Do you know who lives there?" I ask.
"Oh, that's the Maino residence," they say in unison. "Our mothers both know Sonia very well. They were in class together. Why don't you come with us?" Serena is 18, pimply, bespectacled and jolly. Sylvia is blonde, 21, serious and intellectual-looking. They are both studying at the local agricultural university.
Serena's house, at 36 Via Gramsci, is within a stone's throw of the Maino residence. I step out of the lift and into a virtual menagerie; there is a cat, a dog, a fish bowl, a canary cage, a hamster and a singing blackbird. "He's called Biagio, named after the Saint Protector of Throats," says Serena's mother, Innocenza Nocentini. She is a warm, ample woman with a heaving bosom and a ready smile. As if on cue, the bird first imitates my cough, then politely says good morning and follows it up with a most convincingly warbled version of "O Sole Mio", a perennial Italian favourite.
"He never does this for outsiders. He seems to trust and like you," Innocenza tells me. I am touched and flattered. "My son is getting married and I am making lace doilies for the wedding," she tells me proudly. "I was not well off like the Maino girls. I had to leave school and start working at the age of fourteen. I was at school with Sonia until the age of 12. After that she went to the more fashionable college of Maria Ausiliatrice in Giaveno, 15 km away, run by the nuns. Sonia was a year older than I - I was born in 1947, she in 1946. She was nice but always aware of her social superiority. But Anushka, her sister, is not nice. She is a nasty piece of work, that one. We were very upset by Sonia's husband's death. We were touched by her dignity and admired her for it. I think age and the tragedy have made her kinder. It shows in her face. Her son is the best-liked in the family. He seems to be a real gentleman. And so goodlooking! But the daughter takes after her aunt - tough, arrogant and stubborn. I remember the tantrums Priyanka threw when she came visiting with her mother - a typically rich, spoilt brat. We were all very disappointed when Sonia decided to enter politics. I'm sure she did it for her daughter. They also say there are corruption charges against the family, that Rajiv took a lot of money. But somehow I cannot believe he did it for himself. He was such a prince of a man. In any case no one who enters politics remains or emerges unscathed. Even the most honest person becomes a thief. So it was inevitable, I suppose. Whatever happens, I wish her well."
The Nocentini household in extremely modest. Innocenza's husband Nino has not studied beyond the third standard. He is now out of work and earns a living making metal pins for car headlights. "Each pin requires three different manipulations," he explains. "I get a pittance for making a thousand. This is how our black economy works."
"How many do you manage to make per day?" I ask.
"Oh thousands," he replies with a nonchalant shrug. "It's habit. I work at it for about eight hours a day."
Innocenza gives me a final hug. She presses a book into my hands as a parting gift. It is a political memoir by Giulio Andreotti, seven times Italy's Prime Minister and one of its longest-serving post-War Ministers who now stands charged with having links with the mafia. "See what politics does to you," she laments as she closes the door.
Serena and Sylvia take me to Anushka's shop in Gerbola di Rivolta. They want to be photographed among the Indian artefacts there and I am happy to oblige. I remember my last trip to Orbassano. "Try Anushka's shop at the Pyramid commercial centre down at Rivolta. It's just a couple of kilometres away," a helpful neighbour had advised me.
The shop called Etnica is located in a lonely and depressing commercial complex a couple of km from Orbassano. It is a monstrous concrete structure topped by five scalloped wooden pyramids painted green. The shop itself is an oasis of good taste in a desert of semi-urban kitsch. There are some rare old pichwais. A couple of exquisite silver pieces from Bikaner. The display is an intelligent mix of old and new, antique objects and recent Indian artefacts. The prices are astoundingly high. I noticed goods like Shatoosh shawls, the export and sale of which is banned.
"I can't tell you the exact price of the Shatoosh. I received it a few days ago and the price has not been finalised. But it will certainly be between four and six million lire (between $2,000 and $3,000)," the shop assistant had told me on my last trip. A wooden cupboard from Kerala was selling for three million lire - $1,500 - while the pichwais were priced even higher.
I had found the horsey-looking young woman minding the shop a little bizzare. She boasted about her trips to India to buy stuff for the shop but denied she or the shop had any connection with the Nehru-Gandhi family. "I'm told Sonia comes from somewhere around here," she said, trying to look vague, "but the shop has nothing to do with her. The owner is someone from Torino." I had persisted and she had once more vehemently denied any connection. I had found it strange that a shop assistant out in the Italian boondocks should speak fluent English and be so knowledgeable about Indian antiques. She must have a very generous employer indeed, I had mused, pondering over the mystery.
Now seeing me in the company of Serena and Sylvia, she blanches. We have walked into the shop and I have my camera ready. They turn around to greet her but she is already throwing us out unceremoniously. The shop assistant is none other than Aruna, Anushka's daughter and Sonia Gandhi's niece. The girls apologise profusely for her rudeness. "We knew she was arrogant and nasty, but not this nasty," they say.
Aruna and I exchange knowing looks. I am tempted to challenge her earlier claims. Then, feeling sorry for her, I take a picture of the shop from the outside and leave.
The shop continues to nibble at the edge of my consciousness like a buzzing bee that won't go away. There is something not quite right about it. It is incongruous, like a strange, exotic orchid blooming in the desert. It is miles away from anywhere, for to go to Orbassano one has to get off the motorway and drive a good 20 km or so up the road to Vicenza. And then who in Orbassano has the money to buy such very expensive things which, in any case do not appeal to an average Italian. A shop like this would do well in Rome or Milano. But Orbassano? Its like setting up an expensive store selling Swedish furniture on the outskirts of Faizabad.
PABLO BARTHOLOMEW/GAMMA/LIAISON
At the death anniversary of Indira Gandhi, with Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul.
Sylvia and Serena in tow, I drive up to the Convent of Maria Ausiliatrice in Giaveno, some 15 km from Orbassano. The school, a large, austere building with pale yellow shutters, is located on an incline on the Giaveno hill. This is a very special occasion for Sylvia whose mother, a classmate of Sonia's, studied here. We are received by a plump, ageing nun with gold fillings in her mouth who identifies herself as Sister Domenica. "I was only an assistant when Sonia studied here, but I remember her well. She was vivacious, but not particularly exuberant or effervescent. She studied just enough to get by. What mattered was, above all, having a good time, I think. How can a teacher ever divine the destiny God has in store for her pupils?" sighs Sister Domenica.
Sister Anna Maria is more forthright, blunt, ironical. She is a thin, austere looking nun. I imagine her to be a demanding and passionate teacher. We are standing in the entrance hall that leads into the upper courtyard. "I remember it like it was yesterday. Sonia was 20 years old. We were having a school reunion and she had come here with some old pupils. Dinner was being served when she suddenly announced she had to leave. "Why," one of us asked, "you've been away in England and we haven't seen much of you. Why don't you stay for dinner?"
"No," she said, "I can't stay. I have a special guest coming to dinner tonight." When we asked her who it was that was so special, she said with a peculiar toss of the head: "It's the son of Indira Gandhi, India's Prime Minister." I can still see her standing there. A little later she went to India. She had turned 21 by then. And then one day we opened our newspapers and saw the headlines. She had married Rajiv Gandhi. She had sent a telegram home to her father from India informing him of her decision as soon as she turned 21. She was always a little manipulative. She should do well in politics," adds Sister Anna Maria with a wry twist to her lips.
I visit the chapel with its murals and air of quiet repose. Sylvia can no longer contain her tears. "Can you imagine," she says, "my mother passed so many years of her life here. In a certain sense a part of me lurks in these walls." Sister Domenica puts a comforting arm around her shoulders.
Shyly Sister Domenica asks me if I would mind carrying a little memento for Sonia to India. She gives me a small olive wood carving of Santo Spirito, a representation of the Holy Spirit, that can be worn around the neck like an amulet.
My attempts to look into the Maino family fortunes draw a blank. Italians love showing off their cars, furs, jewels and clothes but they hate to tell you how much they earn or where their income comes from. Enquiries at the chamber of commerce lead nowhere.
Understandably, Sonia Gandhi has become something of a heroine in her home town. Gianlucca Gobbi who works for Radio Flash, an independent radio station in Turin says: "Of course people here have heard of the financial scandals surrounding Rajiv Gandhi. But Italians are so used to corrupt politicians that they tend not to hold that against her. And then the amount involved is not very big. Billions of dollars were stolen by Italian politicians as the Clean Hands investigation revealed. We all know about the links between the mafia and politicians. So all that talk about corruption does not bother us. However, I am surprised at what they told you at the shop. Why should they deny links with the Gandhi family, with Sonia? What do they have to hide?"
From the publishers of THE HINDU
Vol. 15 :: No. 09 :: Apr. 25 - May 08, 1998
COVER STORY
In Maino country
In pursuit of the Italian connection, a trip to a tiny, dusty industrial town on the suburbs of Torino where Sonia Gandhi grew up.
VAIJU NARAVANE
recently in Orbassano
THE car hurtles down the dangerous and ageing motorway between Milan and Turin at 170 km an hour. The motorway, Italy's first, was converted from a two-lane road to a three-lane highway to cope with the ever-increasing traffic between the country's two largest industrial cities. The third lane was created by carving out a certain width each from the security lane and the two existing lanes, with the result that the width of the lanes now do not conform to European Union norms. So when an agitated and reckless driver overtakes me, horn blaring, at some 190 kmph on the right (wrong) side, I begin mentally saying my adieux.
It is a big car, a powerful Alfa Romeo 155 Turbo 2.5, 16V injection, loaned to me by a friend (how else will you get to that godforsaken place, he had said rhetorically, tossing me the keys), and it eats up the kilometres effortlessly. The cherry trees are in bloom and the paddyfields that make up the flat monotonous landcape of the plains of the Po river are thirsting for water after a mild but very dry winter.
This is my third foray into the land of Sonia Mainoputri. Late for a "photo appointment" with Avtar Singh Rana, the director of design and development of Fiat's Lancia cars, who is also a municipal councillor for Orbassano, I step on the accelerator pedal.
The first time I went to the tiny, dusty industrial suburb on the outskirts of Torino where Sonia Gandhi grew up was just after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991. The town of 22,000 inhabitants then talked of nothing but the "tragic end of the fable of our local Cenerentola" (Cinderella). Now that Sonia has seized the reins of the Congress party, the comments are more caustic, especially from people who knew her as a child and as a young girl.
In the small unpretentious first-floor office of Orbassano's Mayor Graziano Dell'Acqua, an overly pink picture of Rajiv Gandhi smiles down from the wall that he shares with a silver crucifix and a photo of Italy's President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. The bespectacled, mild-mannered man who sits at the functional but cluttered desk gives a faint smile. "Yes, I know that photograph looks like one of the holy pictures of the saints issued by the Church. It seems apt here somehow, for in India you do tend, don't you, to give a divine aura to your defunct political leaders," says Dell'Acqua. "Sonia's mother Paola Predebon came to see me after the assassination with a message from Sonia asking if we would honour the memory of her husband. I was very happy to oblige."
V.SUDERSHAN
At the Rajiv Gandhi samadhi on his first death anniversary, Sonia Gandhi with Priyanka, Rahul, mother Paola Predebon and sister Nadia.
The municipal building sits cheek-by-jowl with the church in Orbassano's main square, a small crossroads with a bar at either end where the locals meet to raise a glass or two after Mass. Most of Orbassano's inhabitants either work at nearby Fiat factories or are in some way dependent on the automobile giant. With the exception of the church square which has a certain distinction, albeit dubious, Orbassano is a muddle of ill-constructed apartment blocks and individual houses, hurriedly slapped together in the early 1950s when industrial suburbs mushroomed overnight in the wake of the post-War boom in northern Italy. There is no beauty and little charm. Orbassano is resolutely low brow, resolutely middle class.
"This is not a rich town despite the fact that it has always been at a crossroads. When I came here in 1961 there were only 6,000 inhabitants. We have had three successive waves of "immigration" - first from Calabria, then Sicily and then Sardinia. Sonia's father came here even before that, in the 1950s. I remember Sonia as a young girl. She was like any other teenager enjoying dancing, dressing up and going out. She hasn't been back since I have been Mayor, or if she has, we haven't known of it. Just as well, it would present a serious security problem we wouldn't be able to handle. We are proud of her for she is the daughter of the soil who has made good. We have two celebrities from Orbassano. The first is Cardinal Martini, the Archbishop of Milan, and the second is Sonia Gandhi. I know she has renounced her Italian nationality, but I would gladly make her an honorary citizen of Orbassano. I don't know what she's like now, but I think if he chose her," says Dell'Acqua, throwing an arch look at the picture of Rajiv Gandhi, "then she must be a very special person."
"Even so, I wonder if we in Italy would accept a foreigner, and a woman at that, to take over a party which has symbolised the country's struggle against foreign rule and which continues to enjoy great, if diminished, support across the land. That a certain section of Indians have trusted her with their destiny speaks volumes for the tolerance of India," concludes Dell'Acqua.
IN the church square, the sun is shining. It is a hot, brilliant day, unusual for this time of the year. A funeral is in progress. A 67-year-old man has died and almost all the mourners are above 50 years of age. Many of them know the Maino family. Paola Predebon is a devout Catholic and a regular churchgoer. "She wasn't like this when her husband was alive. She had too much on her hands in the house; there were her three girls to bring up; and then Eugenio was a demanding husband, an authoritarian man. Now with Nadia and Sonia away and only Anushka here, she has a lot of time for herself. Although she does go away quite a lot to visit her daughters, especially the younger one whose diplomat husband is now posted in London, I believe," says a silver-haired woman, who, with a coquettish and conspiratorial glance at her companion, a shocking bottle blonde, identifies herself as Giuseppina. She refuses to give her family name, and says she cannot tell me more. "I haven't seen Paola in a while, you know," she confides.
The old gentleman carrying a cane and downing a glass of Fernet Branca in the bar around the corner from the municipal office is loquacious. "I knew Stephano, or Eugenio Maino as he liked to be called, quite well. He has been dead these past ten years or more. Came here penniless as a mason and made good. Started a small construction business. Brought up his daughters in the old traditional way - church, confirmation, communion. Suspicious of foreigners, he was. I don't think Sonia's marriage pleased him very much. He certainly didn't go for it and the girl was given away by her maternal uncle Mario Predebon."
