Scandals: Is That All There Is?

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While the bank is shut down in most countries, B.C.C.I. is still operating in Pakistan and Switzerland, as well as in Zambia and Zimbabwe. In other countries, individuals or entities with close ties to the old B.C.C.I. seem to be buying up the bank's branches. At the same time, several Middle Eastern banks are taking over the bank's role as a promoter of weapons deals, sources have told TIME.

B.C.C.I.'s corporate guilty plea will not slow down the pending indictments of individuals connected to the bank. The investigation has speeded up now that cooperation has improved between federal officials, led by U.S. Attorney General William Barr, and state prosecutors in New York, led by Manhattan district attorney Robert Morgenthau. For months Morgenthau's unprecedented worldwide probe had been running rings around the foot-dragging Justice investigation. Plenty remains to be uncovered. A grand jury in Manhattan is looking into the roles played in B.C.C.I.'s schemes by First American's ex- chairman, former Defense Secretary Clark Clifford, and his law partner, Robert Altman.

Political bribery is another ripe area of investigation. In Georgia last week Governor Zell Miller and house speaker Tom Murphy testified before a federal grand jury probing reports of payoffs to legislators for passing a law enabling First American to buy the National Bank of Georgia when both banks were controlled by B.C.C.I. A report of those alleged bribes originally came into the hands of the CIA in 1986, according to TIME sources.

Connections to B.C.C.I. are proving to be politically sticky. Last week the Bush Administration denied any knowledge of a business relationship between Charles Hostler, the U.S. envoy to Bahrain, and B.C.C.I. An NBC News report had linked Hostler, a major G.O.P contributor, to a Connecticut real estate development controlled by reputed B.C.C.I. front man Mohammed Hammoud. Hostler says he became involved in the Connecticut project because of friendship with Hammoud and did not profit from it, and denies ties to B.C.C.I. Hammoud's connections, however, seem clear. Internal B.C.C.I. documents examined by TIME show that the bank planned to move $5 million of Hammoud's loans -- including those related to the Connecticut project -- to "offshore" branches to avoid examination by regulators. Hammoud will not be able to clear matters up: the London-based businessman reportedly died in May 1990 under mysterious circumstances.

While the surprising guilty plea last week settled many issues, it may have been only a curtain raiser for new disclosures on how the corrupt bank really operated.