mohsen toumi - 1992 - financing of the islamist international

8/2/2019 Mohsen Toumi - 1992 - Financing of the Islamist International

1/5

JPRS-NEA-92-0714 June1992 I N TER N A TI O N A L AF F AI RSFinanc ingof IslamistGroupsDiscussed

Introductory Background92AF0810A Algiers ALGER REPUBLICAIN in French 14 Apr92 pi[Tex t]T he fundamentalistinternationalisareality,an dMohsenToumi,aTunisian politicalanalyst,scrutinizedit sfinancingmechanismsinan interview thatwas justpublishedin th e weekly E CO N O MIS T E MA G H RE BIN .T herelevanceof thisinterview promptedus to publishit .Thiswillbe th eseconddocumentpublishedinourcolumnsonth eoutsidefinancialsupportgivento fun-damentalistparties.In January,wepublishedan exclu-sivedocumenton Iran'sfinancing ofth eFIS[IslamicSalvationFront].Throughoutseveralcountries,fundamentalistpartiesare flauntingcolossalwealth.T hemeansavailableto them ar e extraordinary,and,to a large extent ,thisaccountsfo rtheirstrong impact.Theyus etheirresourcesto acquiresophisticatedmeansof propaganda.They pay innumer-ablesalariesto theirmercenaries.Theydeveloplargenetworksof socialactivitiesan d"welfare"associations, enablinghe monvestheirecretundsfterirstrecyclingthemthroughblackmarke tchannelsan dto gathersupport among th emostunderprivilegedsectionsof th e population.Wheredoesal lthismoney,whichno party couldobtainfrom regularpartysources,comefrom?MohsenToumimentionsth eGulfoi lmonarchiesndran, utlso Westerncountries,especially th eAmericansan dtheirall-powerfulCIA.H elsomentions rugmoneynd alludesto th echannelsusedto transferfunds,empha-sizing in particularth e broker'spartgiven to Sudan,th e veritablehub of th e fundamentalistinternational.

Financingof IslamistGroups92AF0810B Algiers ALGER REPUBLICAIN in French 14 Apr92 p4 [Interview withMohsenToumi,previously publishedin E C O N O M I S T E A G H R E B I N :Financingfhe Islamistnternational"firs taragraphsLGER REPUBLICAINntroduction;econdndhirdpara-graphsar e E CO N O MIS T E M A G H R E B I N introduction][Text ]In it s8 Aprilissue,ou rcolleagueE CO N O MIS T EMA G H RE BIN publishedan interestinginterview with MohsenToumi .Withth elatter'skindpermission,weare giving our readers anearly unabridged version of thisarticle,whichisremarkable throughit srigoran dth e qualityofit sdocumentation. MohsenToumiisareputablepoliticalanalyst.Inhewake fhe istressingventshatecently occurred in Algeria,we askedhi m to discuss asubject ofobviousmportance,lthoughtsittlenown:he