I ask him about Eugenio Maino's alleged Fascist sympathies. "That shouldn't surprise you. He came from Asiago not far from Vicenza in the Veneto region where nationalism was strong. He fought in the Russian campaign alongside the Germans and remained true to Fascist Nationalist ideology all his life. I have even heard it said that he belonged to the Salo Republic that Mussolini set up in 1943 after he was ousted by his son-in-law. That is what people say but I have no confirmation of it. He even gave his three daughters Russian names in honour of the campaign in which he fought. He venerated the Duce. Many still do," says Giovanni, referring to Italy's war-time Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
I set off for the Maino residence. The last time I visited, it was closed and shuttered. Now the windows are open and there is a large metal blue car parked in the driveway behind the high gate with its prominently displayed "Beware of Dog" sign. Number 14 Via Bellini is a large two-storey house painted a dull, dark ochre with chocolate brown shutters. In a generally poor and run-down area, the house is conspicuous by its neat and well-kept appearance. The neighbourhood is a mixture of Sardinian, Sicilian and Calabrese with a sprinkling of north Italian names: Podda, Eroe, Bertorino, Gallino.
There are three names on the interphone outside. Maino A., Maino N. and Maino Predebon. I know that Anushka, Sonia's elder sister, is in town. I ring the bell.
"Who is it?" a querulous voice answers.
"An Indian journalist. I would like to speak to someone from the family," I answer.
The voice immediately becomes tough, aggressive. "There is no one here. Go away," it says peremptorily.
"When will they be back?" I persist.
"I don't know, not for a while. I am just the maid. I can't tell you anymore." I know that voice. It bears an uncanny resemblance to Sonia Gandhi's. The reaction does not surprise me.
As I walk away from the house I bump into two teenage girls, Serena and Sylvia. "Do you know who lives there?" I ask.
"Oh, that's the Maino residence," they say in unison. "Our mothers both know Sonia very well. They were in class together. Why don't you come with us?" Serena is 18, pimply, bespectacled and jolly. Sylvia is blonde, 21, serious and intellectual-looking. They are both studying at the local agricultural university.
Serena's house, at 36 Via Gramsci, is within a stone's throw of the Maino residence. I step out of the lift and into a virtual menagerie; there is a cat, a dog, a fish bowl, a canary cage, a hamster and a singing blackbird. "He's called Biagio, named after the Saint Protector of Throats," says Serena's mother, Innocenza Nocentini. She is a warm, ample woman with a heaving bosom and a ready smile. As if on cue, the bird first imitates my cough, then politely says good morning and follows it up with a most convincingly warbled version of "O Sole Mio", a perennial Italian favourite.
"He never does this for outsiders. He seems to trust and like you," Innocenza tells me. I am touched and flattered. "My son is getting married and I am making lace doilies for the wedding," she tells me proudly. "I was not well off like the Maino girls. I had to leave school and start working at the age of fourteen. I was at school with Sonia until the age of 12. After that she went to the more fashionable college of Maria Ausiliatrice in Giaveno, 15 km away, run by the nuns. Sonia was a year older than I - I was born in 1947, she in 1946. She was nice but always aware of her social superiority. But Anushka, her sister, is not nice. She is a nasty piece of work, that one. We were very upset by Sonia's husband's death. We were touched by her dignity and admired her for it. I think age and the tragedy have made her kinder. It shows in her face. Her son is the best-liked in the family. He seems to be a real gentleman. And so goodlooking! But the daughter takes after her aunt - tough, arrogant and stubborn. I remember the tantrums Priyanka threw when she came visiting with her mother - a typically rich, spoilt brat. We were all very disappointed when Sonia decided to enter politics. I'm sure she did it for her daughter. They also say there are corruption charges against the family, that Rajiv took a lot of money. But somehow I cannot believe he did it for himself. He was such a prince of a man. In any case no one who enters politics remains or emerges unscathed. Even the most honest person becomes a thief. So it was inevitable, I suppose. Whatever happens, I wish her well."
The Nocentini household in extremely modest. Innocenza's husband Nino has not studied beyond the third standard. He is now out of work and earns a living making metal pins for car headlights. "Each pin requires three different manipulations," he explains. "I get a pittance for making a thousand. This is how our black economy works."
"How many do you manage to make per day?" I ask.
"Oh thousands," he replies with a nonchalant shrug. "It's habit. I work at it for about eight hours a day."
Innocenza gives me a final hug. She presses a book into my hands as a parting gift. It is a political memoir by Giulio Andreotti, seven times Italy's Prime Minister and one of its longest-serving post-War Ministers who now stands charged with having links with the mafia. "See what politics does to you," she laments as she closes the door.
Serena and Sylvia take me to Anushka's shop in Gerbola di Rivolta. They want to be photographed among the Indian artefacts there and I am happy to oblige. I remember my last trip to Orbassano. "Try Anushka's shop at the Pyramid commercial centre down at Rivolta. It's just a couple of kilometres away," a helpful neighbour had advised me.
The shop called Etnica is located in a lonely and depressing commercial complex a couple of km from Orbassano. It is a monstrous concrete structure topped by five scalloped wooden pyramids painted green. The shop itself is an oasis of good taste in a desert of semi-urban kitsch. There are some rare old pichwais. A couple of exquisite silver pieces from Bikaner. The display is an intelligent mix of old and new, antique objects and recent Indian artefacts. The prices are astoundingly high. I noticed goods like Shatoosh shawls, the export and sale of which is banned.
"I can't tell you the exact price of the Shatoosh. I received it a few days ago and the price has not been finalised. But it will certainly be between four and six million lire (between $2,000 and $3,000)," the shop assistant had told me on my last trip. A wooden cupboard from Kerala was selling for three million lire - $1,500 - while the pichwais were priced even higher.
I had found the horsey-looking young woman minding the shop a little bizzare. She boasted about her trips to India to buy stuff for the shop but denied she or the shop had any connection with the Nehru-Gandhi family. "I'm told Sonia comes from somewhere around here," she said, trying to look vague, "but the shop has nothing to do with her. The owner is someone from Torino." I had persisted and she had once more vehemently denied any connection. I had found it strange that a shop assistant out in the Italian boondocks should speak fluent English and be so knowledgeable about Indian antiques. She must have a very generous employer indeed, I had mused, pondering over the mystery.
Now seeing me in the company of Serena and Sylvia, she blanches. We have walked into the shop and I have my camera ready. They turn around to greet her but she is already throwing us out unceremoniously. The shop assistant is none other than Aruna, Anushka's daughter and Sonia Gandhi's niece. The girls apologise profusely for her rudeness. "We knew she was arrogant and nasty, but not this nasty," they say.
Aruna and I exchange knowing looks. I am tempted to challenge her earlier claims. Then, feeling sorry for her, I take a picture of the shop from the outside and leave.
The shop continues to nibble at the edge of my consciousness like a buzzing bee that won't go away. There is something not quite right about it. It is incongruous, like a strange, exotic orchid blooming in the desert. It is miles away from anywhere, for to go to Orbassano one has to get off the motorway and drive a good 20 km or so up the road to Vicenza. And then who in Orbassano has the money to buy such very expensive things which, in any case do not appeal to an average Italian. A shop like this would do well in Rome or Milano. But Orbassano? Its like setting up an expensive store selling Swedish furniture on the outskirts of Faizabad.
PABLO BARTHOLOMEW/GAMMA/LIAISON
At the death anniversary of Indira Gandhi, with Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul.
Sylvia and Serena in tow, I drive up to the Convent of Maria Ausiliatrice in Giaveno, some 15 km from Orbassano. The school, a large, austere building with pale yellow shutters, is located on an incline on the Giaveno hill. This is a very special occasion for Sylvia whose mother, a classmate of Sonia's, studied here. We are received by a plump, ageing nun with gold fillings in her mouth who identifies herself as Sister Domenica. "I was only an assistant when Sonia studied here, but I remember her well. She was vivacious, but not particularly exuberant or effervescent. She studied just enough to get by. What mattered was, above all, having a good time, I think. How can a teacher ever divine the destiny God has in store for her pupils?" sighs Sister Domenica.
Sister Anna Maria is more forthright, blunt, ironical. She is a thin, austere looking nun. I imagine her to be a demanding and passionate teacher. We are standing in the entrance hall that leads into the upper courtyard. "I remember it like it was yesterday. Sonia was 20 years old. We were having a school reunion and she had come here with some old pupils. Dinner was being served when she suddenly announced she had to leave. "Why," one of us asked, "you've been away in England and we haven't seen much of you. Why don't you stay for dinner?"
"No," she said, "I can't stay. I have a special guest coming to dinner tonight." When we asked her who it was that was so special, she said with a peculiar toss of the head: "It's the son of Indira Gandhi, India's Prime Minister." I can still see her standing there. A little later she went to India. She had turned 21 by then. And then one day we opened our newspapers and saw the headlines. She had married Rajiv Gandhi. She had sent a telegram home to her father from India informing him of her decision as soon as she turned 21. She was always a little manipulative. She should do well in politics," adds Sister Anna Maria with a wry twist to her lips.
I visit the chapel with its murals and air of quiet repose. Sylvia can no longer contain her tears. "Can you imagine," she says, "my mother passed so many years of her life here. In a certain sense a part of me lurks in these walls." Sister Domenica puts a comforting arm around her shoulders.
Shyly Sister Domenica asks me if I would mind carrying a little memento for Sonia to India. She gives me a small olive wood carving of Santo Spirito, a representation of the Holy Spirit, that can be worn around the neck like an amulet.
My attempts to look into the Maino family fortunes draw a blank. Italians love showing off their cars, furs, jewels and clothes but they hate to tell you how much they earn or where their income comes from. Enquiries at the chamber of commerce lead nowhere.
Understandably, Sonia Gandhi has become something of a heroine in her home town. Gianlucca Gobbi who works for Radio Flash, an independent radio station in Turin says: "Of course people here have heard of the financial scandals surrounding Rajiv Gandhi. But Italians are so used to corrupt politicians that they tend not to hold that against her. And then the amount involved is not very big. Billions of dollars were stolen by Italian politicians as the Clean Hands investigation revealed. We all know about the links between the mafia and politicians. So all that talk about corruption does not bother us. However, I am surprised at what they told you at the shop. Why should they deny links with the Gandhi family, with Sonia? What do they have to hide?"
Sonia Gandhi
BCCI And Georgia Politicians
Introduction
When BCCI began its surreptitious takeover of First American, Jimmy Carter was President of the United States. The point man for that takeover, of course, was the President's close personal friend and former Director of the Office of Management and Budget, T. Bertram Lance.
Lance ultimately was forced to abandon his role in the takeover, but he maintained his contacts with BCCI for another decade. During that time, Lance introduced BCCI, and its president, Agha Hasan Abedi, to former President Carter and to the President's friend and former UN Ambassador, Andrew Young. During the 1980's these three former powerful government officials used, and were used, by BCCI, to varying degrees and for various purposes.
Of the three, Lance was far and away the most visibly involved with BCCI. In 1977, when Lance became Director of the Office of Management and Budget, he had serious financial problems. After resigning later that year amid accusations that he had mismanaged corporate and personal financial matters, Lance went to work for BCCI as a consultant. He appears to have traded on his access to the President for BCCI's ability to bail him out of his crushing debt. After getting millions from BCCI, Lance provided services to the bank for the next decade.
BCCI courted the rich and powerful all over the world and so it was natural that President Carter should be approached with an eye towards using him to give credibility to the bank. The President apparently did not establish a relationship with BCCI or Abedi, until after he left office. However, throughout the 1980's, Abedi used President Carter as a means of gaining stature for himself and for BCCI in a number of third world countries. The President, in return, received millions of dollars for his charities.(1)
Andrew Young is one of the most famous black politicians, not only in this country, but all over the world. A former Congressman, Young is also a past Mayor of Atlanta. Perhaps most significant for BCCI, Young was the first black US Ambassador to the United Nations under President Carter. In that position he often championed Third World causes. BCCI used Young in much the same way as it used Carter -- for introductions and access to government leaders in developing countries. Young, in return received a salary and loans, although his financial relationship never amounted to that of his colleague Lance.
It is no coincidence that at the time the bank closed, BCCI had established its presence in Georgia in many different ways ranging from the ownership of the National Bank of Georgia to the headquarters for BCCI front man Ghaith Pharaon's U.S. corporate headquarters.
Bert Lance
Lance Meets Abedi
Bert Lance, who provided testimony to the Subcommittee on October 23, 1991 about his role in the BCCI affair, told the Subcommittee that he is "mystified" by the "whole developing scandal."(2)
Lance was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Carter from January 20, 1977 until September 21, 1977. He was forced to resign after it was alleged that he engaged in questionable financial dealings at the National Bank of Georgia where he was chairman for two years, and, earlier, at the Calhoun National Bank where he was also chairman.(3)
Lance has stated on many occasions that he first met Agha Hasan Abedi, the President of BCCI, in October, 1977 when he was introduced by a member of the Georgia state assembly, an oil man named Eugene Holley. According to Lance, Holley:
had some conversations with Mr. Abedi about me and whatever few abilities I might have and things of that nature; and that he thought it would be worthwhile if I had occasion to meet Mr. Abedi and discuss with him what his interest might or may not have been in regard to the United States, in regard to investments, in regarding to banking generally, and so on.(4)
Holley was the Chairman of the Georgia state Senate Banking and Finance Committee. According to press reports Holley "had sought aid from Middle Eastern sources for his petroleum and real estate ventures."(5) According to the Washington Post, "Several Georgia banks that lent money for his [Holley's] ventures have suffered grave losses," noting that "NBG, under Lance's direction, was among the lenders."(6)
In September 1977, Lance met with Holley, Abedi and Naqvi at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. Lance testified that Abedi told him:
I am building a bank headquarters in London that has a deep and abiding interest in the problems of health, hunger, economic development, things primarily in the Third World, problems that we are all familiar with and problems that we all want to see resolved in one form or another.(7)
According to Lance, who was in serious financial trouble at the time, "I shared that concern."(8)
Lance told the Subcommittee that he subsequently met with Abedi and told him that "I am not about to get involved in situation whereby the relationships that I establish after having resigned would create any problem of embarrassment, concern, or anything else for the President of the United States."(9) Lance ultimately did introduce Abedi to Carter, which ultimately caused substantial embarrassment and concern for the former President, but this was until 1981 after Carter had left the Presidency.
