Lawyers acting for creditors of collapsed bank BCCI began

[seemslikeadream]

Lawyers acting for creditors of collapsed bank BCCI began their opening statements at the High Court on Tuesday in a case against the Bank of England.

BBC News Online had this summary of what was said in court.

The main lawyer for the complainants, Gordon Pollock QC, referred to the Bank of England as a once revered institution - he emphasized the word once.

He said he intended to show that Bank of England officials had been spineless, weak and selfish.

But he emphasized repeatedly that he did not argue that they were corrupt - although if any official had wanted to be bribed - BCCI's founder, the late Aga Hasan Aabedi was, as he put it, "your man".

Mr. Abedi could get you girls, boys, seats at the opera, or money in suitcases if you wanted, Mr. Pollock said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3393179.stm

[aquart]

1. Why have I never had a man like that?

[seemslikeadream]

2. The case opened in London's ornate Royal Courst of Justice

In an opening statement, a lawyer for the plantiff accused Bank of England regulators of purposely ignoring the fraudulent activities of the London-based BCCI, which collapsed 12 years ago with debts of $10 billion.

BCCI was founded in 1972 by a Pakistani banker, Agha Hassan Abedi. It grew over the years to have operations in about 70 countries and assets of $20 billion. Its collapse revealed an elaborate international money-laundering networks ised by drug dealers, terrorists and other criminals.

Legal experts say the trial will be extraordinarily complex. The plantiff's opening statement is expected to take three months and the entire trial could last at least a year. The plantiff's lawyers have gotten access to about 300,000 internal Bank of England documents. And three former Bank of England governors may be called to testify.

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=3B4E25C2-FAFD-4076-BFODBA4F73E2C232

[emad]

3. BCCI liquidators Deloittes link with Banco Ambrosiano

I expect it will be mentioned soon that Brian Smouha was the Deliottes man who wound up Banco Ambrosiano when it collapsed following the murder in summer of 1982 of God's Banker Roberto Calvi. Smouha was the initial administrator of BCCI when it was wound up in the early 1990s and although he retired in 2001, has passed on all his files to Deloittes man Christopher Grierson.

Deloittes subpoenaed MI5 and MI6 last year to obtain papers showing that BCCI was running money for Abu Nidal, Ayatollah Khomenei, Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein, etc al and that it was involved in several disastrous Mossad operations in the 1980s.

This intelligence is backed up by testimony provided by ex-BCCI general manager John Hilberry, who turned states evidence in return for a new identity and witness protection cover when BCCI was busted by Bob Morgethau in NY.

Edit:

The City of London Police investigation into Roberto Calvi's death has arrested and released on police bail the witness who gave Licio Gelli an alibi in the 1982 investigation. I think the name is Odette Morris and she was a waitress...