Peter Truell Knihy

The deception began with its name, as the Bank of Credit and Commerce International was never truly a bank. From the outset, BCCI was a colossal fraud orchestrated by a shadowy group of Pakistani financiers and Arab sheikhs, creating a criminal enterprise of unprecedented scale. In this authoritative account, two award-winning journalists reveal how BCCI employed various schemes to steal billions and gain political influence globally. Its charismatic founder, Agha Hasan Abedi, touted a "moral mission" to aid developing countries, yet he and his allies robbed innocent depositors, aided dictators in plundering their nations, and engaged with terrorists and drug lords. With the support of figures like Saddam Hussein and Manuel Noriega, BCCI expanded into seventy-three countries, controlling $30 billion in deposits. The bank also pursued a political agenda by covertly taking over a major banking institution in Washington, D.C., and corrupting influential politicians to sway U.S. policy in the Middle East. The narrative includes troubling connections to figures such as Clark Clifford, Jimmy Carter, and members of George Bush's administration. Additionally, the authors delve into BCCI's ties to intelligence agencies, revealing the involvement of both the CIA and Saudi Arabia's intelligence from the beginning. The book questions how this criminal enterprise persisted for nearly two decades, often evading regulators and law enforcemen