financingof th efundamentalistnebula.Moreover ,heispreparingabook on th esubject.Here,weshallmerely liftacornerof th eveil.[ECONOMISTE MA G H RE BIN ]Sudanisoftensaidto be asortof hu bfo rth e Islamistinternational.Thismay be true at political an d organizationallevel;it seems lessevidentas fa ras financing isconcerned,consideringth e country'sstateof economic decay.[MohsenToumi]Ishallbeginat th eendofyourques-t ion:T hedecayyou mentioncallsfo rsomeprecisions.Hereisacountry,Sudan,whichisth elargestinAfrica(2,506,000km2),with21.8millioninhabitantshistori-callyfamousfo rtheirskillsascraftsmenan dfarmers,withconsiderableprovenminingresources(oil,oal),andwithth eNileflowingthroughit ;hereisacountry whosegriculturalalance ftradese doho wsurplus.Today thiscountry isin an appalling state:it ison e of th eleast advancedcountrieson th e planet,on e ofth e25poorest;from985to988 ,it sgrossdomestic productgrowthcurvewaspositive(around3 percent),butfterheundamentalistsoo kower,heurve became negative,with a25-percent drop in 1990.Today,th egrossnationalproductpercapitadoesno texceed$300.nte rmsofhumandevelopment ,thistranslatesintoalife expectancy of50 years;on edoctor per11,000 people; at e fadultiteracybelow5ercent(1 6percentorwomen);loseo million udanese,0percentof them children,affectedby famine;an d6to 7 millionhreatenedwithoo dhortages.Atheam e t ime,he ratioofmilitaryexpenditurestohealthan deducationxpendituresoversround60ercent.shall add th e lasttouch to this picture by mentioningthatSudan'sleadingbank,ElBaylinbank,ranks99thamongAfricanbanks,with1990resultsof$245.1million,i.e.,lessthanth e modestInternationalBank of Burkina(the 80thAfrican bank,with$332.4million)an dfa rbehindth eCommercialBankofminusculeMauritius,whoseresultsddpo972.8million!W ehallav ehe decencyotoompareheseigureswithTunisianfigures.Yet ,decay isno tunavoidable.In th e caseof Sudan,it isknowinglyorganizedand fosteredby th erulingIslamicNationalFrontINF]nd it sleaderHasanl-Turabi.Theyprolongth e war againsttheirfellow citizensin th e Southandalsoagainstth e workingclassesin th e North;theydeportpeopleto inhospitableareas(3,000people areinvolved).Theyexpor tSudan'smajoragriculturalproductionssorghum,mostlytoge tth eforeigncur-rencyheyseouyweapons.he ypeculatendemand on th e domestic market ,promoting shortagesby controlling al linputsof grain,aid,an dimports,an dby selling th e ba g fo rthree or fourtimeit soriginalpriceto familieswhoseotalmonthlyncome700 udanesepoundshardly enablesthemto bu yhalfabag.Atth e samet ime,theycontrolalltransportationan ddistribu-tionhannels.n therwords,he udaneseeople(Muslims and Christians)are made to suffer th e destruc-tive effects of th e fundamentalists 'consistentstrategy ofdivertingresources.


2/5

I N TER N A TI O N A L AF F AI RS J P R S - N EA - 92 - 0 7 1 4 June1 9 9 2T ow ha t urpose?W e l ready nowabouthetatedprojec to e tidofthe eoplenheSouth .nhisconnect ion , theIs lamicNationalFronttheINFta lks ofa"jihad."W e are get t ing totheheartoftheprobl em,namely perverted seofIs lam,ts alues ,ndt scivil izationalconcepts :nthiscase ,jihadme a n sgeno-cide .B utthisgenocide alsota rgetsanyonew horejec tsKhartoum'sfundamentalistr e g ime :theunionme mbe r s ,th e patrioticofficers,andal lthein tel l ec tua ls torturedattheKoberjail noww ha t malkingbou t .Hasana l -Turabi is encouragedandsupportedby IranandLibya (ourneighbors ,unfortunately,howaegret tablyrre- sponsibleattitudeinthisrespec t )in amessianicprojec t :tobe c o metheNasserofthefundamentalists.H e se this reg ime andhimselfas examples :he e v e nmentionedhis mora lnf luence .here reAlger ians ,gypt ians ,ndTunisiansw ho willgive thetitleof sheikh tosuch ama n .Ibe c o me aware of th e e x t r e me backwardnessof th e Arab Wo r l dw h e nIse eaw arcriminalsuchas P olPotbe ing "gree tedinKhartoum,inApril1 9 9 1 ,by dozensofpoli t- ical ar t i esincludingArabnationalistpartiesandbe c o mewareofth ex t r e meta teofimpietyofthepresentMusl imworldw h e n bserve owasilyw e awardhei tlesofl eaderoremiroheirst hony "prophet"w hocomesalong.Ican now c o meback tothefirstpartofyourquest ion:Thisis notthefirsttime that w ehaveseenadeveloping countrywhose people s ta rvetodeath,sacrificed forthesake ofinsaneprojec ts .Y ouhouldeal izehat,he nheyhelpl-Turabi'sreg ime,TehranandTripolibe c o metheaccomplicesofther imesgainstumanityhateommi t s .ou shouldalsorealize that,w he namanl ikeGhannouchirece ives$ 1 0 from Tourabi,he he lp sdepriveaSudanese child ofachance of survival .Sudan ,therefore , is inparta lender ; butitacts mostly asa"purveyor"ofmoney ,as a go -be tweenforother payers ,including IranandLibya.HassanTourabi,ornstance,shehiefxecu t iv e officer[CEO]ofaprivateLibyaninancialinstitutionheadquarteredin G e n e v a ,th e "WorldPeople'sCongress ofFraternity."O nemoreprec is ion:oneoftheIranianhighofficialsnhargeofsupervisingthedistributionactivi ties ass ignedtoSudanw as ambassadortoTripoliandBei ru tduringtheeighties;aspecialistofpoli ticalinfiltration,heis now inchargeof tw odepartmentsattheMinistryfFore i gnffairs,hichsn o w noorganizeheExportationfheranianIslamist"mode l .H is relay in Sudanis asecur i tyofficial,ap r o m-inentmemberoftheINFspeciallyinchargeof"han-dling"fore ign Is lamistpar t i es .H e serves as achanne lformo n e yandweapons .O ntheway,HassahTourabi'spartytakesit scommis -sions.InSudan,a countryina state ofdisarraywher e th e Sudanese people suffer vio lence andf amine ,theINFhas constitutedaw arhes thatom estimatedt11 bill ion,i.e.27percentfSudan'stotalgrossdomesticproduct.Actually ,speaking ofSudaningene r ictermsis notnough:heresheudaneseeop le ,hore