In October 1977, Lance decided that he should "do due diligence about Mr. Abedi and BCCI" before getting involved with them. To handle this task, he chose Clifford and Altman, who had represented him before the Senate.(10) Lance told the Subcommittee that Clifford "told me . . . Mr. Abedi was a man of integrity and character, that BCCI . . . they were people of integrity and character."(11)
With assurances from Clifford and Altman that BCCI was a reputable institution, Lance began to advise Abedi on gaining a foothold in the United States. He testified to the Subcommittee his advice to Abedi was:
very clear and precise, as I recall, that you need to acquainted, you need to go through the regulatory process in the United States; that, obviously, despite my difficulty sometimes in dealing with them, that I thought it to be the best process in the world; that banks who were regulated in the United States offered their depositors safety; that it was the kind of climate that was appropriate and proper, and that it was they ought to do.(12)
Lance and the Initial Takeover of FGB
In line with this sage advice, in late 1977 Lance led a group of Middle-eastern investors, including Abedi, in an attempt to take over Washington D.C. based Financial General Bankshares. The effort was blocked when the SEC discovered that the investors had secretly acquired a 19% holding in the bank and had to divest it.(13) Lance was forced to sign a consent decree by the SEC.(14)
Lance explained to the Subcommittee that he had recommended the purchase of Financial General to Abedi. He told the Subcommittee that he "happened to know about Financial General because when I was at the National Bank of Georgia, they were owned by Financial General." Lance also testified that he "happened to have an awareness of ...other stockholders in Financial General at that point in time... [who] had [not] been very happy about their investment."(15) Indeed, Lance was accused by the SEC of having been involved in the struggle for control of FGB while he was still director for the office of management and budget.(16)
At the same time that Lance was assisting Abedi in the takeover of Financial General, Ghaith Pharaon, a BCCI front man, offered to buy 60% of the former budget director's stock in the National Bank of Georgia stock for $20 a share, $3 more than Lance had originally paid for it. At the time Lance held 12% of the bank's stock and his sale of some 120,000 shares provided him with a gross gain of approximately $2.4 million. According to press reports, the stock had been trading for about $10.50 to $11.25 before the sale became imminent.(17)
In testimony before the Subcommittee, Lance explained that Abedi told him that he "had an investor who, by the name of Gaith Pharaon, who has acquired banks in the United States previously. . . And he said to that would appear to make a lot of sense." (18) Indeed, it did make sense for Lance, who had previously listed liabilities in excess of $5 million, including a $3.4 million loan form the National bank of Chicago.(19)
At the time the transaction raised concern that Pharaon may have been paying an inflated price in order to help Lance, save President Carter further embarrassment from his association with Lance, and gain influence with the administration. However, Lance stated publicly that "I'm not for sale; I've never been for sale, and that stands on its own."(20) Pharaon also disputed any claims that he was trying to buy influence: "Why should I buy influence? We have many ways of reaching your President through our channels. We have a great deal of influence already."(21)
Lance also testified about Clifford and Altman's role in the Pharaon's purchase of his shares: "Mr. Clifford and Bob Altman represented me at that point in time ...They were very aware of what I was trying to do and were very helpful to me in trying to do that."(22)
In summary, Lance explained:
[T]here were two groups of investors there that Abedi said he was representing. One happened to be the investors that subsequently ended up as the individual shareholders in Financial General, and, Gaith Pharaon, who ended up as the sole investor in the National Bank of Georgia...
And during November and December 1977, it pretty well took place in the broad beginnings of the purchase of Financial General on the one hand and, obviously, the acquisition of the National bank of Georgia on the other.
[T]here were two different entities, is what I'm trying to say to you, that were involved. I guess I was central to both of them. Mr. Clifford and Bob Altman were central to both of them. Mr. Clifford and Bob Altman were central to both of them. And, in fact, Mr. Clifford and Bob Altman represented me in a legal sense.(23)
While Lance took pains to separate the two transactions -- the purchase of his NBG stock and the acquisition of Financial General -- for the Subcommittee, he testified that at a meeting in Atlanta over Thanksgiving weekend in 1977, "there was basic discussion and negotiation about the purchase of NBG. But there was also negotiation -- not "negotiation" as such, but conversation -- about the purchase of Financial General." Pharaon, the purchaser of NBG, was not present, but Abedi, Naqvi, Abdus Sami and Dildar Rizvi, the elite of BCCI, were all present.(24) In fact, Lance never met Pharaon until the night of the closing on the sale of NBG in January, 1978. Nevertheless, he testified that it was his "impression" that "he [Pharaon] was obviously a person who comes across as being in charge of whatever he's doing, and makes decisions and that sort of thing."(25)
Lance Advises BCCI; The Second Takeover Attempt
After the sale of NBG stock to Pharaon and the failed takeover of Financial General, Lance continued as an advisor to Abedi and BCCI. Lance described his role as offering advice on "investments in the United States" and "economic development around the world." For these services Lance was paid by BCCI through ICIC, the "bank within a bank", which Lance understood to be a kind of "commercial finance operation."(26) When asked by Senator Pressler what ICIC paid him, Lance responded that he had been asked the same question recently by the SEC and he had refused to answer and he therefore would not answer the Senator. Lance added that "All of that is matter of public record."(27) The Washington Post reported in March, 1978 that:
The president of an Arab-controlled bank paid off a $3.5 million loan for Bert Lance without even asking Lance to sign a note, an attorney claimed yesterday at a court hearing in the Financial General Bankshares case.
Lance's $3.5 million loan from First National Bank of Chicago was repaid in January by Agha Hasan Abedi, president of Bank of Credit and Commerce international, said Edward McAmis, attorney for Financial General in a civil lawsuit against Lance, Abedi, BCCI and others accused of using illegal methods in seeking control of Financial General.
McAmis said Lance told him in a sworn statement made on Monday that Abedi repaid the loan directly, without any discussion of the interest rate or how and when Lance would repay Abedi. The multi-million loan made with only an oral promise to repay showed Lance's close ties and obligation to Abedi and BCCI, McAmis argued.
Lance's attorney, Robert Altman, accused McAmis of deliberately misconstructing the loan as part of a campaign to smear Lance.
"It wasn't like that at all," Altman said. he said formal loan documents were being drawn up, but had not been completed because of the lawsuit and other complications.
The article continues:
The revelation that Abedi repaid the Chicago loan came as a surprise. It had been reported earlier that Lance had sold his NBG stock for $2.4 million and used the money to pay off some of his debts, including the Chicago loan.
Court records in Georgia showed the Chicago loan was repaid on January 4, the same day lance completed the sale of his NBG stock to Gaith R. Pharaon, a Saudi Arabian financier who has business ties to Abedi. That same day Lance paid back a $443,000 loan to a Tennessee bank, raising questions about how he paid nearly $4 million in debts with $2.4 million in cash.
Yesterdays's assertions suggest Lance got money from two Arab sources in January, when he moved to extricate himself from past debts -- the sale of stock to Pharaon plus the loan from Abedi.(28)
Although no longer personally involved in the takeover of Financial General Bankshares, Lance continued to provide advice on the acquisition of the bank. He testified, for instance, that in 1978, at the suggestion of Abedi, he met separately with two of the potential shareholders, Sheik Kamal Adham and Sheik Zayed, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates. Lance told the Subcommittee that he met Zayed in Lahore, Pakistan in "February or March, 1978."(29) According to a February 12, 1978 story in the Washington Post, "In recent weeks, Lance was in Karachi, Pakistan, and sources say the trip was in connection with his dealings with Abedi."(30) Despite the fact that he no longer worked for the government, Lance made the trip on an official, US diplomatic passport.(31)
A meeting during this period would have followed the memorandum written by Abdus Sami to Mr. Abedi on January 30, 1978
in which Mr. Sami discusses the strategy for the takeover of Financial General Bankshares. Sami expresses the need "to keep individual ownership to below 5 percent" and he states that "we want two other names immediately." The two names who ultimately were submitted as investors were those of Sheik Zayed's son's Khalifa and Mohammad. When Senator Kerry asked Lance if he travelled to Pakistan in order to solicit the use of the names of investors from Sheik Zayed, Lance responded, "That's not my understanding of what actually took place."(32) Lance then told the Subcommittee, "Mr. Sami and I never and a conversation along these lines."(33) The Sami memorandum, however, contains a provocative reference to "our friend" involved in the FGB negotiations.
Lance admitted to the Subcommittee that the reference was to him, but testified:
[T]he acquisition of shares were basically handled by Mr. Sami, and he was the man who was responsible. I was not involved in that.(34)
As a new strategy for acquisition of Financial General Bankshares progressed, Lance told the Subcommittee that he reiterated to Abedi the need to "go through the regulatory process." He further advised:
[t]hat you take an outstanding American citizen who has no blemish in regard to anything in a public sense, and you take the stock that these individual investors are going to own, and then you put that together in some sort of trust and give that trustee irrevocable voting rights about that stock, and you will have taken a major step in dealing with some of the perception problems that you may have about individual investors.(35)
Abedi followed Lance's advice almost to the letter. Clifford and Altman created a shell corporation, in a form of a trust, to hold the FGB stock. Clifford, who became Chairman of First American was essentially a trustee since his associate, Robert Altman, the President of First American, held a power of attorney for virtually every shareholder. And perhaps most importantly, Clifford had the reputation as being "an outstanding American citizen." Clifford helped to alleviate some of the "perception problems" not only in the acquisition stage, but also throughout the 1980's.
Lance Theorizes About the CIA and BCCI
Lance's relationship with Abedi and BCCI was interrupted in May, 1979 when he was indicted in the northern district of Georgia. After a sixteen week trial, he was acquitted.(36) Lance testified, "[B]asically, in all of 1979, I was out of the picture as it related to BCCI, as it related to Financial General, and so on."(37) According to Lance, Clifford, Altman and Abedi decided that he was "too controversial" and that he "would bring down the wrath of the regulators."
Despite the fact that he was no longer involved in the takeover of Financial General, Lance testified "my relationship with Mr. Abedi, from the standpoint of personal relationships, moved forward from that point on."(38) Lance said that he did "continue to have conversations and visits with Mr. Abedi."(39)
Lance described one of those conversation with Mr. Abedi to the Subcommittee. In 1983 Lance and Abedi attended a symposium at Emory University. In a car ride to Abedi's hotel from the University, Abedi, according to Lance, explained how he had been he had been placed on a CIA watch list in 1980 because he was a "Third World liberal." Lance testified that "subsequently, beginning in 1984, I would say, I sensed a change in Mr. Abedi, that he no longer had any concerns about visits to the United States." Lance concluded that in 1984 there was an attempt by the CIA to "co-opt" Abedi, although he could offer no proof.(40)
Lance also believed that the CIA Director Casey may have used wealthy businessman Bruce Rappaport to "spy" on Lance to see what he may have known about Abedi and the Agency's involvement with the bank. According to Lance, Rappaport befriended him for no apparent reason, but "He made it very clear to me that he had a very close and definitive relationship with Mr. Casey; the Director of the CIA." Lance said that Rappaport maintained contact with him for a period of years until the death of Director Casey.(41) Again, Lance offered no proof of his theory, and, in fact, he failed to mention in his testimony that despite his suspicions of Rappaport, he arranged with him to have one of his sons work in the financier's New York bank.
Lance and BCCI During the 1980's
Besides advising Abedi and BCCI, Lance, during the 1980's pursued financial investments with BCCI-related individuals such as P.S. Prasad, an Indian who was BCCI's largest individual borrower in the United States with over $30 million in outstanding loans. At the time of BCCI's collapse in 1991 Prasad fled the country and returned to India.
Lance served on the board of McDowell Industries, a construction company. In 1984, using various holding companies, Prasad bought out McDowell and merged it with Maxpharma, a publicly traded company owned by Prasad which manufactured generic over-the-counter and prescription drug products. The buy out was handled by the investment banking firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. According to Lance, he personally met Dennis Levine, the investment banker who put the deal together. Levine does not recall having ever met Lance or Prasad. Lance continued to serve on the Board of directors of McDowell until approximately 1986. In 1988, Maxpharma was delisted from the American stock exchange after having multimillion dollar losses for the prior seven years, including a nearly eight million dollar loss in 1988.(42) It is unclear exactly what Lance's role was in Prasad's shuffling of companies, but one source close to the negotiations has alleged that "Lance was released of a multimillion loan he had guaranteed (either personally or through National bank of Georgia) for Maxpharma."(43)
Lance's involvement in another Prasad venture is clearly documented. Dr. Prasad borrowed $450,000 from "a bank" to purchase a small business investment company (SBIC) in 1983 called Falcon Capital Corporation.(44) The purpose of SBICs are to provide financing for venture capitalists, provided or guaranteed by the US Government, with the goal of creating new jobs. On September 15, 1986 Prasad's Falcon Capital made an unsecured loan of $75,000 to Bert Lance at an interest rate of 14 percent per annum for a period of five years. The ostensible purpose of the loan was to set up a consulting business in mergers and acquisitions. According to the SBA Assistant Inspector General for Audit, "[I]n 1988, review did not disclose that T. Bert Lance used the proceeds of the loan in a regular and continuous business operation."(45) Moreover, as of September 30, 1987 principal of $9,738.40 and interest of $8,990.27 were delinquent on the loan. Lance has told the Subcommittee that he eventually paid off the entire loan, but the Subcommittee has been unable to independently verify his claim.
1988 -- Lance emerges again
In June 1988, Forbes Magazine reported that Lance was being considered by BCCI shareholders and management to run the bank in the absence of Aga Hasan Abedi who had suffered a debilitating heart attack. According to Forbes, "An Arab investor group suggested a compromise candidate to run things, a man who could keep the Saudi and Pakistani factions within the bank at bay. That man: Bert Lance."(46)
Also in 1988, Lance was an unofficial advisor to Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, who Lance also introduced to Abedi. Nazir Chinoy, former branch manager of BCCI Paris, testified that when Jackson stayed in Paris, all of his expenses were paid by BCCI.
Finally, after the indictment in Florida of BCCI and BCCI personnel, Lance reportedly flew to London with former Chairman of the Democratic Party John White to meet with Naqvi and to advise BCCI on the best strategy for fighting the indictment.
The Lance Relationship
The full story of Bert Lance's involvement with BCCI remains to be told. Lance was intimately involved with the bank between late 1977 and his indictment in 1979 during which time he provided advice to BCCI in exchange for being relieved his financial burdens. During the 1980's Lance continued his relationship with BCCI, offering advice and providing important introductions, most notably to former President Carter. While Lance's relationship spanned the decade, there are many gaps in the public record as to exactly what services Lance performed for the bank and what compensation he received. This merits further investigation.
