Bank of Credit and Commerce International

The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was the world’s largest Islamic bank which involved in many criminals activities due to which the bank was eventually shut down and was perceived as the worst bank operated ever in the history of world banking sectors.

Introduction The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was established by a Pakistani banker Agha Hasan Abedi in 1972. BCCI was registered in Luxembourg. It reached at height within a decade. It has more than 400 branches which were operated in 78 countries.

It was among the world’s largest private bank ranking 7th position due to its excessive assets of US$20 billion (History Commons). BCCI’s Involvement in Criminal Activities BCCI became the target in 1980 during which an undercover operation (extending two-years) was held through the Customer Service of United Sates. A fake wedding was concluded through the operation which was attended by the drug dealers and BCCI officers across the world. These violators built a working relationship and personal friendship with the Special Agent (undercover) Robert Mazur.

The key bank officers were put in trial in Tampa for six months after which, they were seriously charged and imprisoned for lengthy period. Many other crimes were revealed during cooperation between bank officers and law enforcement authorities (American Patriot Friends Network). Major Tips of BCCI’s Criminal Activities A Congressman Charles Schumer conducted a Congressional investigation between 1979 and 1991 which revealed around 700 tips regarding criminal activities of BCCI.

The following are the major tips which were received by the federal law enforcement commissions and the same visualized the BCCI involvement in criminal activities: 1. Promotion of political unrest in Pakistan. 2. Financial supporting to terrorist groups. 3. Smuggling weapons to numerous countries such as Iran, Libya and Syria. 4. Organized criminal linking in Italy and United States. The above are only the major tips but indeed, around 700 tips were revealed through the Congressional investigation (History Commons). CIA’s Illegal Involvement in BCCI Bank

For the last ten years, CIA had been paying to its 500 British Informants through BCCI Bank. The information of illegal overseas business deals and sales of British arms were reported to the CIA by some informants. The spectrum of CIA informants involved in criminal activities include: 1. 124 people in politics or government 2. 53 in banking, industry and commerce 3. 24 scientists 4. 90 in the media 5. 75 in academia 6. 124 in communications Although, individuals were not specifically named but few of them were in senior positions (American Patriot Friends Network).

Closure of BCCI Bank The Bank of England shut down the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) on July 5, 1991 and the regulators shut down BCCI offices in dozens of countries and seize about $2 billion of the bank’s $20 billion in assets. Many militants including Bin Laden had operated accounts in BCCI. The President of UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, owned 77% of BCCI shares and approx 1. 4 million accounts were operated by people who had likely lost their monies upon closure of the bank (History Commons).

Conclusion Thus, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) financially supported many militant organizations through the money which was generated through illegal activities including illicit drug trafficking and arms trafficking, therefore, it is right to claim that BCCI worked viciously, violently and criminally in favor of deadly terrorist service across the world due to which the BCCI deserved to be shut down and the criminals operating BCCI will never ‘Rest-In-Peace’ (Ambit ERisk).

References Ambit ERisk, Case Study: Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Retrieved on May 4, 2010 from http://www. erisk. com/learning/CaseStudies/BankofCreditandCommerceIn. asp American Patriot Friends Network, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Retrieved on May 4, 2010 from http://www. apfn. org/apfn/BCCI. htm History Commons, Bank of Credit & Commerce International, Retrieved on May 4, 2010 from http://www. historycommons. org/entity. jsp? entity=bank_of_credit_and_commerce_international