entitledto oursolidari ty andwish usnoha rm;andt he r e are thefundamentalistsw hoseem to have p r o g r a mme dthepeople 'sel imina t ion.T h e s epeopledo otmpres sm ennyway,but wouldnotunderestimateheirabili tytodoha rm.[ E C O N O M I S T E M A G H R E B I N ]Doesn'tth e ins is tencetonvolveudanerve ,bjec t ive ly ,oove r phe responsibil i ty ofotherStates?[Mohsen To u mi ]The r e is no insistence to involveSudan "artificially."W h a t I just expla ined does show,I believe ,thatINFfundamentalistsdoal lt hey ca nto ensurethattheircountryislabel ledas aterroristSta te .Y oum e n -tionedtheresponsibil i ties of otherStatesin th eex t en-sionoffundamentalistdestabil ization.O nethingdoesnotcontradictth e other .Inspite of th e fundamentalists'voci fera t ionsagains tth e Wes t ,especially sincethe GulfWar(a sif tom a k e up fo rsomet reachery t h ey m ay have commi t t ed ) , w e mustrealize thatt h ey are th e bes tagentsofWe s t e r nse rvices .B ute t som e ac ko ourques t ion. hall ivide StatesotherthanSudaninto tw ogroups :Musl im coun-triesandWe s t e r ncountr ies .nthefirstgroup,w efind countrieswith high illiteracyrates,suchas Pakistanande v e nIran .S o m eare poor ,l ikePakis tan ,andotherrich,like SaudiArabia andthe Gulfmonarchi esandI ran.T he lattergroup is character ized ,economically ,by theirpooruseofthe ilmanna,oreveral enera t ionsl r eady.O nelast bserva t ion:heirst roupnc ludesAsiatics andrabs.entury-oldntagonismsavelwaysopposedt h e m ,themostr ecen tmanifestationof which w asth eraq-Iranwar.N o t e ls ohatShiismsrepre-sen t edmostly in Asiat iccountr ies ,wher easArabcoun-triesar e most ly Sunni .Ofcourse,none of these countr iescan ealled emocra t ic ,andslamhere as lwaysa ssumedreac t ionaryandmorbidaspec t spreoccup iedhere with the sordid aspec tsoflife,behav ingt he r eas an oppressorallofwhichare foreigntoit sd e e p e rnatureandit scalling.Allow m e to be mean:life is no tpleasant intheseountr ies .W h y ,he n , otheywan ttoxpor ttheirodel ,ve nfhat eansnterferingnhe domesticffairsofotherMusl imountr iesand ro -viding substantiallogis t ic aid,in m o n e y and in weapons , toth efundamentalistmo v e me n t sof theseta rgetcoun-tr ies?ntherwords ,hatreheirmotives?ven t houghtheirefforts tendtoth esame goal,theirmot ivesare differentifw e look beyond theire mp t y talkabout th e "glory ofIs lam";th e mot ivesofacountry l ikeIranare complex:i rs tandthism ayalsobethecasein Paki -s tantheyare trulyreligious;w ha tw e have is th e reflex ofminoritiese n d o w e dwith power .T he institution of th e Khomeiny reg ime w as dec is ivein thisrespec t .W h a ta superbrevengefo rShiism (whichisof tenrepressed)to imposet sIslamicepubl ic"nunnirabsnd,beforechievinghat,o e c o m eheew"City"fIs lam,wher eundamentalistsro mll ve rheworldcomeoledgel legiance!nh isespec t ,e ust recognize thatIraqbai led ou t th e ArabWorld:Ishallnotgo intothereasonsunder lyingth estartofth ew arwith Iran,uth isonflicta l tedranianxpansionism.


