BCCI men jailed and ordered to pay dollars 9bn by Abu Dhabi court: Former chief executive and founder of collapsed bank sentenced in their absence

AN ABU DHABI court sentenced 12 Bank of Credit and Commerce International executives to jail yesterday for their roles in the scandal that led to the bank's collapse in 1991. They were also ordered to pay dollars 9bn ( pounds 6bn) in civil damages.

The 71-year-old founder of BCCI, Agha Hassan Abedi, was sentenced to eight years and Mohammed Swaleh Naqvi, the former chief executive officer, to 14 years, both in their absence.

Naqvi has been handed over to the US authorities to help them in their own BCCI investigations. The 11 defendants apart from Abedi were arrested in Abu Dhabi in 1991. Abu Dhabi's ruler, Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan al-Nahayan, and his family were, with the government's Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the majority shareholders of BCCI with 77 per cent.

Observers see the convictions as bolstering the claims of Abu Dhabi that it was as much a victim of the BCCI collapse as the bank's hundreds of thousands of creditors, including 30,000 in the UK.

The 10 defendants still in Abu Dhabi appeared in suits and ties, some of them smoking and chatting as they waited for the court session to begin. They had pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, including dissipating funds, forging documents, concealing deficits and losses and approving false loans.

One of them, Iqbal Rizvi, was found not guilty. The other nine and Ziauddin Akbar, who is serving a six-year sentence in Britain on BCCI-related charges, were given jail sentences ranging from three to six years.

Most of the hearings, which ended in April, were held in secret with armed guards at the doors.

Judge Shihab Abdul-Rahman al-Hamadi delivered the verdicts in the biggest court case to stem from the bank's forced closure. Appeals are allowed.

Abedi, now confined to a wheelchair in his native Pakistan, had started BCCI in 1972 with the goal of developing a Third World bank that would command international respect.

The bank, run mainly by executives from Pakistan or of Pakistani origin, expanded its operations to over 60 countries but was shut down in July 1991 after allegations of fraud. Billions of dollars were lost by creditors and depositors, many of them small savers.

As the result of a parallel civil action brought against the defendants by Abu Dhabi, the 11 must pay damages totalling dollars 9bn before they can leave jail.

The majority shareholders, including Abu Dhabi's ruling family, said justice had been served.

'It is a landmark in the BCCI affair that these key individuals have been brought to justice,' they said. 'However, we do not regard this as the conclusion of the BCCI affair. The process continues as we assist authorities around the world in their investigations.'

Abu Dhabi is currently finalising a dollars 1.8bn compensation agreement for creditors with Touche Ross, BCCI's liquidator.

(Photograph omitted)