• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

OID‰‰†KOID‰‰†OID‰‰†MOID‰‰†C 18 Monday,January 12, 2004 BUSINESS TIMES The Times of India, New Delhi Bank of England in the Power politics & pipe(line) dreams dock over BCCI scam India needs gas, but diplomacy will drive three trans-Asian proposals London: A huge scandal of the “Old Lady” of Thread- all claims for negligence. that rocked Britain’s cosy needle Street on the line. The liquidators’ lawyers By Sanjay Dutta financial establishment Even more explosive reve- must, therefore, show that TIMES NEWS NETWORK long before most people the central bank is guilty of lations could potentially New Delhi: Take a note. had heard of Enron or seep out about the role of the “misfeasance”, meaning January 2003: Iran’s Parmalat returns to haunt British authorities. that it knew it was acting il- deputy foreign minister, the Bank of England this legally. Among the many whis- Mohammad Hossein Adeli, week as a marathon legal The Bank of England re- pers about BCCI, which holds meetings with oil and battle looms. fused to comment officially was set up in the 1970s by MEA officials in New Delhi The country’s central on the case, but is under- a group of high-ranking to prepare ground for Pres- bank will begin defending it- stood to be confident it will Pakistanis, including its ident Khatami’s visit. The self in London’s high court head Agha Hasan Abedi, is be cleared of any dishonesty. meetings focus on finding a that it was used by Britain’s on Tuesday for the first time At the heart of the liq- way to unlock Iran’s huge security services to pay in its 300-year history uidators’ case is a charge gas reserves — either sources and operatives against a lawsuit launched that the Bank of England through a $5 billion over- around the world. by the liquidators of the was aware that BCCI’s main land pipeline or in ships as failed Bank of Credit and The British media is lick- place of business was Lon- LNG. Commerce International ing its lips at the prospect of don — giving it a duty to reg- June 2003: Officials (BCCI). seeing the Bank of England ulate the bank — even from Turkmenistan, No one has ever success- call to the stand past and though BCCI was officially Afghanistan and Pakistan fully sued the Bank of Eng- present luminaries, includ- based in Luxembourg. go into a huddle in the ing Sir Edward George, the land, but that has not BCCI collapsed after mak- Turkmen capital of Ashga- central bank’s governor till stopped liquidators Deloitte ing a number of big, risky bat. Their agenda: Buy time last June. and Touche, who accuse cen- loans. to figure out a political and tral bank officials of turning It secretly channelled economic passage for the a blind eye to the misdeeds many millions of dollars proposed $2.3 billion Cen- at BCCI. BANKING into Gulf Group, a Geneva- tral Asian pipeline by The Bank of England de- based shipping giant, even bringing India on board. nies the allegations. SCANDAL though the senior manage- July 2003: An Indian The case is the culmina- ment of both companies The liquidators do not Embassy dinner in Wash- tion of a decade of efforts by knew that Gulf Group was ington hosted for a team of Deloitte to win compensa- plan to summon any wit- insolvent, according to the nesses. visiting Indian oilmen. tion for BCCI’s 6,000 British Serious Fraud Office. Concerned over the future Instead, they are relying depositors. Gulf Group head Abbas of US investments in Once on the ground, the three pipelines will change Asia’s landscape. on cross-examination and Some lost their life’s Gokal and his fellow con- Bangladesh’s gas fields, one reams of the bank’s internal long way from flowing into Bangladesh up to Delhi. Teheran recently gave terms, it is cheaper to savings when the bank spirators falsified docu- senior US Energy Depart- documents. the system. The pipelines have oil/gas fields to Indian source gas from Central collapsed in 1991 with ments on a vast scale and en- ment official wants to know debts of $10 billion (7.8 bil- In one document, cited by gineered an intricate money The future, then, looks emerged as tools for diplo- state-owned oil companies Asia than developing its whether Dhaka will sell gas somewhat grim but need matic and economic thrust for exploration. On way are own fields in Siberia. lion euros) in what Britain’s Deloitte, the Bank of Eng- laundering operation, to India through a $1.6 bil- Serious Fraud Office land’s then head of banking which, along with other not be. The three pipelines and parry between the con- huge orders for