Jimmy Carter
Introduction
Former President Carter has enormous respect and admiration throughout the world, but particularly in the Third World where he focused much of human rights policy while he was President. The President's focus on "Third World" issues, combined with BCCI's need for rapid worldwide expansion led the bank, and its president, Aga Hasan Abedi, to court President Carter after he left office. BCCI, which styled itself as a "Third World", bank successfully exploited the President's reputation and access by providing large amounts of funding to the his charitable organizations. In turn, the President became an unwitting pawn of BCCI, failing to acknowledge, even when it became obvious, that the bank was a criminal institution.
The President and Saudi Front Men
There is nothing to suggest that Jimmy Carter was even aware of BCCI or Aga Hasan Abedi while he was President of the United States. However, the president would have known of at least two important BCCI front men, Kamal Adham and Gaith Pharaon. President Carter undoubtedly met Kamal Adham in the negotiations over the Camp David Accords as Adham, the chief of Saudi intelligence, acted as an important liaison for Anwar Sadat. This is discussed in more detail in the chapter on BCCI's contacts with the CIA and foreign intelligence.
President Carter would have known of Gaith Pharaon because Pharaon bought the National Bank of Georgia where the President's good friend Bert Lance had been chairman and where the President had business loans. According to a 1980 Jack Anderson story, Senator Orrin Hatch, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, investigated the Carter loans at NBG. In his story Anderson quotes from a confidential, investigative memorandum to Senator Hatch:
The assumption in financial circles is that Pharaon acted for the Saudi royal family in purchasing the national bank of Georgia. The bank's biggest borrower just happened to be Jimmy Carter. Thus the President of the United States found himself to be deeply in hock to a Saudi Arabian financier with close ties to the Saudi royal family.(47)
The memorandum to Senator Hatch continues:
[T]he bank's confidential files contained embarrassing information about the president's financial affairs. The files revealed that the Carter peanut business wrote $3 million in overdrafts and unprocessed checks to repay peanut commodity loans during the 1975-1977 period.
While Carter was scrounging for money in his 1976 presidential campaign, the business borrowed $1.15 from the bank to buy peanuts, without a single peanut in bonded storage to secure the loan, in violation of the loan agreement. By September 1, 1977 , the business was insolvent to the tune of $410,000.
Of course, the Saudis remained discretely silent. The friendly Pharaon not only kept quiet about Carter's irregularities, but renegotiated the loan to Carter's advantage.
According to a memo in the bank files, the bank renegotiated the repayment terms. This resulted in a savings of $60,000 for the Carter family in 1987. The President owned 62% of the business and therefore was the largest beneficiary.(48)
The memorandum concludes:
The press and public have been conditioned by Watergate to expect a smoking gun -- a taped conversation, a full confession by one of the conspirators or some other dramatic evidence... Perhaps the American people need to be reeducated about scandal.(49)
The Subcommittee has not been able to verify the accuracy of the information supplied by Senator Hatch's investigator.
After the White House: Carter and Abedi
Since leaving the White House and the office of he Presidency in 1980, Jimmy Carter has devoted himself to several charities, including providing assistance to several organizations for fighting disease in the Third World. In this capacity the former President developed a friendship and working relationship with the founder and President of BCCI, Aga Hasan Abedi.
President Carter was introduced to Abedi in 1982 by Bert Lance who brought the banker to Plains, Georgia . Lance remembers, "There was an immediate relationship that developed between the two of them. You could sense it as they talked there in the living room of the Carter residence."(50)
According to Carter, Abedi approached him to undertake charity work on the third world:
The foundation or the bank, I never did know which, had a massive program in the third world called South. They published a monthly magazine that had major conferences in different cities around -- in the developing nations. Mr. Abedi, when he came to see me, said that they were just holding conferences, they were issuing publications, they were doing scholarly work, but they'd never actually planted a seek, or immunized a child or did anything of a specific nature. And he knew that our relationship with the Center for Disease Control let us have access to health care programs, and we were already embarked on those. So his relationship with us was one of "I want to do something practical to help people who are suffering, and we will help you."(51)
During the 1980's Carter and Abedi met over a dozen times and established a very warm, personal relationship. In 1983, for instance, when Carter and former President Ford held a joint symposium on conflict resolution at Emory University, Mr. Abedi was in attendance. (52) When Abedi suffered a heart attack in February 1988, Carter contacted heart specialist Norman Shumway who, at the former President's request, flew to London to examine Abedi, and oversaw a heart transplant operation for the BCCI president. Carter even visited Abedi during his hospitalization and was quoted as calling Mr. Abedi "one of the most unusual men I have met."(53)
Carter's Travels With Abedi
The President travelled several thousand miles together with Abedi on the BCCI corporate jet and they visited at least seven countries together. Abedi has stated publicly that he has been "to every country...All the top politicians and heads of state were my friends, Jimmy Carter, James Callahan, I knew them all."(54) Callahan, the former British Prime Minister, has claimed that Carter introduced him to Abedi in 1981 at a charity dinner for the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust in London.(55)
In October 1986 the Carter Center opened in Atlanta. The center was created to study third world issues among the guests was Abedi, who had contributed over $500,000 to the center.(56) Moreover, Abedi and BCCI donated $8 million Carter's Global 2,000 project, helping to fund programs in Asia and Africa. Abedi was appointed the co-chairman of Global 2,000.
Less than one month after the Carter Center opened, the former President travelled with Abedi to Pakistan and to Bangladesh to sign agreements with government officials starting Global 2,000 health care programs in those countries. According to a Global 2,000 statement at the time, the programs sponsored by Carter focused on control of polio, measles, tetanus and diarrheal diseases.(57) BCCI either had, or was to develop corrupt relationships with several of the countries visited by Carter and Abedi, including Bangladesh and Suriname. In 1986 Carter also travelled to the United Arab Emirates, again accompanied by Abedi, for a three day visit during which time he met Sheik Zayed.(58)
In 1987, they met in Bangkok with the King of Thailand before flying on to Hong Kong and back to China.(59) In Beijing they attended a state dinner with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping where they shared a toast with Premier Zhao Ziyang. President Carter has acknowledged that his travels with Abedi helped the BCCI president in his business:
[I] don't think there's any doubt that when a former President of the United States goes to a country and has anybody in his entourage, that person has some advantage to be derived.(60)
Indeed, the countries to which President Carter travelled with Abedi became important banking centers for BCCI. In China, for instance, BCCI opened the first foreign branch and reportedly conducted weapons transactions involving the Chinese government.
What the US Government Didn't Tell Carter
By 1986, of course, several US government agencies, including the Central intelligence Agency, the Justice Department and the Treasury were aware of BCCI's criminal connections. The CIA, for instance, knew that BCCI had secretly -- and illegally -- acquired First American Bankshares, Washington D.C.'s largest financial institution. The State Department knew that the terrorist Abu Nidal was using the bank to finance his operations in Europe. And the Customs Agency was working with the US Attorney's office in Tampa in Operation C-Chase, an undercover sting operation designed to expose drug money laundering in South Florida, which ultimately targeted BCCI.
During this entire period, President Carter was never briefed by any agency of the US government concerning BCCI.
This seems all the more extraordinary given that during several of his trips with Abedi the State Department asked the former President to raise particular issues with the governments of those countries.(61) However, the former President has said that neither did he ever ask for a briefing, nor did he ever feel the need to request one. Carter has said that he does not feel either "betrayed or deceived". According to the former President he did not become concerned about his association with the bank until the revelations that BCCI had been General Noriega's banker. At that point, the President stated:
[W]e were quite concerned , but the public news media reports -- I believe including statements from the Justice Department -- was that this was a problem that was apparently confined to the one bank operation in Panama dealing with Noriega. We had no information that it was broader.(62)
In point of fact, the indictment in Tampa charged BCCI with having a "corporate policy" of soliciting narcotics proceeds which clearly suggests that knowledge of BCCI's criminal activity was broader than President Carter has suggested was publicly available.
Carter's Other BCCI-related Benefactors
In 1987 President Carter invited BCCI's most famous Georgia resident, Gaith Pharaon to have lunch at the Carter center. According to published reports, Pharaon brought David Paul, the President of Centrust with him.(63) Although Pharaon never contributed any funds to President Carter's charities, Centrust made a corporate contribution of $100,000, which arrived with a note instructing Carter fundraisers to "credit it to Gaith Pharaon."(64)
In 1991 after the Federal Reserve issued a cease and desist order concerning BCCI's ownership of First American, the President began to disassociate himself from Abedi and the bank. On April 15, 1991 President Carter said:
We have, at the Carter Center, about 20,000 contributors to our programs, and we appreciate very much what BCCI did at the beginning to get this project started. But now, one of our major contributors is Sheik Zayed, in Abu Dhabi.(65)
Sheik Zayed, of course, was a major shareholder in BCCI from its inception and at the time that President Carter made his remarks, actually controlled the bank. According to the Atlanta Constitution, President Carter was aware of this: [W]hen BCCI changed owners and stopped payments on its Global 2,000 commitments, Mr. Carter asked the new owner, the President of the United Arab Emirates, to pay the $2.5 million balance due."(66)
Carter Aide Used BCCI To Defraud Former President
On August 26, 1992, George G. Schira, the first executive director of the Carter Presidential Center, was indicted on charges that he impersonated former President Jimmy Carter and defrauded the center and one of its financial contributors out of $650,000.(67)
In committing this fraud on the former President, Schira used BCCI to receive some $650,000 from a shipping magnate through impersonating President Carter and Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, and calling on the magnate for help.
The funds were first transferred to BCCI in London, and then to BCCI's secretly owned U.S. subsidiary, the First American Bank of Georga, and to BCCI's secretly owned Swiss subsidiary, the Banque de Commerce et Placements.
The Relationship Between Jimmy Carter and BCCI
President Carter was used by BCCI to enhance its credibility around the world and particularly in developing countries. President Carter travelled to a number of these countries with BCCI's president, Abedi, increasing Abedi's status and helping Abedi gain access and entry to political leaders from those countries. At the same time, the former President became beholden to the bank for its generous contributions to his charities. While President Carter did not show sufficient interest in establishing the bona fides of the bank, the CIA, which had substantial negative information on BCCI, failed to provide him with that information. When a President of the United States becomes a private citizen, it is obviously his choice with whom he associates. Nevertheless, former Presidents are afforded physical protection, and should be afforded, to the extent possible, protection of their reputation. As a result of his own lack of diligence in seeking information on BCCI's poor reputation, and the CIA's lack of diligence in telling President Carter what they knew, President Carter became closely associated for a decade with a bank that constituted organized crime. This outcome was not in the interests of the United States.
Andy Young
Introduction
Andrew Young is one of the most prominent Black Americans in the country and has a record of high achievement in public service. However, The Subcommittee finds that Young's relationship with BCCI was inappropriate, particularly during the period that Young served as the Mayor of Atlanta. While he may technically have violated no ethical rules of his office, his financial relationship with BCCI has the appearance of influence-peddling.
Young Meets Abedi
Former UN Ambassador and Mayor of Atlanta Andrew Young represented BCCI as a consultant. Young has said that he learned about BCCI after leaving his position as UN Ambassador in 1979. While he does not recollect who introduced him to Aga Hasan Abedi, BCCI's president, he believes it may have been Gaith Pharaon, the man who purchased Bert Lance's holdings in the National Bank of Georgia.(68)
While he was Mayor, Young made at least four international trips on which he made key introductions for BCCI. According to Young, BCCI officials were occasionally involved during trips that he made with the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. He has explained that he performed services for the bank or met with officials in Tunisia, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe and several Persian Gulf states.(69)
In recent indictments issued by the Manhattan District Attorney, Robert Morgenthau, Tunisia and Zimbabwe were described as countries where government officials were bribed by BCCI officials. There is no information that Mayor Young had any knowledge of any impropriety committed by BCCI officials in either of these countries.
A Financial Relationship With BCCI
While serving as the Mayor of Atlanta, Young, like Lance, provided services for BCCI in return for financial benefits. Young had a $50,000 annual retainer with the bank, and has claimed that he only became a paid consultant in 1986 after he travelled with former President Carter to Africa on a BCCI jet. Young's fees were paid to his consulting firm, Andrew Young Associates. The relationship between Andrew Young Associates and BCCI lasted for eight years until 1989. During most of that period, the BCCI's loans were booked, and according to BCCI's records, "parked," at its offices in Panama.(70)
According to a loan review document from the National Bank of Georgia, AYA had "initially served as a vehicle for Andrew Young's lecture and occasional consulting fee income," but that following his election as Mayor, the firm "was reorganized to focus primarily on offering consulting services to domestic businesses working to achieve sales to various third world countries."(71) According to the memorandum, AYA relies "largely upon name recognition and third world political contacts."(72)
The document described characterized the company as "small, illiquid, unprofitable, and infinitely leveraged."(73)
According to Stony Cooks, Young's business and political associate, expenses incurred from Mr. Young's travels on behalf of BCCI were used to reduce the balance on the credit line. Cooks has claimed, the "offset" arrangement was worked out between himself and Swaleh Naqvi, the chief operating officer of BCCI without specifying the date of the arrangement.(74)
As of October 10, 1989, the outstanding loan to AYA (Andrew Young Associates) was $197,000 and while interest on the loan had been paid, the principal had not paid down. (75) In a letter from Asif Mujtaba, the Group Vice-President of First American Bank in Georgia to Bande Hasan, BCCI Miami, Mujtaba wrote "This loan matured on October 6, 1986 and I have written to the borrower demanding payment."(76) Cook's assertion following BCCI's global closure that payment of the principal, nearly $200,000, was offset by Young's travel expenses, is difficult to believe. Young would have had to have a large number of trips on BCCI's behalf in order to accumulate $200,000 in expenses, and there is evidence, as discussed below, that when he made trips on behalf of BCCI, he immediately sought cash reimbursement from the bank.
