U.S. News & World Report: Following the old money trail 04-04-2005 Edward T. Pound
http://www.furl.net/item.jsp?id=2459552 For someone who earned a salary of just $1,000 a month, Rana Koleilat managed to live a pretty nice life. She traveled by private jet, took along her servants and hairdresser, and stayed at the poshest hotels in London and Paris. Back home, in Beirut, Lebanon, she lived in a three-story penthouse. To anyone who asked how she lived so well, she replied that she had a "rich uncle." Actually, Koleilat helped manage a private bank in Beirut, and thereby hangs a tale. Two years ago, the Bank Al-Madina collapsed in scandal. At center stage was none other than Rana Koleilat. The chairman of the bank, a man named Adnan Abou Ayyash, says he lost more than $1.2 billion, and he blames Koleilat and a few cohorts. Depositors lost another several hundred million dollars. Lebanese authorities have charged Koleilat, Ayyash, and eight others in one of the biggest banking scandals in Lebanon's history. Interesting stuff, to be sure, but behind the scenes there's an even bigger story--how the bank allegedly funneled money to powerful Syrian and Lebanese officials, laundered funds for Iraq's Central Bank when Saddam Hussein was in power, and funded Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terrorist organization. Lebanese authorities have shown little curiosity in unraveling these ties or in answering questions. The Lebanese Embassy in Washington did not respond to questions submitted by U.S. News in mid-March. Likewise, Syrian officials did not answer the magazine's inquiries. Perhaps that's understandable. The Al-Madina bank scandal is a major embarrassment for both governments, providing a rare glimpse inside the corrupt profiteering long understood to be a by-product of Syria's 30-year occupation of Lebanon. Neither President Emile Lahoud nor Syrian President Bashar Assad, close allies, has been implicated in the scandal. But Syria increasingly finds itself in the cross hairs of the international community. <...> L http://www.leighm.net http://www.furl.net/members/leigh_m/rss.xml -30- Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