3/5

JPRS-NEA-92-0714 June1992 I N TER N A TI O N A L AF F AI RSWithout Iraq,th e pasdaranswould no w controlth e Gulf,at least.T he Iraqipeople, we shouldnote,are still payingahighpricefo rthiscommitment .O fcourse,Teheran 'sreligiousimpulsesare easy to reconcile with it sgeopolit-icalmbitions,amelyoominateheMashreqyforcingIraqan dEgyptto to eth e line.Thiswouldhavemade Iran th e leading oi lcountry in th e world.Afterth e disastrousinvasionofKuwait,Iranisgainingthrough Arabdivisionsand defeatswhatitcouldno tgainwith weapons:Iraq usedIranasasanctuaryfo rhugequanti-t ies fmilitaryquipmentndedederri toriesor whichmillions fhumaneings ad ied:hanksoTourabi,IranisgainingamilitaryfootholdinAfrica,and,finally,thanksto somepeoplefromth eMaghrebth eyatollahsav eeachedheahara.Asorhe motivesof th e Gulf countries,theyare equallycomplex.They are variedtoo.Generally speaking,we ca nsay thatpetrodollars wentto theirheads.[ECONOMISTEMA G H RE BIN ]W h a taboutWesterncountries?[MohsenToumi]Iam comingto them.Acountryliketh eUnitedStatesand somecirclesin whatIwouldcallth e European"paternalisticleft"supportfundamentalistmovements.Forinstance,Ennahdha,th eAlgerianFIS [Islamicalvationront],h e oroccanhabiba Islamiya, and th e NationalFrontissued from th e LibyanJamaaIslamiya.ManyMaghrebfundamentalistleadershave workedfo rth e CIA in Afghanistan.BritishservicesarestillusingJordanian,Egyptianan dotherIslamists(it'san old tradition of th e Muslim Brothers to serveH erMajesty).T he Frenchservices have "taken over"severalMaghrebfundamentalists(totrapIraniansamong otherreasons), which explains why fundamentalistswere giventh estatusof politicalrefugeessofast,and even(privi-leged) residence permits.T heUnited States,again,have managedinatortuous way,butthat'sth ename of th e gametoontrolheeaders fth eranianslamicRepublic,sherangateaselearly emonstrated; these very Americans, by exfiltratingColonelHafter an dhi smen from Chad disclosedknowinglytheextent ofth eundamental is tmplantationithinheibyanarmy.W h a tdoesallthismean?Doesit meansthatth e Uni tedStates, rance,andGreat-Britainhavediscov-eredinthemselvesanirrepressible devotionto Islam?Th a tdoesnotmakesense;th e West ,afterall,islookingout fo rit sow ninterests,in th emostnormalmannerin th eworld.Ifindit indecent ,to sayth e least,to blame it fo rit.W ewouldhavemorecauseto blameou rfellow citizensan d fellowMuslims who do no tcare to serve th e interestsof th eAraban dMuslim peoples.Afterall,weshouldno tblameth eAmericandiplomat who setsup ane w lobbyin Washingtonon behalf ofMaghrebfunda-mentalists.H eisworkingfo rhiscountry.O nth eotherhand,weav eheightohallengeheEnnahdhapeople an daskthem fo ran explanation,as longastheypossessTunisianit izenship.T heam eeasoning, fcourse,isvalidfo rth eAlgerians,Moroccans,an dLib-yans.W eallhaveadutytoaskth epresentMaghrebleaderswhetherth e strategiestheyhave adopted toward