Documents show that Andrew Young Associates received its line of credit from the National Bank of Georgia beginning in 1980 which was transferred to BCCI Panama sometime after June 1985, the year Young was re-elected Mayor of Atlanta. (that same year the National Bank of Georgia donated at least $10,000 to Young's successful candidacy for Mayor of Atlanta in 1985.) (77) There is no explanation for why the loans were transferred. Documents do show that while AYA was paying down interest, Young's brother, Walter Young was not servicing the loan. In 1988, after several years of non-payment BCCI's Tariq Jamil wrote S.M. Shafi: "I understand that this loan is also guaranteed by Mayor Young, and therefore I would submit that the collection should be handled delicately as we would like to preserve the relationship between the BCC group and Mayor Young."(78)
Young's Travels For BCCI
According to published reports, Young travelled extensively on behalf of BCCI. The Subcommittee has obtained documents showing one trip which Young made to Nicaragua. In a May, 1987 memorandum written by S.S. Shafi to Ameer Siddiki, BCCI London, Shafi recounts a meeting with government officials in Managua, Nicaragua that had been arranged by Young:
Our first meeting with the Cabinet Ministers and other important personalities of Nicaragua was arranged by Mr. Andrew Young, Mayor of Atlanta who had travelled there for this purpose. Most of the Cabinet Ministers attended the dinner and after some time we were joined by the President of the Republic, Mr. Daniel Ortega. He explained to us at great length the great recession and losses and the widening of the trade gap in his country. The idea behind was to impress on us that BCCI primary concern being the promotion of economic growth in Third World countries we should arrange for credit lines for their pre-export financing of their coffee, sugar, bananas and other items.(79)
In the same memo Shafi reports that "The Minister [of Foreign Trade] added that a delegation headed by him would visit London to meet Mr. Abedi within a few days through good offices of Mr. Andrew Young."(80)
In September, 1987, Tariq Jamil, BCCI London, who had previously worked at the National Bank of Georgia, wrote to Saheb Shafi, BCC LACRO, requesting that Young be reimbursed for his travel expenses to Nicaragua, noting:
Needless to say, we shall continue to receive patronage and help from the Mayor in any of our endeavors in Central America for developing contacts and business for Latin American Region.(81)
The request for $2,345.17 reimbursement was accompanied by a July 15, 1987 letter from Young's assistant Stony Cooks stating that "[p]resently, Mayor Andrew Young's anticipated dates for his visit to Guatemala are August 12-6, 1987."(82) Cooks has told the press, as noted earlier, that Young's travel expenses were used to pay down his loan. The Subcommittee has been unable to verify that assertion, but finds the account -- that Young's travel expenses on behalf of BCCI amounted to nearly $200,000, and were used to offset the loan -- difficult to believe, especially given the reimbursement request in the case of the Nicaragua trip.
An NBG Loan memorandum also shows that Young proposed a joint venture in the country of Nigeria:
[T]o establish a joint venture agreement between A.I.C. and a Nigerian partner, former Head of State, General O. Obasanjo, is being negotiated. The joint venture company would cooperate in the assembly, manufacture and sale of farm equipment in Nigeria and throughout Africa.
Andrew Young Associates will consult with A.I.C. to provide advice and information about the business environment and business development opportunities in the developing nations.(83)
The significance of the Nigerian proposal is simply that it involves a former head of state of the Nigerian government, which was pervasively involved in receiving corrupt payments from BCCI in the form of bribes, kick-backs, money laundering, and other services specified in the chapter on BCCI's activities in foreign countries.
Other Georgia Contacts
Consistent with its strategy of buying political influence, BCCI used Georgia lawyer and political operative Charlie Jones to court powerful government officials. For example, Jones was hired by Clifford and Warnke to lobby the Georgia state legislature during the takeover of National Bank of Georgia by First American. In order for the takeover to have proceeded, a technicality in the banking law had to be changed. According to Roy Carlson, Jones was paid "the vicinity of $1 million" for successfully lobbying the legislature.(84) NBC reported in February 1991 that members of the legislature had flown to a resort at the expense of BCCI.
Jones also arranged to have Senator Sam Nunn invited to lunch by the Egyptian Ambassador to the United States where Jones introduced the Senator to Gaith Pharaon. Nunn subsequently met with Pharaon on three occasions -- each meeting was arranged by Charlie Jones. There is nothing to suggest, however, that Senator Nunn had any relationship with BCCI or knowledge of Pharaon's ties to the bank.
According to Senator Hatch, Jones also used the offices of Senator Wyche Fowler to set us a meeting between himself, Amir Lohdi, a BCCI employee and aide to Gaith Pharaon, and Danny Wall, the nation's top savings and loan operator. According to a report released by Senator Hatch in 1991, at the time, Centrust was seeking US authority to sell $200 million in bonds to stave off its failure. Senator Fowler has denied that he or anyone in his office played any role in setting up the meeting.(85)
Conclusion
Beginning in the late 1970's BCCI made a concerted effort to court important members of the Carter administration, including the President himself. Bert Lance, for example, appears to have been relieved of substantial debt by the bank. While Mr. Lance's financial dealings have been thoroughly investigated and he has to date been convicted of no crime, the Subcommittee has concluded that from the beginning Lance traded on his time in public office for personal gain. In short, while his dealings with BCCI may not have been criminal, they can only be characterized as corrupt.
Former President Carter demonstrated an astounding lack of curiosity about a man with whom he travelled around the world and who funded his charities. While someone in the US government should have alerted the former President to the criminal nature of BCCI before 1986, President Carter never asked. Moreover, the former President demonstrated some insensitivity to the appearances of impropriety in accepting money from Sheik Zayed, the owner of BCCI, after the 1988 indictment, even though BCCI had been identified as having a corporate policy of soliciting drug money.
Andrew Young did not have as extensive relationship with BCCI as his former colleague Bert Lance, but he seems to have been equally willing to profit by that relationship. While Young may not have broken any criminal laws, he showed poor ethical judgment in performing services for a foreign bank while he was Mayor of Atlanta. Mayor Young's actions could be more easily characterized as business and economic development were it not for the $50,000 he received in consulting fees and the nearly $200,000 his consulting firm borrowed.
What is perhaps most surprising about the actions of former President Carter and former Mayor Young is that they established a relationship with BCCI or Abedi at all given that they knew Bert Lance was intimately involved with the bank and had, in fact, been bailed out by the bank. Lance has a history of showing poor judgment concerning his personal and business finances and his recommendation of BCCI, instead of providing comfort, should have raised red flags.
1. It is important to note that President Carter never personally profited from his relationship with either Abedi or BCCI.
2. S. Hrg. 102-350. Pt.3, p.16.
3. "Saudi to Acquire Lance Stock," by John Berry and Art Harris, The Washington Post, December 21, 1977.
4. S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 3, p.5.
5. "Arab Investors Want Lance to Manage Funds," by Art Harris and John Berry, The Washington Post, December 18, 1977. p.A1.
6. Id. In 1979 the Justice Department brought a civil suit against Holly and an associate in 1979 claiming that they had sought to bribe an official of Quatar with a $1.5 million cash payment in order to get renewal of oil concessions that were worth millions of dollars. The department also said that Lance was instrumental in arranging the meeting between the businessmen and a State Department official in 1978, after he had left government, that were intended to pave the way for a bribe offer to an official of Qatar. Holly entered a consent order in which he agreed no to bribe officials in the officials. The Associated Press, by James Rubin, April 9, 1979.
7. Id.
8. Id.
9. Id. p.6.
10. Id.
11. Id. p.7
12. Id. p.7
13. "Is Bert Lance Back," By Gretchen Morgenson, Forbes Magazine, june 13, 1988, p.12.
14. Id. p.17.
15. S. Hrg. 102-350. pt.3, p.8.
16. "SEC Charges Lance," by John F. Berry and Jerry Knight, The Washington Post, March 18, 1978, p. A1.
17. Lance Sells Stock, by Michael Doan, Associated Press, December 20, 1977.
18. Id. p. 11.
19. Berry and Harris, Id. p.3.
20. Lance Stock Sale, by Robert Furlow, The Associated Press, December 27, 1977.
21. Id.
22. S. Hrg. 102-350, Pt. 3, p.11.
23. Id. p.12.
24. Id. p.13.
25. Id. p.16.
26. Id. p.15.
27. Id. p.37
28. "$3.5 Million Lance Loan An Issue In Takeover Suit," by Jerry Knight and John F. Berry, The Washington Post, March 23, 1978.
29. Id. p.20.
30. "Lance Tied to Bank's Takeover," By John Berry, The Washington Post, February 12, 1978.
31. By Michael Sniffen, The Associated Press, March 27, 1978.
32. Id. p.28.
33. see Sami memo, Id. p.25.
34. Id. p.28.
35. Id. p.19.
36. Id. p. 33.
37. Id. p.34.
38. Id. p.34.
39. Id.
40. Id. p.40
41. Id. p.43.
42. Memorandum, Application to Strike from Listing and Registration, "In the matter of Maxpharma, February 8, 1989, The American Stock Exchange.
43. Letter from Subcommittee source, August 14, 1991.
44. On April 18, 1984, Presad wrote to Marvin Klapp, the southeast regional chief for the SBA, and thanked him for his assistance. He also wrote:
I should also like to take this opportunity to apologize for any inconvenience caused as a result of Congressman Walter Jones, Sr. calling on our behalf. He may have been over zealous in his attempt to help us since he feels that as a minority owned SBIC we required extra help and guidance.
45. memorandum from Assistant Inspector general for Audit to the Associate Administrator for Finance and Investment, US Small Business Administration, March 8, 1988, p5-6.
46. Morgenson, p.12.
47. "The President's Saudi Windmill," by Jack Anderson, The Washington Post, July 29, 1980.
48. Id.
49. Id.
50. S. Hrg. 102-350, Pt.3, p.38.
51. "Jimmy Carter's Relationship With BCCI," ABC News Nightline, show #2664, August 8, 1991.
52. Id. p.38.
53. Fritz, p.1.
54. Id.
55. "BCCI Adept at Courting the Powerful and Rich," by Stuart Auerbach, The Washington Post, August 7, 1991, p.A1.
56. According to U.S. News and World Report, "Most of the Abedi money -- representing less than 3 percent of the 350 million the nonprofit Carter center has raised since its founding in 1982 -- went for eradication of Guinea worm disease, an intestinal disorder affecting millions in Asia and Africa." se "the Atlanta Connection," by Gloria Borger and Matthew Cooper, August 12, 1991, p.30.
57. "Carter Travels to Sudan to visit Grain Experiments," by Carolyn S. Carlson, the Associated Press, October 26, 1986
58. Carter also travelled to Ghana and Nigeria with Abedi where he attended conferences on eradication of Guinea worm disease. see "Nigeria:New Efforts to Eliminate Guinea Worm Disease," Inter Press Service, March 14, 1988.
59. The Los Angeles Times reported, "On June 21, 1987, former President Jimmy Carter was the star attraction at a ceremony dedicating a rehabilitation center for former prostitutes near Bangkok. By his side was Aga Hasan Abedi..." "How the BCCI Gained Friends in High Places," by Sarah Fritz, the Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1991, p.1.
Ironically, Nazir Chinoy testified that BCCI provided prostitutes to its best customers in the Middle East.
60. Nightline, Id.
61. Fritz, p.1. The article indicates that Abedi was excluded during these meetings.
62. Id.
63. Pharaon acquired 20% of Centrust in 1987.
64. Fritz, p.1.
65. Id.
66. "Carter Donors: Questionable Givers?" by Elizabeth Kurylo, The Atlanta Constitution, April 14, 1991, p.1.
67. Atlanta Constitution, August 26, 1992, "Former Carter Center chief indicted in fraud."
68. "Young Disturbed by Charges Against BCCI," by Elizabeth Kurylo, The Atlanta Constitution, July 20, 1991, p.1.
69. Id.
70. Id.
71. NBG Loan Review Memorandum, Andrew Young Associates, 10/17/83.
72. Id.
73. NBG Loan Review Document, p.2.
74. "Seized Bank Helped Atlanta's Ex-Mayor and Carter Charities," by Ronald Smothers, The New York Times, July 15, 1992, p.1.
75. In a memorandum, dated March 25, 1988, from SM Shafi, BCCI LACRO to Akbar Bilgrami, BCCI Panama, Shafi writes, "We have been advised that Mr. Andrew Young will repay the loan of the company by December 31, 1988."
76. letter to Bande Hasan from Asif Mujtaba, October 10, 1989.
77. Smothers, p.1.
78. letter from Tariq Jamil to S.M. Shafi, February 24, 1988.
79. memorandum from S.M. Shafi to Ameer Siddiki, BCCI London, May 1(3?)m 1987. p.1.
80. Id.
81. letter from Tariq Jamil, BCCI London to S.M. Shafi, BCCI, LACRO, September 18, 1987
82. letter from Stony Cooks to Tariq Jamil, BCCI London, July 15, 1987.
83. National bank of Georgia, Loan Memorandum, Andrew Young Associates Inc., 8/9/84.
84. staff telephone interview with R.P. Carlson, July 10, 1991.
85. "Hatch Adds Partisan Spice to BCCI Stew," by Edward T. Pound, The Wall Street Journal, August 6, 1991, p.A8
Introduction
When BCCI began its surreptitious takeover of First American, Jimmy Carter was President of the United States. The point man for that takeover, of course, was the President's close personal friend and former Director of the Office of Management and Budget, T. Bertram Lance.
Lance ultimately was forced to abandon his role in the takeover, but he maintained his contacts with BCCI for another decade. During that time, Lance introduced BCCI, and its president, Agha Hasan Abedi, to former President Carter and to the President's friend and former UN Ambassador, Andrew Young. During the 1980's these three former powerful government officials used, and were used, by BCCI, to varying degrees and for various purposes.
Of the three, Lance was far and away the most visibly involved with BCCI. In 1977, when Lance became Director of the Office of Management and Budget, he had serious financial problems. After resigning later that year amid accusations that he had mismanaged corporate and personal financial matters, Lance went to work for BCCI as a consultant. He appears to have traded on his access to the President for BCCI's ability to bail him out of his crushing debt. After getting millions from BCCI, Lance provided services to the bank for the next decade.
BCCI courted the rich and powerful all over the world and so it was natural that President Carter should be approached with an eye towards using him to give credibility to the bank. The President apparently did not establish a relationship with BCCI or Abedi, until after he left office. However, throughout the 1980's, Abedi used President Carter as a means of gaining stature for himself and for BCCI in a number of third world countries. The President, in return, received millions of dollars for his charities.(1)
Andrew Young is one of the most famous black politicians, not only in this country, but all over the world. A former Congressman, Young is also a past Mayor of Atlanta. Perhaps most significant for BCCI, Young was the first black US Ambassador to the United Nations under President Carter. In that position he often championed Third World causes. BCCI used Young in much the same way as it used Carter -- for introductions and access to government leaders in developing countries. Young, in return received a salary and loans, although his financial relationship never amounted to that of his colleague Lance.
It is no coincidence that at the time the bank closed, BCCI had established its presence in Georgia in many different ways ranging from the ownership of the National Bank of Georgia to the headquarters for BCCI front man Ghaith Pharaon's U.S. corporate headquarters.
