Bank of England in the dock over BCCI collapse

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

Today, the Royal Courts of Justice will host the opening of a trial unprecedented in British legal history: at stake, the Bank of England's reputation, the honour of three of its former governors, and £1bn of taxpayers' money.

The Bank of England stands accused of lying to the Government and the wider world for nearly 20 years over the notorious collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. Never before has it been sued.

The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, too, can be expected to find the action, brought by creditors of the collapsed bank, uncomfortable. To have to implement the compensation scheme he called for while in opposition, as the creditors demand, would cost the Treasury dear.

So Court 73, which last year housed the Hutton inquiry into the death of David Kelly, will host what will in effect be another trial of the British establishment. This time, it could last 18 months, and rack up legal bills of £50m.

-snip-

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=480684

[Octafish]

1. BCCI was the Official Bank of the BFEE

Everybody used the bank, fueled by petrodollars of the Gulf.

The Reagan-Bush White House used BCCI to send the Iranians cash for who-knows-what.

Ollie North and those running his "neat idea" used it to get money laundered.

Abu Nidal used it to fund his own terror network.

Then citizen George W Bush used it to help keep his floundering oil businesses solvent until he could dump them for stock.

Of course, the Pakistanis funded their nuclear weapons building.

There's a lot more, but on't take my word for, ask Adnan Khashoggi.