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Alex,
Strangely, the informant mentioned in the article--Abilek of Hadron,
Inc.--is the company which has the NIH grant contract to find an antidote
for anthrax. http://www.hadron.com/press/nihanthrax.shtml
Linda
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Constantine" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Lois Battuello" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "Linda" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 1:59 PM
Subject: Swiss Connection to bin Laden
Lois & Linda: I have a sense in my bones that these leads will open a
real can o' worms. Any comments on all of this? < AC
"From the early 1990s, the Banca del Gottardo exercised control over
the indebted Interplastica through bank official Franco Peduzzi..."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
http://www.pbj.cz/user/article.asp?ArticleID=138913
Banking & Finance
15th Jan 2002
Russian paper says Falkon Capital connected with Bin Laden
Russian weekly Novaya Gazeta reported a close connection between Czech
company Falkon Capital, which bought the Russian debt from the government,
and terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Prime Minister Milos Zeman yesterday
denied the report. Interior Minister Stanislav Gross has asked the
Intelligence Service to investigate the story. Separately, Falkon is to
transfer CZK 22 bln for the Russian debt to the Czech government today. (MfD
A1)
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http://www.earthtimes.org/nov/businessswissnov12_01.htmB
Swiss bank handled sale from Russian bioweapons company
By LUCY KOMISAR
� Earth Times News Service
Geneva-- As the U.S. searches for the culprits who let loose an anthrax
attack on America and for the money trail of Islamic terrorists believed to
have plotted the attack on the World Trade Center, key questions are: "How
does the illicit trade in biological weapons operate and how is terrorist
money moved?"
For answers to both those questions, the U.S. ought to zero in on a Swiss
bank that handled a sale from a known Russian biological weapons producer,
Biopreparat, to a company, Interplastica, with links to Islamic militants.
Beginning in 1973, Biopreparat produced and stockpiled hundreds of tons of
anthrax and dozens of tons of plague and smallpox. Documents obtained in
Switzerland by this reporter show that the Banca del Gottardo in Lugano has
been tightly involved in deals between Russian weapons firms and
Interplastica, a company which beginning in the 1960's, specialized in trade
with the countries of the East bloc to pierce western embargoes.
Interplastica is registered in Morbio Inferiore near Lugano, in the canton
of Tessin in southern Switzerland.
Among the deals, documents show that the Banca del Gottardo financed a
contract between Biopreparat and Interplastica in 1993.
After the international Biological Weapons Convention in 1972 outlawed
biological weapons, the Soviets founded Biopreparat, supposedly for peaceful
medical research. However, its deputy director till 1992, Ken Alibek, who
now lives outside Washington D.C., has testified to U.S. intelligence agents
and Congress that this was just a cover for the production of biological
weapons. After the Soviet regime ended, Biopreparat was officially separated
from its military function and "privatized." However, Western experts have
doubts that the military has given up its interest and control.
A list of Interplastica contracts dated December 12, 1993, notes contract
number A-23366 with Bioprepeparat,. The paper lists Rosvneshtorg as "buyer"
and Biopreparat as "client." A contract dated June 18, 1993 was for $20
million for "400 mio aghi" or "injectables." Rosvneshtorg Bank is a Russian
state bank.
Alibek said that as he'd left in 1972, he did not know the details of
contracts signed after that.However, according to the "cover" Abilek
described, the contract with Interplastica would have been written in code
to show a deal for a medical product to hide its true purpose.
The document that links the Banca del Gottardo to the sale is a memo faxed
to the bank by Kate Geary, who worked for the bank and now is legal advisor
in the Lugano law firm, Sganzini Bernasconi Peter & Gaggini, which
represents the bank. She notes that "for our friends of Torola,
'Biopreparat' deposited through 'Interplastica" two cont. of 20 kg of
material in the security box of the bank. P. Mamaladze advised � ready for
transaction [of] 'bonds'."
The rest of the document purports to be about "trade related claims against
bonds," all written in quotes as if to indicate that "bonds" stood for
something else. Torola is a shell company registered in Lugano and run by
several individuals of Georgian and Yugoslavian origin. Paata Guramovich
Mamaladze is a Georgian arms trafficker.