Bert Lance
Lance Meets Abedi
Bert Lance, who provided testimony to the Subcommittee on October 23, 1991 about his role in the BCCI affair, told the Subcommittee that he is "mystified" by the "whole developing scandal."(2)
Lance was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Carter from January 20, 1977 until September 21, 1977. He was forced to resign after it was alleged that he engaged in questionable financial dealings at the National Bank of Georgia where he was chairman for two years, and, earlier, at the Calhoun National Bank where he was also chairman.(3)
Lance has stated on many occasions that he first met Agha Hasan Abedi, the President of BCCI, in October, 1977 when he was introduced by a member of the Georgia state assembly, an oil man named Eugene Holley. According to Lance, Holley:
had some conversations with Mr. Abedi about me and whatever few abilities I might have and things of that nature; and that he thought it would be worthwhile if I had occasion to meet Mr. Abedi and discuss with him what his interest might or may not have been in regard to the United States, in regard to investments, in regarding to banking generally, and so on.(4)
Holley was the Chairman of the Georgia state Senate Banking and Finance Committee. According to press reports Holley "had sought aid from Middle Eastern sources for his petroleum and real estate ventures."(5) According to the Washington Post, "Several Georgia banks that lent money for his [Holley's] ventures have suffered grave losses," noting that "NBG, under Lance's direction, was among the lenders."(6)
In September 1977, Lance met with Holley, Abedi and Naqvi at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. Lance testified that Abedi told him:
I am building a bank headquarters in London that has a deep and abiding interest in the problems of health, hunger, economic development, things primarily in the Third World, problems that we are all familiar with and problems that we all want to see resolved in one form or another.(7)
According to Lance, who was in serious financial trouble at the time, "I shared that concern."(8)
Lance told the Subcommittee that he subsequently met with Abedi and told him that "I am not about to get involved in situation whereby the relationships that I establish after having resigned would create any problem of embarrassment, concern, or anything else for the President of the United States."(9) Lance ultimately did introduce Abedi to Carter, which ultimately caused substantial embarrassment and concern for the former President, but this was until 1981 after Carter had left the Presidency.
In October 1977, Lance decided that he should "do due diligence about Mr. Abedi and BCCI" before getting involved with them. To handle this task, he chose Clifford and Altman, who had represented him before the Senate.(10) Lance told the Subcommittee that Clifford "told me . . . Mr. Abedi was a man of integrity and character, that BCCI . . . they were people of integrity and character."(11)
With assurances from Clifford and Altman that BCCI was a reputable institution, Lance began to advise Abedi on gaining a foothold in the United States. He testified to the Subcommittee his advice to Abedi was:
very clear and precise, as I recall, that you need to acquainted, you need to go through the regulatory process in the United States; that, obviously, despite my difficulty sometimes in dealing with them, that I thought it to be the best process in the world; that banks who were regulated in the United States offered their depositors safety; that it was the kind of climate that was appropriate and proper, and that it was they ought to do.(12)
Lance and the Initial Takeover of FGB
In line with this sage advice, in late 1977 Lance led a group of Middle-eastern investors, including Abedi, in an attempt to take over Washington D.C. based Financial General Bankshares. The effort was blocked when the SEC discovered that the investors had secretly acquired a 19% holding in the bank and had to divest it.(13) Lance was forced to sign a consent decree by the SEC.(14)
Lance explained to the Subcommittee that he had recommended the purchase of Financial General to Abedi. He told the Subcommittee that he "happened to know about Financial General because when I was at the National Bank of Georgia, they were owned by Financial General." Lance also testified that he "happened to have an awareness of ...other stockholders in Financial General at that point in time... [who] had [not] been very happy about their investment."(15) Indeed, Lance was accused by the SEC of having been involved in the struggle for control of FGB while he was still director for the office of management and budget.(16)
At the same time that Lance was assisting Abedi in the takeover of Financial General, Ghaith Pharaon, a BCCI front man, offered to buy 60% of the former budget director's stock in the National Bank of Georgia stock for $20 a share, $3 more than Lance had originally paid for it. At the time Lance held 12% of the bank's stock and his sale of some 120,000 shares provided him with a gross gain of approximately $2.4 million. According to press reports, the stock had been trading for about $10.50 to $11.25 before the sale became imminent.(17)
In testimony before the Subcommittee, Lance explained that Abedi told him that he "had an investor who, by the name of Gaith Pharaon, who has acquired banks in the United States previously. . . And he said to that would appear to make a lot of sense." (18) Indeed, it did make sense for Lance, who had previously listed liabilities in excess of $5 million, including a $3.4 million loan form the National bank of Chicago.(19)
At the time the transaction raised concern that Pharaon may have been paying an inflated price in order to help Lance, save President Carter further embarrassment from his association with Lance, and gain influence with the administration. However, Lance stated publicly that "I'm not for sale; I've never been for sale, and that stands on its own."(20) Pharaon also disputed any claims that he was trying to buy influence: "Why should I buy influence? We have many ways of reaching your President through our channels. We have a great deal of influence already."(21)
Lance also testified about Clifford and Altman's role in the Pharaon's purchase of his shares: "Mr. Clifford and Bob Altman represented me at that point in time ...They were very aware of what I was trying to do and were very helpful to me in trying to do that."(22)
In summary, Lance explained:
[T]here were two groups of investors there that Abedi said he was representing. One happened to be the investors that subsequently ended up as the individual shareholders in Financial General, and, Gaith Pharaon, who ended up as the sole investor in the National Bank of Georgia...
And during November and December 1977, it pretty well took place in the broad beginnings of the purchase of Financial General on the one hand and, obviously, the acquisition of the National bank of Georgia on the other.
[T]here were two different entities, is what I'm trying to say to you, that were involved. I guess I was central to both of them. Mr. Clifford and Bob Altman were central to both of them. Mr. Clifford and Bob Altman were central to both of them. And, in fact, Mr. Clifford and Bob Altman represented me in a legal sense.(23)
While Lance took pains to separate the two transactions -- the purchase of his NBG stock and the acquisition of Financial General -- for the Subcommittee, he testified that at a meeting in Atlanta over Thanksgiving weekend in 1977, "there was basic discussion and negotiation about the purchase of NBG. But there was also negotiation -- not "negotiation" as such, but conversation -- about the purchase of Financial General." Pharaon, the purchaser of NBG, was not present, but Abedi, Naqvi, Abdus Sami and Dildar Rizvi, the elite of BCCI, were all present.(24) In fact, Lance never met Pharaon until the night of the closing on the sale of NBG in January, 1978. Nevertheless, he testified that it was his "impression" that "he [Pharaon] was obviously a person who comes across as being in charge of whatever he's doing, and makes decisions and that sort of thing."(25)
Lance Advises BCCI; The Second Takeover Attempt
After the sale of NBG stock to Pharaon and the failed takeover of Financial General, Lance continued as an advisor to Abedi and BCCI. Lance described his role as offering advice on "investments in the United States" and "economic development around the world." For these services Lance was paid by BCCI through ICIC, the "bank within a bank", which Lance understood to be a kind of "commercial finance operation."(26) When asked by Senator Pressler what ICIC paid him, Lance responded that he had been asked the same question recently by the SEC and he had refused to answer and he therefore would not answer the Senator. Lance added that "All of that is matter of public record."(27) The Washington Post reported in March, 1978 that:
The president of an Arab-controlled bank paid off a $3.5 million loan for Bert Lance without even asking Lance to sign a note, an attorney claimed yesterday at a court hearing in the Financial General Bankshares case.
Lance's $3.5 million loan from First National Bank of Chicago was repaid in January by Agha Hasan Abedi, president of Bank of Credit and Commerce international, said Edward McAmis, attorney for Financial General in a civil lawsuit against Lance, Abedi, BCCI and others accused of using illegal methods in seeking control of Financial General.
McAmis said Lance told him in a sworn statement made on Monday that Abedi repaid the loan directly, without any discussion of the interest rate or how and when Lance would repay Abedi. The multi-million loan made with only an oral promise to repay showed Lance's close ties and obligation to Abedi and BCCI, McAmis argued.
Lance's attorney, Robert Altman, accused McAmis of deliberately misconstructing the loan as part of a campaign to smear Lance.
"It wasn't like that at all," Altman said. he said formal loan documents were being drawn up, but had not been completed because of the lawsuit and other complications.
The article continues:
The revelation that Abedi repaid the Chicago loan came as a surprise. It had been reported earlier that Lance had sold his NBG stock for $2.4 million and used the money to pay off some of his debts, including the Chicago loan.
Court records in Georgia showed the Chicago loan was repaid on January 4, the same day lance completed the sale of his NBG stock to Gaith R. Pharaon, a Saudi Arabian financier who has business ties to Abedi. That same day Lance paid back a $443,000 loan to a Tennessee bank, raising questions about how he paid nearly $4 million in debts with $2.4 million in cash.
Yesterdays's assertions suggest Lance got money from two Arab sources in January, when he moved to extricate himself from past debts -- the sale of stock to Pharaon plus the loan from Abedi.(28)
Although no longer personally involved in the takeover of Financial General Bankshares, Lance continued to provide advice on the acquisition of the bank. He testified, for instance, that in 1978, at the suggestion of Abedi, he met separately with two of the potential shareholders, Sheik Kamal Adham and Sheik Zayed, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates. Lance told the Subcommittee that he met Zayed in Lahore, Pakistan in "February or March, 1978."(29) According to a February 12, 1978 story in the Washington Post, "In recent weeks, Lance was in Karachi, Pakistan, and sources say the trip was in connection with his dealings with Abedi."(30) Despite the fact that he no longer worked for the government, Lance made the trip on an official, US diplomatic passport.(31)
A meeting during this period would have followed the memorandum written by Abdus Sami to Mr. Abedi on January 30, 1978
in which Mr. Sami discusses the strategy for the takeover of Financial General Bankshares. Sami expresses the need "to keep individual ownership to below 5 percent" and he states that "we want two other names immediately." The two names who ultimately were submitted as investors were those of Sheik Zayed's son's Khalifa and Mohammad. When Senator Kerry asked Lance if he travelled to Pakistan in order to solicit the use of the names of investors from Sheik Zayed, Lance responded, "That's not my understanding of what actually took place."(32) Lance then told the Subcommittee, "Mr. Sami and I never and a conversation along these lines."(33) The Sami memorandum, however, contains a provocative reference to "our friend" involved in the FGB negotiations.
Lance admitted to the Subcommittee that the reference was to him, but testified:
[T]he acquisition of shares were basically handled by Mr. Sami, and he was the man who was responsible. I was not involved in that.(34)
As a new strategy for acquisition of Financial General Bankshares progressed, Lance told the Subcommittee that he reiterated to Abedi the need to "go through the regulatory process." He further advised:
[t]hat you take an outstanding American citizen who has no blemish in regard to anything in a public sense, and you take the stock that these individual investors are going to own, and then you put that together in some sort of trust and give that trustee irrevocable voting rights about that stock, and you will have taken a major step in dealing with some of the perception problems that you may have about individual investors.(35)
Abedi followed Lance's advice almost to the letter. Clifford and Altman created a shell corporation, in a form of a trust, to hold the FGB stock. Clifford, who became Chairman of First American was essentially a trustee since his associate, Robert Altman, the President of First American, held a power of attorney for virtually every shareholder. And perhaps most importantly, Clifford had the reputation as being "an outstanding American citizen." Clifford helped to alleviate some of the "perception problems" not only in the acquisition stage, but also throughout the 1980's.
Lance Theorizes About the CIA and BCCI
Lance's relationship with Abedi and BCCI was interrupted in May, 1979 when he was indicted in the northern district of Georgia. After a sixteen week trial, he was acquitted.(36) Lance testified, "[B]asically, in all of 1979, I was out of the picture as it related to BCCI, as it related to Financial General, and so on."(37) According to Lance, Clifford, Altman and Abedi decided that he was "too controversial" and that he "would bring down the wrath of the regulators."
Despite the fact that he was no longer involved in the takeover of Financial General, Lance testified "my relationship with Mr. Abedi, from the standpoint of personal relationships, moved forward from that point on."(38) Lance said that he did "continue to have conversations and visits with Mr. Abedi."(39)
Lance described one of those conversation with Mr. Abedi to the Subcommittee. In 1983 Lance and Abedi attended a symposium at Emory University. In a car ride to Abedi's hotel from the University, Abedi, according to Lance, explained how he had been he had been placed on a CIA watch list in 1980 because he was a "Third World liberal." Lance testified that "subsequently, beginning in 1984, I would say, I sensed a change in Mr. Abedi, that he no longer had any concerns about visits to the United States." Lance concluded that in 1984 there was an attempt by the CIA to "co-opt" Abedi, although he could offer no proof.(40)
Lance also believed that the CIA Director Casey may have used wealthy businessman Bruce Rappaport to "spy" on Lance to see what he may have known about Abedi and the Agency's involvement with the bank. According to Lance, Rappaport befriended him for no apparent reason, but "He made it very clear to me that he had a very close and definitive relationship with Mr. Casey; the Director of the CIA." Lance said that Rappaport maintained contact with him for a period of years until the death of Director Casey.(41) Again, Lance offered no proof of his theory, and, in fact, he failed to mention in his testimony that despite his suspicions of Rappaport, he arranged with him to have one of his sons work in the financier's New York bank.
Lance and BCCI During the 1980's
Besides advising Abedi and BCCI, Lance, during the 1980's pursued financial investments with BCCI-related individuals such as P.S. Prasad, an Indian who was BCCI's largest individual borrower in the United States with over $30 million in outstanding loans. At the time of BCCI's collapse in 1991 Prasad fled the country and returned to India.
Lance served on the board of McDowell Industries, a construction company. In 1984, using various holding companies, Prasad bought out McDowell and merged it with Maxpharma, a publicly traded company owned by Prasad which manufactured generic over-the-counter and prescription drug products. The buy out was handled by the investment banking firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. According to Lance, he personally met Dennis Levine, the investment banker who put the deal together. Levine does not recall having ever met Lance or Prasad. Lance continued to serve on the Board of directors of McDowell until approximately 1986. In 1988, Maxpharma was delisted from the American stock exchange after having multimillion dollar losses for the prior seven years, including a nearly eight million dollar loss in 1988.(42) It is unclear exactly what Lance's role was in Prasad's shuffling of companies, but one source close to the negotiations has alleged that "Lance was released of a multimillion loan he had guaranteed (either personally or through National bank of Georgia) for Maxpharma."(43)
Lance's involvement in another Prasad venture is clearly documented. Dr. Prasad borrowed $450,000 from "a bank" to purchase a small business investment company (SBIC) in 1983 called Falcon Capital Corporation.(44) The purpose of SBICs are to provide financing for venture capitalists, provided or guaranteed by the US Government, with the goal of creating new jobs. On September 15, 1986 Prasad's Falcon Capital made an unsecured loan of $75,000 to Bert Lance at an interest rate of 14 percent per annum for a period of five years. The ostensible purpose of the loan was to set up a consulting business in mergers and acquisitions. According to the SBA Assistant Inspector General for Audit, "[I]n 1988, review did not disclose that T. Bert Lance used the proceeds of the loan in a regular and continuous business operation."(45) Moreover, as of September 30, 1987 principal of $9,738.40 and interest of $8,990.27 were delinquent on the loan. Lance has told the Subcommittee that he eventually paid off the entire loan, but the Subcommittee has been unable to independently verify his claim.