th e fundamentalistsareth emosteffective an dth emostappropriate. inally,weav ehemperativeut yoquestionourselves,associalentitiesan das individuals, eachfo rhi spart:fundamentalistswerenotparachuted onusfromth eoutside.Nei the rAbbassiMadani,or HassanTourabi,no Ghannouchiareth e childrenof th e U.S.,English,orFrenchsocieties.Theyareou rfellow citizens;webroughtthemforth;theyareth eresultsofourmistakes,urontradictions,urnjustices,ur ignorance,our arrogance,our cupidity,ou rselfishness,an d ouldonik ehat.Allheame,wemusteventuallyskurselvesowweotherendot sidestepth equestion.N o,thisisaseriousmatter,an d majortrialslie ahead.W ebroughtforth th efundamen-talistsand,in doingso,wegaveouropponentsan dou renemiesth emosteffectivetoolto weaken,divide,an d dominateus .Today,our opponentsin th eWes t(where,we should no t forget, we also have genuine friendswhom wehouldtr yoeep)representingfundamentalistmovementsaspeacefulpoliticalan dintellectualmove-mentswhichareth evictimsofrepression.O ur answeris thatwearemerely protecting th e stabilityof our countriesan dth esafetyof property an dindivid-uals;hatweannotwatchdl ewhenerroristndguerrilla activities aregoingon ,becauseit isno tproperfo raStateno tto fulfillit srole,an dbecausetoleratingsuchbehaviorwouldamountto compromising,fo rgen-erations,heclumsy utincere)ffortsere deployingtoestablishdemocracy inou rcountries.But noon elistenstous;wearedealtasortofsimplistic syllogism:th e fundamentalistsrepresent democracy; youaregainstheundamentalists;ourenemies fhumanrights.A nd th esentencefalls:idwillbesus-pended,investorswillassignyou acrippling riskfactor,internationalfinancialinstitutionswillpronounceyou "non-cooperative,"hichntailsheuspensionfloans,an dfrom no w on th efinancialmarketwillgrantyou onlyshort-termloans,or noloansat all.Letus no w reverse th e situation an d take th e caseof acountry wherean Islamicrepublicwas justestablished:T hesameWesterncirclesthencallitfanaticism,auto-maticallyquateslamwithumanights iolations,freezecapital,suspendcurrentcontracts,an ddecreean economicembargo thatforces th e country in question to sellit soil,cotton,orphosphate atcut-rate priceson th e gray market .After thatwe havecome afullcircle an d wehaveon eof th eeconomicanswersto th e question:why suchcompassionfo rfundamentalistson th epartof th e West?Because,nllossibleases,undamentalistsweakenMuslim countries.Theydestabilizethemas longastheyareno tin power,an dnc ehe yom eoower,he ymakehemobackward.Meanwhile ,th e other peoples are no t just no twaitingfo rus ,buttheyareprogressing,inmanycasesthanksto th ewealthof whichweweredispossessed. [E CO N O MIS T E A G H RE BIN ]asheulfw ar alteredth e atureofthesecountries 'ommitmentto


