Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan

Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan was the Head of Abu Dhabi's ruling family and president of the United Arab Emirates.¹

Early Life and Ascension

Zayed's early life was described by explorer Wilfred Thesiger, who noted his powerful build and reputation among the Bedouin. He was involved in the ghazzu, or Bedouin raid, to secure territory or camels. Zayed's passion was falconing. In 1966, Zayed deposed and exiled his brother, Shakhbut bin Sultan AL-Nahayan, and ascended to the throne of Abu Dhabi.²

Relationship with BCCI and Abedi

Agha Hasan Abedi cultivated a relationship with Zayed, recognizing the potential of Abu Dhabi's oil wealth.³ Abedi's persistence led to Zayed becoming a key supporter and later owner of BCCI.⁴ Zayed's petrodollars were pumped into Abedi's bank, and BCCI handled the purchase of homes for Zayed in Pakistan and managed details of his trips.⁵

BCCI effectively merged with Zayed's Private Department, which handled and invested the Emirates' wealth.⁶ Zayed was the principal mark in Abedi's con game, having been coddled into pumping $1.5 billion in new capital and another $1.5 billion in deposits into BCCI since mid-1990.⁷

Role in BCCI Scandal

Zayed and his chief lieutenant, Ghanim Faris al-Mazrui, were infuriated by the global seizure of BCCI, as it occurred just ten days before a deal to restructure the bank was to be signed.⁷ Zayed's various state agencies, along with Zayed himself, lost as much as $8 billion in the shutdown of BCCI.⁸

He ordered audits of BCCI, which revealed billions of dollars missing.⁹ The Bank of England tried to persuade Zayed to inject more money into BCCI to cover losses.¹⁰

The Kerry-Brown Findings

The Kerry-Brown Senate Report of December 1992 stated that "there was no relationship more central to BCCI's existence from its inception than that between BCCI and Sheikh Zayed and the ruling family of Abu Dhabi." Abu Dhabi shareholders bought 20 percent of BCCI at its creation in 1972 for 500,000 dollars and let that interest fall to just over one percent within three years. In January 1978, when BCCI needed two more names for its purchase of Financial General Bankshares, the ruling family supplied them, and in 1980 and 1981, when BCCI needed a buyer for the shares held by the Bank of America, Abu Dhabi again increased its interest.¹¹

After the fall in 1980 of his financial adviser Abdullah Darweish, who was arrested on December 8, 1981, and charged with defrauding the ruling family, Zayed directed that all of his personal oil revenues be placed in BCCI, had the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority acquire a 10 percent stake in BCCI from its Cayman affiliate ICIC, and placed the chairman of his Private Department, Ghanim Faris al-Mazrui, on BCCI's board, where he became chairman. Abu Dhabi's witness before the subcommittee, Ahmed Al Sayegh, testified that "in excess of $2 billion was entrusted to Abedi and Naqvi for investment by Their Highnesses Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Khalifa under a power of attorney between 1980 and 1990."¹¹

Abu Dhabi's position was that it had been BCCI's victim. "We didn't know anything about the bank because of our passive role in the past," Al Sayegh testified. The report found instead that BCCI's records and insiders "outline a picture of the relationship which suggests that Abu Dhabi officials were indeed knowing participants in substantial wrongdoing," that members of the ruling family had taken risk-free investments in BCCI, and that Abu Dhabi officials had engaged "in a cover-up of fraudulent activity involving BCCI, which continues, in substantial part, to this day." Members of the ruling family appeared to have contributed no more than 500,000 dollars to BCCI's capital before April 1990 while recorded as owners of almost a quarter of its shares, with a book value of more than 750 million dollars. By the closure of July 5, 1991, Abu Dhabi owned 77 percent of BCCI; because the rest was held by nominees and ICIC, the report concluded that "Abu Dhabi was in fact BCCI's sole owner."¹¹

Settlement

Under an agreement of January 12, 1994, by which Abu Dhabi handed Swaleh Naqvi to the United States and gave American prosecutors access to BCCI witnesses and documents, the United States dropped a civil suit of 1.5 billion dollars against Zayed, brought no criminal charges against him, and received 400 million dollars' worth of Abu Dhabi's shares in First American Bank.¹²¹³ In June 1994 an Abu Dhabi court convicted twelve former BCCI executives and awarded Zayed's Private Department 6.56 billion dollars of the 9.13 billion dollars in damages.¹² Abu Dhabi's shareholders agreed in November 1994 to a 1.8 billion dollar compensation package for BCCI's creditors, which received its last legal clearances in December 1995; an agreement with the liquidators in May 1996 cleared a first payment of 1.55 billion dollars.¹⁴ The liquidators later reported that the Abu Dhabi government had contributed 2.2 billion dollars to the liquidation funds.¹⁵