Ceremonies
of 9/11
Airbrush Out
Bailed-Out
Banks' Money
Laundering
Role
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
PENNSYLVANIA,
September
11 -- What a
difference a
year makes. On
the tenth
anniversary of
9/11/01,
Barrack Obama
came to
Shanksville
here in
Western
Pennsylvania,
held a
photo-op
reflecting on
the rock
marking
where Flight
93 crashed.
Today,
despite
extensive
citation of
killing Osama
bin Laden in
the
campaign, Vice
President Joe
Biden is given
the task. The
Democrats
are said to
"own" the
Osama bin
Laden and
wider 9/11
issues.
Or do they?
Largely
forgotten
is the role in
2001 of US
banks in
moving money
for the
planners and
planning of
the attacks. Click here for longer
report by
Inner City
Press.
On
February 6,
2001, in the
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York,
government
witness Jamal
Ahmed al-Fadl,
the
former chief
financial
officer (or
"paymaster")
of Osama
bin Laden's al
Qaeda
organization,
was questioned
under oath
during a
trial related
to the bombing
of U.S.
embassies in
Kenya and
Tanzania
in 1998.
He was asked:
"do you know
if anyone else
had accounts
for al Qaeda
outside of
Sudan?" He
replied that
"Abu Fadhl
al Makkee
Madana al
Tayyab, he got
an account in
London."
Q:
"You said he
had an account
where?"
A:
"In Barclays
Bank in
London."
Q:
"Any other
place you are
aware of from
your work
where al Qaeda
had accounts?"
A:
"I don't know
the name of
the bank, but
I know they
got account
in Malaysia
and in Hong
Kong...
Khalifa al
Omani, he got
an account
in Dubai."
Barclays,
of
course, has
been back in
the news in
2012 for its murky
dealings,
all the while
pledging to
get
out of the
"risky"
businesses it
says are
unfairly
tarnishing its
reputation.
A
US-based bank
that appears
to some to be
beyond shame
is Citigroup.
Citi's
private
banking
clients have
included
Nigeria's
ex-dictator
Sani
Abacha and
Stroessner of
Paraguay.
Regarding
September 11,
Citigroup
proffered one
of its longest
media-responses
to date,
stating that
"[w]e provide
typical
banking
services to
the Saudi
Binladin
Group which
has denounced
and completely
disowned Osama
bin Laden. We
can't comment
on activity
with respect
to specific
accounts.
However
we are
monitoring the
situation
closely. In
addition, we
are
committed to
cooperating in
any way
possible with
the
government's
far-reaching
investigation
and the on
going battle
against
terrorism."
Typically,
Citigroup
in 2001 hired
the Federal
Reserve's
money
laundering
expert
Richard A.
Small.
Click here to
read
Mr. Small's
1999 Senate
testimony,
blithely
concluding
that
"[t]he banking
system has a
significant
interest in
protecting
itself from
being used by
criminal
elements.
Individual
banking
organizations
have committed
substantial
resources and
achieved
noticeable
success in
creating
operational
environments
that are
designed to
protect their
institutions
from
unknowingly
doing
business with
unsavory
customers...".
The issue with
Citigroup,
then and now:
Citi's
business with
unsavory
customers does
not appear
to be
"unknowing."
Citigroup,
of
course,
received one
of the largest
of the
government
bailouts. We
are preparing
a piece on
Citi's
dealing,
including
through former
US
Treasury
Secretary
Robert Rubin,
with the UAE:
watch this
site.
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