4/5

I N TER N A TI O N A L AFFAIRS JPRS-NEA-92 -0714June1992 supportth eIslamists?Aretheircurrentrelationscom-peti tionorcooperationrelations? [MohsenToumi]In th estateofdivisionan ddecayofsolidaritiesh atharacterizesnter-Muslimndnter-Arabrelations,everybodyiscompet ing witheverybody,an dthisconsti tutesath ea te rof vanitiesbecausethose who controlth egamear eelsewhere.Theyareth e largeWesternations.heirelationswithro-fundamentalistAraban d Muslim countriesare relations amongchannels:orinstance,heEnnahdhand1S people are helping Washingtonbut,financially and logis-tically,theyaresupportedby th eGulfmonarchiesonmanyccasions,speciallynAfghanistan.ran,oo ,despi tetsailyructationsgainstheatans,sinvolvedin theserelationsof dependence.Allisevalu-atedne rms fstakes.T hetakesretrategicnd economic.Concerning th elatter,wearecurrentlywit-nessing ormidableattleor market feveralhundredbilliondollars,th erebuildingof th ecountriesdevas tatedby th e war,namely Kuwait butalsowetendtoforgeti tIranan dIraq.In thisconfrontation,there isstillademandfo rfunda-mentalistbrokers,whe the ragovernment(likeSudan),amovemen t(liketh eMuslim Brotherhood),orindivid-uals(likeertainTunisian, rratherFranco-Tunisian businessmenoperatingfrom Paris).In somecases,offi-cialsfrom largediplomaticdepartmentsin Europehaveevenncludedundamentalistusinessmenn fficialdelegationssentto Iran,SaudiArabia,Libya,etc.Recent ly ,if weareto believereputable"professional"and "confidential" publications, such asT H E MID D LE -EAST CO N F ID E N T IA L,L E T T R ED U C O N T I N E N T ,orN O R D - S U DX P O R T , rench iplomatve nplannedto goto Sudaninth ecompanyof amerchantknownmostlyasame mbe rof Ennahdha.Fortunately,individuals f ig hualitywithinhe rench tate opposedhenitiative,hichadittleoowithFrance'sru enterestsndwouldav e armedhe relations ffriendshipndoo dooperationhatwemaintainwithFrance.In closing,Iwouldsaythatweshouldavoid an y misunderstanding:th e fundamentalistswho thusleasetheirservicesarenotmotivatedby theirIslamicfaithnor by theirideologicalconvictions.T h eyaredoingbusiness:theysellwhatthey haveto offer,i.e.th e friendsandth einfluencetheysaytheyhavehere or there,or that people fancy they have as long as they comewith prayerbeadsand a beard.Thismeansthatthey turn theirso-called fightfo r th e glory of Islam into acommer -cialproduct.[ECONOMISTE MA G H RE BIN ]Wha tareth e financialinsti tutionsinvolvedin providing aidto Islamistmove-ments?[MohsenToumi] irst fall,whosinancinghese movements? W e saw thatit was financedby States:some(Araban dMuslimStates)acquireaclientelethattheymay us etoservetheirforeignpolicy;others(WesternStates,ndth eUni tedStatesfirstofall)ecompense