refinery up- Washington wants to see lion pipeline. He gets scep- have the potential to meta- cerned governments. grade and gas distribution the TAP opened for Turk- (SFO) described as “the supervision, Peter Cooke, in wrong-doings, precipitated ticism as an answer. Next morphose the geopolitical India has steadfastly re- networks. Realising the man gas to reach the sea at biggest fraud in banking 1978 described Abedi as “the the collapse of BCCI. morning, Unocal’s India and economic topography fused to accept any energy pipeline may remain a Karachi, from where it can history.” living personification of Gokal was later sentenced chief Ron Sommers gets in South and Central Asia, lifeline passing through pipedream, Iran offered gas be shipped as LNG. As The Bank of England was Uriah Heep”, referring to to 14 years’ imprisonment in worried calls in New Delhi creating ripples as far away Pakistan. There is more to (as LNG) in ships at rates Moscow’s friend, New Delhi Britain’s financial regulator the unscrupulous clerk in May 1997 by a British court. from his bosses in Houston. as Washington and Moscow. this refusal than New Del- comparable to piped sup- doesn’t want to be in a hur- at the time. Charles Dickens’s novel Six others received lesser These are three unrelat- David Copperfield. The oldest proposal is the hi’s security concerns. plies. This forced Qatar to ry to open the TAP.But that At stake is more than just sentences. Abedi retired to ed meetings in different $3.5 billion pipeline from India’s refusal has ren- lower its LNG rates for the can always be leveraged money: The lawsuit, which But suing the central bank Pakistan, which refused to parts of the world linked by Turkmenistan’s Daulatabad dered both 5.5 MT Da- with both Washington and could drag on for a year or is no easy task, mainly be- extradite him. He died in India’s position as the desti- gas fields to Pakistan. The the TAP and hej project. Moscow. more, has put the reputation cause it enjoys immunity for 1995. AFP nation of three transna- 1,635-km-long pipeline is to Iranian US’s dis- The story is different for tional energy lifelines, pass through Herat, Kanda- pipelines eco- THE GREAT like for India in the East. New Del- Strong year seen worth about $10 billion. har, Quetta and Multan be- nomically un- Teheran hi prefers to wait and watch With 6 per cent GDP, In- fore entering India for join- viable, leav- GAME has blocked as Bangladesh’s domestic for Asian bourses dia has a healthy appetite ing Gail’s HBJ link. ing Teheran all Western politics remains in turmoil for energy. In gas, the gov- Singapore: Asian stock The second proposal is a and Ashgabat stuck with investments, something over the pipeline. If multi- ernment allocates 65 mm- markets are poised for an- $5 billion, 2,670-km pipeline their gas. New Delhi lever- Iran needs to modernise its nationals like Shell, Cairn scmd (million metric stan- from the Assaluyeh gas ages this to get Teheran to oil sector. Finding markets, and Unocal have issued other strong performance in dard cubic metres per day) fields near Bandar Abbas in check Islamabad at world will end Teheran’s econom- threats to quit the country 2004, boosted mainly by re- against a demand for 115 Iran. It is to transit through fora and further its influ- ic isolation. in frustration, Dhaka does- gional liquidity and the re- mmscmd. The demand is Balochistan and intersect ence in Central Asia Without TAP, Turk- n’t seem too worried as long gion’s better-than-expected expected to grow at 7 per with the Pakistan gas net- through Ashgabat. menistan remains hostage as Saudi aid keeps flowing. economic performance. cent annually through the work at Bhong before final- New Delhi’s refusal de- to the Russian gas trans- With peace now getting a “Liquidity is ample and ris- decade. The recent gas ly meeting Gail’s HBJ nies Pakistan up to $1 bil- portation system to access chance in the subcontinent, ing, and likely to persist for finds off the Andhra coast pipeline in north India. lion by way of gas transit Western markets, leverage many see hope in the the next 12 months,” Steven in the east and Vasai in the The third pipeline is pro- fees. It also helps New Delhi Kremlin is loathe to lose. pipelines. But no one is Koh, Standard & Poor’s West by Reliance-Niko and posed from the Bibiyana push business interests in Moscow has figured that in doubting that it will be a Asian strategist, said in out- ONGC, respectively, are a fields in northeast Iran and Turkmenistan. the short and medium long haul.

Load more

  1

Copy Link