Curiously, Mamaladze, with several Georgians, Russians and Swiss, is also an
owner of Falkon Capital. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov -- referred
to by some Russian newspapers as "Misha two percent," for his alleged
collection of illegal "commissions" -- arranged a deal, approved in October,
under which Falkon was given the right to buy Russia's $2.5 billion debt to
the government of Czechoslovakia for only 23 percent of its value.
The Banca del Gottardo is already connected to Russian corruption in a
money-laundering case described in a U.S. Justice Department brief filed in
the detention hearing of Russian Pavel Bordin. He is accused of skimming
more than $65 million from Russian government construction contracts and
funneling some of the payoffs to then Russian President Boris Yeltsin, his
daughters and top Russian officials. The Banca del Gottardo held accounts
for Borodin and other alleged culprits and moved the money through its
affiliate in the offshore secrecy haven of the Bahamas. The Swiss magazine
L'Hebdo reported in June 2000 that Pacolli and Generali flown to Moscow
together on a private jet. A Geneva magistrate last month recommended
prosecution of Borodin and others in the Mabetex case.
The man who paid the bribes, Beghjet Pacolli, owner of Mabetex, ran
Interplastica.
Pacolli, who was born in Kosovo, supports militant Muslim groups. He
finances the ultra-nationalist newspaper "Bota Sot," based in Zurich, which
has been condemned by the head of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe Mission to Kosovo for sowing "hate, intolerance and
strife." Through the Fund for Reconstruction of Kosovo (FORK), in Lugano, he
finances the Kosovo Liberation Army or UCK, (known in the West as KLA)
described by Robert Gelbard, who was America's special envoy to Bosnia, as
"Islamic terrorists." Europol (the European Police Organization) says the
UCK is involved in drug and weapons trafficking, prostitution, and illegal
immigration.
Attempts to reach Pacolli yielded an email response that "Mr. Behgjet
Pacolli worked for Interplastica till 1990 and there is absolutely no
relation with what you mentioned in your e-mail. He does not know anything
about it because he has left the company [a] long time before. Thanks for
taking notice." Interplastica is now in the process of liquidation. The
Banca del Gottardo did not respond to phone and email queries.
On Wednesday, November 6, the U.S. announced that it was adding to its
blacklist of banks and individuals believed connected to the Bin Laden
network the Al Taqwa bank, with operations in Switzerland, Italy,
Liechtenstein and the Bahamas, and its chief executive Youssef Nada and
board members Mohamed Mansour and Albert Huber.
Mohamed Mansour is on the board of the Bosnian Institute in Zurich. So is
Pacolli.
Pier Felici Barchi, Nada's lawyer, and Claudio Generali, president of the
Banca del Gottardo serve together on boards of a capital management
foundation in Liechtenstein and several enterprises in Switzerland. They are
both leaders of the Liberal Radical Party, which rules in Switzerland and
Tessin and which till now has afforded the bank political protection from
intrusive investigations by authorities. The U.S. should put an end to that.
Lucy Komisar is a New York journalist who writes on offshore bank and
corporate secrecy and money-laundering.
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Swiss Bank Denies Link to Bioweapons, Islamic Militants
By Lucy Komisar, Pacific News Service, Nov 14, 2001
When tracking down the terrorist money trail, Washington will inevitably
wind up in Switzerland. Swiss banks have long been used by shady characters
worldwide to launder money. One of them, writes PNS contributor Lucy
Komisar, might be a good starting point for U.S. investigators seeking
terrorist funding sources and illicit bioweapons trade. Komisar
([EMAIL PROTECTED]) is a New York journalist who writes on offshore bank and
corporate secrecy and money-laundering.
GENEVA--To protect America from terrorist attack, the United States must
investigate illicit trade in biological weapons and trace the movement of
terrorist money. A good starting point is a controversial Swiss bank that
may have facilitated the sale of hazardous biological materials to Islamic
militants.
The bank, Banca del Gottardo in Lugano, appears to have handled one or more
sales from a known Russian biological weapons producer to a Swiss company
with links to several radical Islamic groups.
The bank denies involvement, and no document has appeared which might
confirm an illicit bioweapons trade. Nevertheless, an examination of
documents here, interviews and other sources raise enough red flags to
suggest that those tracing terror money might look closely at such deals.