services.T he mostsurprising in al l thisis to se e countrieswhichare themselves threatened by fundamentalistorga-nizationshatav elready rovedheiretermina-tionIam thinkingofth eMasjedAl-Haramattackat Mecca,and th e El-Aziziacommando attack in Libya,six yearsg o ^ t hemosturprisingsoeehathese countriesare financing othercountries 'fundamentalists.Thisis also true of Western countrieswhichse t th e wholeplanetagainstterrorismaworthyactionif thereeverwasonewhile financingterrorists in othercountries.Second question:Where do theseStatesge tth e moneyto financefundamentalists?Somecountriesus etheirow nresources,inparticularoilmoney.Others,by traditionan dperhapsalsoto show in some way theirdisdainfo rthosehomhe ymploy,ystematicallysedirty money,"moneyfromarmstraffican despeciallydrug money, which controlseverything.Thisis th e systematicpracticeof th e UnitedStates:they usedit to finance th e war inVietnam;theyuseditto financeth eContrasin LatinAmerica.T hesystemthusperfected ha sfinancedth eAfghanmujahideens'warinKabul.Afghanistanisno w th ewold'ssecondlargestproducerofheroin,afterBurma,it hve r ,000on sn991 .nderoincurrentlyprovidesafinancialyieldeightt imesgrea terthancocaine.O ne kilogram of pure heroin,deliveredto th e Uni tedStates,costs$ 150,000,as against$20,000 fo rakilogramofcocaine.T he financialamountsinvolvedaresolargethattheirhandlingan dcontrolexceedth elimitsofth eMiddle-East,andthisiswhereth efamousBCCI,th eBankofCommercendCreditnternational,am ent o lay.Since July1991,this bank has beenat th e centerof whatth e INANCIALT IME S idot esitateoal lhe largestfinancialscandalinhistory.T he wholeaffairisveryomplex;ctually,ttartedou rearsgo .nOctobe r1988,th escandalbrokeout simultaneouslyin Paris,London,and Luxembourg,whereth e bank ha sit sofficialaddress;nineto pbankexecutives werearrested.T he reason:laundering drugmoneyfromth eMedellin cartel.T heBCCI'sconnectionswithdrugcircleswerenothingrecent;in980,tw oofth ebank'srepresenta- t ivesinBogotahadalreadybeeninvolvedinhashish trafficking.In1986,wefindth e bank involvedin Iran-gatethroughAdnanKashoggi,anarmstrafficker.W hy didn' twehearaboutth e bank sooner?F or tw oreasons:it sorganization chartis particularly complex and,aboveall,thad th ebenefitofprestigioussponsorshipsandpoliticalprotectionsatth ehighestlevel.T he BCCIwas foundedin Pakistanin1972by avery closeassociateofGeneralZia,M r.AghaHassanAbedi.Amongit sshare-holders,we find many financiersan dhighofficials from th eGulfcountries.T heinvasionofAfghanistanby th e Soviet army and th e emergenceof th e Afghan resistance, with all th e resultingneedsfo r weaponsan d money, gaveth eBCCIan opportunitytobecomeaveritableworld-wide ispatchingenter.hi sol ewast rengthenedthanksto M r.Abedi 'sconnectionsand thanksto close relationswithth eU.S.administration.


5/5

JPRS-NEA-92-0714June1992 I N TER N A TI O N A LAFFAIRS These inextricable connectionsbetween money,bondsofdependence on foreigncountries,questionablespecula-t ions,mpenetrablenvestments ,ndundamentalistpartiesandStatesbecameasort ft rademarkofth e BCCI.W h enMrs.BenazirBhuttocameintoofficein 1988,shedi dtr yto tackleth emonsterbank.Buthereffortswerein vainan deventuallyth e fundamentalistsregainedcontroloverPakistan.In990,heBCCIwasepresentedn3ountries,wheretmaintained otal f4 00gencies.t ad establishedrelationships with many U.S.banksas well as withAraban dIslamicbankssuchas th eEttaqwaBank,th eBarakaInternationalBank,andth eFaysalIslamicBank[FIB].Incidentally,IshouldpointoutthatwhatIam saying here doesno tmean thatal lthose who worked

withth eBCCIorascountries,banks,orbusinesses had businessrelationswithit aresuspector of question-ableharacter. halltickoacts.ndactsre stubborn.nth epringof991 ,orinstance, largeamount(somesaid$1million)wastransferredtoth e FIB fo rTunisianfundamentalists;but 25 percentof th e FIB assetshad beenon depositat th eBCCIsince1982,an din1990,on th e eve of actualbankruptcy ,th eBCCIdrew$358millionnth eFIB.Allthispointstoth e existenceofnetworks.T owhatex t en twillth eoutlawingofth eBCCIwhich probably adomethingoowithheGulfwar disorganizeth efundamentalistfinancing?Itisstillto osoonto know.T he forthcomingmonthsmay se edevel-opmentspointing to an answer.

mohsen toumi - 1992 - financing of the islamist international

Documents