1988 -- Lance emerges again
In June 1988, Forbes Magazine reported that Lance was being considered by BCCI shareholders and management to run the bank in the absence of Aga Hasan Abedi who had suffered a debilitating heart attack. According to Forbes, "An Arab investor group suggested a compromise candidate to run things, a man who could keep the Saudi and Pakistani factions within the bank at bay. That man: Bert Lance."(46)
Also in 1988, Lance was an unofficial advisor to Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, who Lance also introduced to Abedi. Nazir Chinoy, former branch manager of BCCI Paris, testified that when Jackson stayed in Paris, all of his expenses were paid by BCCI.
Finally, after the indictment in Florida of BCCI and BCCI personnel, Lance reportedly flew to London with former Chairman of the Democratic Party John White to meet with Naqvi and to advise BCCI on the best strategy for fighting the indictment.
The Lance Relationship
The full story of Bert Lance's involvement with BCCI remains to be told. Lance was intimately involved with the bank between late 1977 and his indictment in 1979 during which time he provided advice to BCCI in exchange for being relieved his financial burdens. During the 1980's Lance continued his relationship with BCCI, offering advice and providing important introductions, most notably to former President Carter. While Lance's relationship spanned the decade, there are many gaps in the public record as to exactly what services Lance performed for the bank and what compensation he received. This merits further investigation.
Jimmy Carter
Introduction
Former President Carter has enormous respect and admiration throughout the world, but particularly in the Third World where he focused much of human rights policy while he was President. The President's focus on "Third World" issues, combined with BCCI's need for rapid worldwide expansion led the bank, and its president, Aga Hasan Abedi, to court President Carter after he left office. BCCI, which styled itself as a "Third World", bank successfully exploited the President's reputation and access by providing large amounts of funding to the his charitable organizations. In turn, the President became an unwitting pawn of BCCI, failing to acknowledge, even when it became obvious, that the bank was a criminal institution.
The President and Saudi Front Men
There is nothing to suggest that Jimmy Carter was even aware of BCCI or Aga Hasan Abedi while he was President of the United States. However, the president would have known of at least two important BCCI front men, Kamal Adham and Gaith Pharaon. President Carter undoubtedly met Kamal Adham in the negotiations over the Camp David Accords as Adham, the chief of Saudi intelligence, acted as an important liaison for Anwar Sadat. This is discussed in more detail in the chapter on BCCI's contacts with the CIA and foreign intelligence.
President Carter would have known of Gaith Pharaon because Pharaon bought the National Bank of Georgia where the President's good friend Bert Lance had been chairman and where the President had business loans. According to a 1980 Jack Anderson story, Senator Orrin Hatch, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, investigated the Carter loans at NBG. In his story Anderson quotes from a confidential, investigative memorandum to Senator Hatch:
The assumption in financial circles is that Pharaon acted for the Saudi royal family in purchasing the national bank of Georgia. The bank's biggest borrower just happened to be Jimmy Carter. Thus the President of the United States found himself to be deeply in hock to a Saudi Arabian financier with close ties to the Saudi royal family.(47)
The memorandum to Senator Hatch continues:
[T]he bank's confidential files contained embarrassing information about the president's financial affairs. The files revealed that the Carter peanut business wrote $3 million in overdrafts and unprocessed checks to repay peanut commodity loans during the 1975-1977 period.
While Carter was scrounging for money in his 1976 presidential campaign, the business borrowed $1.15 from the bank to buy peanuts, without a single peanut in bonded storage to secure the loan, in violation of the loan agreement. By September 1, 1977 , the business was insolvent to the tune of $410,000.
Of course, the Saudis remained discretely silent. The friendly Pharaon not only kept quiet about Carter's irregularities, but renegotiated the loan to Carter's advantage.
According to a memo in the bank files, the bank renegotiated the repayment terms. This resulted in a savings of $60,000 for the Carter family in 1987. The President owned 62% of the business and therefore was the largest beneficiary.(48)
The memorandum concludes:
The press and public have been conditioned by Watergate to expect a smoking gun -- a taped conversation, a full confession by one of the conspirators or some other dramatic evidence... Perhaps the American people need to be reeducated about scandal.(49)
The Subcommittee has not been able to verify the accuracy of the information supplied by Senator Hatch's investigator.
After the White House: Carter and Abedi
Since leaving the White House and the office of he Presidency in 1980, Jimmy Carter has devoted himself to several charities, including providing assistance to several organizations for fighting disease in the Third World. In this capacity the former President developed a friendship and working relationship with the founder and President of BCCI, Aga Hasan Abedi.
President Carter was introduced to Abedi in 1982 by Bert Lance who brought the banker to Plains, Georgia . Lance remembers, "There was an immediate relationship that developed between the two of them. You could sense it as they talked there in the living room of the Carter residence."(50)
According to Carter, Abedi approached him to undertake charity work on the third world:
The foundation or the bank, I never did know which, had a massive program in the third world called South. They published a monthly magazine that had major conferences in different cities around -- in the developing nations. Mr. Abedi, when he came to see me, said that they were just holding conferences, they were issuing publications, they were doing scholarly work, but they'd never actually planted a seek, or immunized a child or did anything of a specific nature. And he knew that our relationship with the Center for Disease Control let us have access to health care programs, and we were already embarked on those. So his relationship with us was one of "I want to do something practical to help people who are suffering, and we will help you."(51)
During the 1980's Carter and Abedi met over a dozen times and established a very warm, personal relationship. In 1983, for instance, when Carter and former President Ford held a joint symposium on conflict resolution at Emory University, Mr. Abedi was in attendance. (52) When Abedi suffered a heart attack in February 1988, Carter contacted heart specialist Norman Shumway who, at the former President's request, flew to London to examine Abedi, and oversaw a heart transplant operation for the BCCI president. Carter even visited Abedi during his hospitalization and was quoted as calling Mr. Abedi "one of the most unusual men I have met."(53)
Carter's Travels With Abedi
The President travelled several thousand miles together with Abedi on the BCCI corporate jet and they visited at least seven countries together. Abedi has stated publicly that he has been "to every country...All the top politicians and heads of state were my friends, Jimmy Carter, James Callahan, I knew them all."(54) Callahan, the former British Prime Minister, has claimed that Carter introduced him to Abedi in 1981 at a charity dinner for the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust in London.(55)
In October 1986 the Carter Center opened in Atlanta. The center was created to study third world issues among the guests was Abedi, who had contributed over $500,000 to the center.(56) Moreover, Abedi and BCCI donated $8 million Carter's Global 2,000 project, helping to fund programs in Asia and Africa. Abedi was appointed the co-chairman of Global 2,000.
Less than one month after the Carter Center opened, the former President travelled with Abedi to Pakistan and to Bangladesh to sign agreements with government officials starting Global 2,000 health care programs in those countries. According to a Global 2,000 statement at the time, the programs sponsored by Carter focused on control of polio, measles, tetanus and diarrheal diseases.(57) BCCI either had, or was to develop corrupt relationships with several of the countries visited by Carter and Abedi, including Bangladesh and Suriname. In 1986 Carter also travelled to the United Arab Emirates, again accompanied by Abedi, for a three day visit during which time he met Sheik Zayed.(58)
In 1987, they met in Bangkok with the King of Thailand before flying on to Hong Kong and back to China.(59) In Beijing they attended a state dinner with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping where they shared a toast with Premier Zhao Ziyang. President Carter has acknowledged that his travels with Abedi helped the BCCI president in his business:
[I] don't think there's any doubt that when a former President of the United States goes to a country and has anybody in his entourage, that person has some advantage to be derived.(60)
Indeed, the countries to which President Carter travelled with Abedi became important banking centers for BCCI. In China, for instance, BCCI opened the first foreign branch and reportedly conducted weapons transactions involving the Chinese government.
What the US Government Didn't Tell Carter
By 1986, of course, several US government agencies, including the Central intelligence Agency, the Justice Department and the Treasury were aware of BCCI's criminal connections. The CIA, for instance, knew that BCCI had secretly -- and illegally -- acquired First American Bankshares, Washington D.C.'s largest financial institution. The State Department knew that the terrorist Abu Nidal was using the bank to finance his operations in Europe. And the Customs Agency was working with the US Attorney's office in Tampa in Operation C-Chase, an undercover sting operation designed to expose drug money laundering in South Florida, which ultimately targeted BCCI.
During this entire period, President Carter was never briefed by any agency of the US government concerning BCCI.
This seems all the more extraordinary given that during several of his trips with Abedi the State Department asked the former President to raise particular issues with the governments of those countries.(61) However, the former President has said that neither did he ever ask for a briefing, nor did he ever feel the need to request one. Carter has said that he does not feel either "betrayed or deceived". According to the former President he did not become concerned about his association with the bank until the revelations that BCCI had been General Noriega's banker. At that point, the President stated:
[W]e were quite concerned , but the public news media reports -- I believe including statements from the Justice Department -- was that this was a problem that was apparently confined to the one bank operation in Panama dealing with Noriega. We had no information that it was broader.(62)
In point of fact, the indictment in Tampa charged BCCI with having a "corporate policy" of soliciting narcotics proceeds which clearly suggests that knowledge of BCCI's criminal activity was broader than President Carter has suggested was publicly available.
Carter's Other BCCI-related Benefactors
In 1987 President Carter invited BCCI's most famous Georgia resident, Gaith Pharaon to have lunch at the Carter center. According to published reports, Pharaon brought David Paul, the President of Centrust with him.(63) Although Pharaon never contributed any funds to President Carter's charities, Centrust made a corporate contribution of $100,000, which arrived with a note instructing Carter fundraisers to "credit it to Gaith Pharaon."(64)
In 1991 after the Federal Reserve issued a cease and desist order concerning BCCI's ownership of First American, the President began to disassociate himself from Abedi and the bank. On April 15, 1991 President Carter said:
We have, at the Carter Center, about 20,000 contributors to our programs, and we appreciate very much what BCCI did at the beginning to get this project started. But now, one of our major contributors is Sheik Zayed, in Abu Dhabi.(65)
Sheik Zayed, of course, was a major shareholder in BCCI from its inception and at the time that President Carter made his remarks, actually controlled the bank. According to the Atlanta Constitution, President Carter was aware of this: [W]hen BCCI changed owners and stopped payments on its Global 2,000 commitments, Mr. Carter asked the new owner, the President of the United Arab Emirates, to pay the $2.5 million balance due."(66)
Carter Aide Used BCCI To Defraud Former President
On August 26, 1992, George G. Schira, the first executive director of the Carter Presidential Center, was indicted on charges that he impersonated former President Jimmy Carter and defrauded the center and one of its financial contributors out of $650,000.(67)
In committing this fraud on the former President, Schira used BCCI to receive some $650,000 from a shipping magnate through impersonating President Carter and Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, and calling on the magnate for help.
The funds were first transferred to BCCI in London, and then to BCCI's secretly owned U.S. subsidiary, the First American Bank of Georga, and to BCCI's secretly owned Swiss subsidiary, the Banque de Commerce et Placements.
The Relationship Between Jimmy Carter and BCCI
President Carter was used by BCCI to enhance its credibility around the world and particularly in developing countries. President Carter travelled to a number of these countries with BCCI's president, Abedi, increasing Abedi's status and helping Abedi gain access and entry to political leaders from those countries. At the same time, the former President became beholden to the bank for its generous contributions to his charities. While President Carter did not show sufficient interest in establishing the bona fides of the bank, the CIA, which had substantial negative information on BCCI, failed to provide him with that information. When a President of the United States becomes a private citizen, it is obviously his choice with whom he associates. Nevertheless, former Presidents are afforded physical protection, and should be afforded, to the extent possible, protection of their reputation. As a result of his own lack of diligence in seeking information on BCCI's poor reputation, and the CIA's lack of diligence in telling President Carter what they knew, President Carter became closely associated for a decade with a bank that constituted organized crime. This outcome was not in the interests of the United States.
Andy Young
Introduction
Andrew Young is one of the most prominent Black Americans in the country and has a record of high achievement in public service. However, The Subcommittee finds that Young's relationship with BCCI was inappropriate, particularly during the period that Young served as the Mayor of Atlanta. While he may technically have violated no ethical rules of his office, his financial relationship with BCCI has the appearance of influence-peddling.
Young Meets Abedi
Former UN Ambassador and Mayor of Atlanta Andrew Young represented BCCI as a consultant. Young has said that he learned about BCCI after leaving his position as UN Ambassador in 1979. While he does not recollect who introduced him to Aga Hasan Abedi, BCCI's president, he believes it may have been Gaith Pharaon, the man who purchased Bert Lance's holdings in the National Bank of Georgia.(68)
While he was Mayor, Young made at least four international trips on which he made key introductions for BCCI. According to Young, BCCI officials were occasionally involved during trips that he made with the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. He has explained that he performed services for the bank or met with officials in Tunisia, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe and several Persian Gulf states.(69)
In recent indictments issued by the Manhattan District Attorney, Robert Morgenthau, Tunisia and Zimbabwe were described as countries where government officials were bribed by BCCI officials. There is no information that Mayor Young had any knowledge of any impropriety committed by BCCI officials in either of these countries.