A December 1993 list of contracts with the Interplastica company obtained by
this reporter lists a $20 million purchase of "injectables" by Biopreparat,
the Russian state developer of biological weapons. According to two former
Soviet Biopreparat insiders, bioweapons production at the plant was hidden
under the cover of pharmaceutical work.
Dr. Vladimir Pasechnik, who was the administrative head of Biopreparat,
defected to Britain in 1989 and revealed to British intelligence the true
nature of Biopreparat. Dr. Kenneth Alibek, a former deputy director of
Biopreparat who also defected and came to the United States in 1992, told
the same to the CIA.
Biopreparat since at least 1973 carried out offensive biological weapons
research, development and production. It produced and stockpiled hundreds of
tons of anthrax and dozens of tons of plague and smallpox.
Interplastica is registered in Switzerland as an engineering and trading
company dealing in chemicals and plastics. Founded in the 1960s, it
specialized in helping the countries of the East bloc pierce Western
embargoes.
>From the early 1990s, the Banca del Gottardo exercised control over the
indebted Interplastica through bank official Franco Peduzzi, according to a
source in Switzerland familiar with the bank's operations. A fax message
accompanying the list of contracts is addressed to Franco Peduzzi at the
bank. In a phone call, Peduzzi denied knowledge of the company.
A September 1994 fax to the bank indicates that the Banca del Gottardo
handled what appears to be another Interplastica deal with Biopreparat. The
memo notes that "for our friends of Torola, 'Biopreparat' deposited through
'Interplastica�' two cont. of 20 kg of material in the security box of the
bank. P. Mamaladze advised -- ready for transaction [of] 'bonds.'"
Torola is a shell company registered in Lugano and run by several
individuals of Georgian and Yugoslavian origin. One of them, Paata
Guramovich Mamaladze, was identified by a source familiar with the contracts
as a Georgian arms trafficker.
The rest of the document purports to be about "trade related claims against
bonds." Biopreparat is not in the business of bond trading. The phrases
referring to "bonds" are set apart in quotation marks throughout the
document.
Franco Rogantini, spokesman for the bank in Lugano, said a bank
investigation showed "no record of any commercial dealings with
Biopreparat." The bank denied "having knowingly entered into business with
weapon producers and traders."
The Banca del Gottardo has already been the object of legal inquiries in a
Russian corruption and money-laundering case. A Swiss investigative
magistrate accused Pavel Borodin, who managed Russian state property, of
skimming $30 million from Russian government construction contracts. The
Swiss dossier details how Beghjet Pacolli, a native of Kosovo and head of
the Mabetex construction company, funneled payoffs to Borodin and other
Russian officials, including Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his
daughters.
The Banca del Gottardo held accounts for Borodin and other alleged culprits
and moved money through its branch in the offshore secrecy haven of the
Bahamas.
Pacolli ran Interplastica, and Pacolli is linked to radical Islamic groups.
Pacolli finances the radically anti-Serb newspaper "Bota Sot," based in
Zurich, which has been condemned for sowing "hate, intolerance and strife"
by the head of the Kosovo mission of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe. Through the Fund for Reconstruction of Kosovo (FORK),
in Lugano, he finances the Kosovo Liberation Army, or UCK, (known in the
West as KLA) described by Robert Gelbard, America's former special envoy to
Bosnia, as "Islamic terrorists." Europol (the European Police Organization)
says the UCK is involved in drug and weapons trafficking, prostitution and
illegal immigration.
Attempts to reach Pacolli through phone and e-mail messages to his Lugano
headquarters, his Swiss residence, and Mabetex offices in Florida and
Albania yielded only an e-mail response from Lugano: "Mr. Behgjet Pacolli
worked for Interplastica till 1990 and there is absolutely no relation with
what you mentioned in your e-mail. He does not know anything about it
because he has left the company [a] long time before. Thanks for taking
notice."
Interplastica is now in the process of liquidation. Renzo Peduzzi, listed in
the government registry as a member of its board, refused to take a phone
call.
Banca del Gottardo President Claudio Generali is a leader of the Radical
Democratic Party, which governs Switzerland. The bank appears to enjoy
protection from serious official scrutiny. Washington should encourage Swiss
authorities to investigate.
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