B.C.C.I. VERDICTS . . . ARAB EMIRATE WANTS ITS $9 BILLION BACK
A secret trial in Abu Dhabi ended with jail terms-- and a $9.13 billion bill--for 12 key figures in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (B.C.C.I.) scandal. But the bank's two senior officers, who handled huge sums of the emir's fortune until investigators closed the fraudulent operation in 1991, weren't present to help pay up. One of them, 71-year-old founder Aga Hasan Abedi, is now ensconced in his native Pakistan, on good terms with local officials and unlikely to face extradition. "He's the mastermind, and he's sitting up there in Karachi," says TIME correspondent S.C. Gwynne, who has investigated the scandal. "It appears that the Abu Dhabians believe that $9 billion was the order of magnitude of the theft. Good luck, guys. Nobody else can find that money."
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