A Financial Relationship With BCCI
While serving as the Mayor of Atlanta, Young, like Lance, provided services for BCCI in return for financial benefits. Young had a $50,000 annual retainer with the bank, and has claimed that he only became a paid consultant in 1986 after he travelled with former President Carter to Africa on a BCCI jet. Young's fees were paid to his consulting firm, Andrew Young Associates. The relationship between Andrew Young Associates and BCCI lasted for eight years until 1989. During most of that period, the BCCI's loans were booked, and according to BCCI's records, "parked," at its offices in Panama.(70)
According to a loan review document from the National Bank of Georgia, AYA had "initially served as a vehicle for Andrew Young's lecture and occasional consulting fee income," but that following his election as Mayor, the firm "was reorganized to focus primarily on offering consulting services to domestic businesses working to achieve sales to various third world countries."(71) According to the memorandum, AYA relies "largely upon name recognition and third world political contacts."(72)
The document described characterized the company as "small, illiquid, unprofitable, and infinitely leveraged."(73)
According to Stony Cooks, Young's business and political associate, expenses incurred from Mr. Young's travels on behalf of BCCI were used to reduce the balance on the credit line. Cooks has claimed, the "offset" arrangement was worked out between himself and Swaleh Naqvi, the chief operating officer of BCCI without specifying the date of the arrangement.(74)
As of October 10, 1989, the outstanding loan to AYA (Andrew Young Associates) was $197,000 and while interest on the loan had been paid, the principal had not paid down. (75) In a letter from Asif Mujtaba, the Group Vice-President of First American Bank in Georgia to Bande Hasan, BCCI Miami, Mujtaba wrote "This loan matured on October 6, 1986 and I have written to the borrower demanding payment."(76) Cook's assertion following BCCI's global closure that payment of the principal, nearly $200,000, was offset by Young's travel expenses, is difficult to believe. Young would have had to have a large number of trips on BCCI's behalf in order to accumulate $200,000 in expenses, and there is evidence, as discussed below, that when he made trips on behalf of BCCI, he immediately sought cash reimbursement from the bank.
Documents show that Andrew Young Associates received its line of credit from the National Bank of Georgia beginning in 1980 which was transferred to BCCI Panama sometime after June 1985, the year Young was re-elected Mayor of Atlanta. (that same year the National Bank of Georgia donated at least $10,000 to Young's successful candidacy for Mayor of Atlanta in 1985.) (77) There is no explanation for why the loans were transferred. Documents do show that while AYA was paying down interest, Young's brother, Walter Young was not servicing the loan. In 1988, after several years of non-payment BCCI's Tariq Jamil wrote S.M. Shafi: "I understand that this loan is also guaranteed by Mayor Young, and therefore I would submit that the collection should be handled delicately as we would like to preserve the relationship between the BCC group and Mayor Young."(78)
Young's Travels For BCCI
According to published reports, Young travelled extensively on behalf of BCCI. The Subcommittee has obtained documents showing one trip which Young made to Nicaragua. In a May, 1987 memorandum written by S.S. Shafi to Ameer Siddiki, BCCI London, Shafi recounts a meeting with government officials in Managua, Nicaragua that had been arranged by Young:
Our first meeting with the Cabinet Ministers and other important personalities of Nicaragua was arranged by Mr. Andrew Young, Mayor of Atlanta who had travelled there for this purpose. Most of the Cabinet Ministers attended the dinner and after some time we were joined by the President of the Republic, Mr. Daniel Ortega. He explained to us at great length the great recession and losses and the widening of the trade gap in his country. The idea behind was to impress on us that BCCI primary concern being the promotion of economic growth in Third World countries we should arrange for credit lines for their pre-export financing of their coffee, sugar, bananas and other items.(79)
In the same memo Shafi reports that "The Minister [of Foreign Trade] added that a delegation headed by him would visit London to meet Mr. Abedi within a few days through good offices of Mr. Andrew Young."(80)
In September, 1987, Tariq Jamil, BCCI London, who had previously worked at the National Bank of Georgia, wrote to Saheb Shafi, BCC LACRO, requesting that Young be reimbursed for his travel expenses to Nicaragua, noting:
Needless to say, we shall continue to receive patronage and help from the Mayor in any of our endeavors in Central America for developing contacts and business for Latin American Region.(81)
The request for $2,345.17 reimbursement was accompanied by a July 15, 1987 letter from Young's assistant Stony Cooks stating that "[p]resently, Mayor Andrew Young's anticipated dates for his visit to Guatemala are August 12-6, 1987."(82) Cooks has told the press, as noted earlier, that Young's travel expenses were used to pay down his loan. The Subcommittee has been unable to verify that assertion, but finds the account -- that Young's travel expenses on behalf of BCCI amounted to nearly $200,000, and were used to offset the loan -- difficult to believe, especially given the reimbursement request in the case of the Nicaragua trip.
An NBG Loan memorandum also shows that Young proposed a joint venture in the country of Nigeria:
[T]o establish a joint venture agreement between A.I.C. and a Nigerian partner, former Head of State, General O. Obasanjo, is being negotiated. The joint venture company would cooperate in the assembly, manufacture and sale of farm equipment in Nigeria and throughout Africa.
Andrew Young Associates will consult with A.I.C. to provide advice and information about the business environment and business development opportunities in the developing nations.(83)
The significance of the Nigerian proposal is simply that it involves a former head of state of the Nigerian government, which was pervasively involved in receiving corrupt payments from BCCI in the form of bribes, kick-backs, money laundering, and other services specified in the chapter on BCCI's activities in foreign countries.
Other Georgia Contacts
Consistent with its strategy of buying political influence, BCCI used Georgia lawyer and political operative Charlie Jones to court powerful government officials. For example, Jones was hired by Clifford and Warnke to lobby the Georgia state legislature during the takeover of National Bank of Georgia by First American. In order for the takeover to have proceeded, a technicality in the banking law had to be changed. According to Roy Carlson, Jones was paid "the vicinity of $1 million" for successfully lobbying the legislature.(84) NBC reported in February 1991 that members of the legislature had flown to a resort at the expense of BCCI.
Jones also arranged to have Senator Sam Nunn invited to lunch by the Egyptian Ambassador to the United States where Jones introduced the Senator to Gaith Pharaon. Nunn subsequently met with Pharaon on three occasions -- each meeting was arranged by Charlie Jones. There is nothing to suggest, however, that Senator Nunn had any relationship with BCCI or knowledge of Pharaon's ties to the bank.
According to Senator Hatch, Jones also used the offices of Senator Wyche Fowler to set us a meeting between himself, Amir Lohdi, a BCCI employee and aide to Gaith Pharaon, and Danny Wall, the nation's top savings and loan operator. According to a report released by Senator Hatch in 1991, at the time, Centrust was seeking US authority to sell $200 million in bonds to stave off its failure. Senator Fowler has denied that he or anyone in his office played any role in setting up the meeting.(85)
Conclusion
Beginning in the late 1970's BCCI made a concerted effort to court important members of the Carter administration, including the President himself. Bert Lance, for example, appears to have been relieved of substantial debt by the bank. While Mr. Lance's financial dealings have been thoroughly investigated and he has to date been convicted of no crime, the Subcommittee has concluded that from the beginning Lance traded on his time in public office for personal gain. In short, while his dealings with BCCI may not have been criminal, they can only be characterized as corrupt.
Former President Carter demonstrated an astounding lack of curiosity about a man with whom he travelled around the world and who funded his charities. While someone in the US government should have alerted the former President to the criminal nature of BCCI before 1986, President Carter never asked. Moreover, the former President demonstrated some insensitivity to the appearances of impropriety in accepting money from Sheik Zayed, the owner of BCCI, after the 1988 indictment, even though BCCI had been identified as having a corporate policy of soliciting drug money.
Andrew Young did not have as extensive relationship with BCCI as his former colleague Bert Lance, but he seems to have been equally willing to profit by that relationship. While Young may not have broken any criminal laws, he showed poor ethical judgment in performing services for a foreign bank while he was Mayor of Atlanta. Mayor Young's actions could be more easily characterized as business and economic development were it not for the $50,000 he received in consulting fees and the nearly $200,000 his consulting firm borrowed.
What is perhaps most surprising about the actions of former President Carter and former Mayor Young is that they established a relationship with BCCI or Abedi at all given that they knew Bert Lance was intimately involved with the bank and had, in fact, been bailed out by the bank. Lance has a history of showing poor judgment concerning his personal and business finances and his recommendation of BCCI, instead of providing comfort, should have raised red flags.
1. It is important to note that President Carter never personally profited from his relationship with either Abedi or BCCI.
2. S. Hrg. 102-350. Pt.3, p.16.
3. "Saudi to Acquire Lance Stock," by John Berry and Art Harris, The Washington Post, December 21, 1977.
4. S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 3, p.5.
5. "Arab Investors Want Lance to Manage Funds," by Art Harris and John Berry, The Washington Post, December 18, 1977. p.A1.
6. Id. In 1979 the Justice Department brought a civil suit against Holly and an associate in 1979 claiming that they had sought to bribe an official of Quatar with a $1.5 million cash payment in order to get renewal of oil concessions that were worth millions of dollars. The department also said that Lance was instrumental in arranging the meeting between the businessmen and a State Department official in 1978, after he had left government, that were intended to pave the way for a bribe offer to an official of Qatar. Holly entered a consent order in which he agreed no to bribe officials in the officials. The Associated Press, by James Rubin, April 9, 1979.
7. Id.
8. Id.
9. Id. p.6.
10. Id.
11. Id. p.7
12. Id. p.7
13. "Is Bert Lance Back," By Gretchen Morgenson, Forbes Magazine, june 13, 1988, p.12.
14. Id. p.17.
15. S. Hrg. 102-350. pt.3, p.8.
16. "SEC Charges Lance," by John F. Berry and Jerry Knight, The Washington Post, March 18, 1978, p. A1.
17. Lance Sells Stock, by Michael Doan, Associated Press, December 20, 1977.
18. Id. p. 11.
19. Berry and Harris, Id. p.3.
20. Lance Stock Sale, by Robert Furlow, The Associated Press, December 27, 1977.
21. Id.
22. S. Hrg. 102-350, Pt. 3, p.11.
23. Id. p.12.
24. Id. p.13.
25. Id. p.16.
26. Id. p.15.
27. Id. p.37
28. "$3.5 Million Lance Loan An Issue In Takeover Suit," by Jerry Knight and John F. Berry, The Washington Post, March 23, 1978.
29. Id. p.20.
30. "Lance Tied to Bank's Takeover," By John Berry, The Washington Post, February 12, 1978.
31. By Michael Sniffen, The Associated Press, March 27, 1978.
32. Id. p.28.
33. see Sami memo, Id. p.25.
34. Id. p.28.
35. Id. p.19.
36. Id. p. 33.
37. Id. p.34.
38. Id. p.34.
39. Id.
40. Id. p.40
41. Id. p.43.
42. Memorandum, Application to Strike from Listing and Registration, "In the matter of Maxpharma, February 8, 1989, The American Stock Exchange.
43. Letter from Subcommittee source, August 14, 1991.
44. On April 18, 1984, Presad wrote to Marvin Klapp, the southeast regional chief for the SBA, and thanked him for his assistance. He also wrote:
I should also like to take this opportunity to apologize for any inconvenience caused as a result of Congressman Walter Jones, Sr. calling on our behalf. He may have been over zealous in his attempt to help us since he feels that as a minority owned SBIC we required extra help and guidance.
45. memorandum from Assistant Inspector general for Audit to the Associate Administrator for Finance and Investment, US Small Business Administration, March 8, 1988, p5-6.
46. Morgenson, p.12.
47. "The President's Saudi Windmill," by Jack Anderson, The Washington Post, July 29, 1980.
48. Id.
49. Id.
50. S. Hrg. 102-350, Pt.3, p.38.
51. "Jimmy Carter's Relationship With BCCI," ABC News Nightline, show #2664, August 8, 1991.
52. Id. p.38.
53. Fritz, p.1.
54. Id.
55. "BCCI Adept at Courting the Powerful and Rich," by Stuart Auerbach, The Washington Post, August 7, 1991, p.A1.
56. According to U.S. News and World Report, "Most of the Abedi money -- representing less than 3 percent of the 350 million the nonprofit Carter center has raised since its founding in 1982 -- went for eradication of Guinea worm disease, an intestinal disorder affecting millions in Asia and Africa." se "the Atlanta Connection," by Gloria Borger and Matthew Cooper, August 12, 1991, p.30.
57. "Carter Travels to Sudan to visit Grain Experiments," by Carolyn S. Carlson, the Associated Press, October 26, 1986
58. Carter also travelled to Ghana and Nigeria with Abedi where he attended conferences on eradication of Guinea worm disease. see "Nigeria:New Efforts to Eliminate Guinea Worm Disease," Inter Press Service, March 14, 1988.
59. The Los Angeles Times reported, "On June 21, 1987, former President Jimmy Carter was the star attraction at a ceremony dedicating a rehabilitation center for former prostitutes near Bangkok. By his side was Aga Hasan Abedi..." "How the BCCI Gained Friends in High Places," by Sarah Fritz, the Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1991, p.1.
Ironically, Nazir Chinoy testified that BCCI provided prostitutes to its best customers in the Middle East.
60. Nightline, Id.
61. Fritz, p.1. The article indicates that Abedi was excluded during these meetings.
62. Id.
63. Pharaon acquired 20% of Centrust in 1987.
64. Fritz, p.1.
65. Id.
66. "Carter Donors: Questionable Givers?" by Elizabeth Kurylo, The Atlanta Constitution, April 14, 1991, p.1.
67. Atlanta Constitution, August 26, 1992, "Former Carter Center chief indicted in fraud."
68. "Young Disturbed by Charges Against BCCI," by Elizabeth Kurylo, The Atlanta Constitution, July 20, 1991, p.1.
69. Id.
70. Id.
71. NBG Loan Review Memorandum, Andrew Young Associates, 10/17/83.
72. Id.
73. NBG Loan Review Document, p.2.
74. "Seized Bank Helped Atlanta's Ex-Mayor and Carter Charities," by Ronald Smothers, The New York Times, July 15, 1992, p.1.
75. In a memorandum, dated March 25, 1988, from SM Shafi, BCCI LACRO to Akbar Bilgrami, BCCI Panama, Shafi writes, "We have been advised that Mr. Andrew Young will repay the loan of the company by December 31, 1988."
76. letter to Bande Hasan from Asif Mujtaba, October 10, 1989.
77. Smothers, p.1.
78. letter from Tariq Jamil to S.M. Shafi, February 24, 1988.
79. memorandum from S.M. Shafi to Ameer Siddiki, BCCI London, May 1(3?)m 1987. p.1.
80. Id.
81. letter from Tariq Jamil, BCCI London to S.M. Shafi, BCCI, LACRO, September 18, 1987
82. letter from Stony Cooks to Tariq Jamil, BCCI London, July 15, 1987.
83. National bank of Georgia, Loan Memorandum, Andrew Young Associates Inc., 8/9/84.
84. staff telephone interview with R.P. Carlson, July 10, 1991.
85. "Hatch Adds Partisan Spice to BCCI Stew," by Edward T. Pound, The Wall Street Journal, August 6, 1991, p.A8
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