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Date
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Chasing Bank Scandal's Long Shadow
Asia Wall Street Journal
11 Jan 2012
Business
15
English
N/A
Daily
Color
Circulation
Readership
ArticleSize
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Full Color
80,750
282,625
341 cm²
RM 39,572
RM 118,715
Chasing Bank ScandaPs Long Shadow
BY BRAD REAGAN
ORLANDO Fla Before MF Glo
bal Bernard Madoff and Eru on the
mother of modem financial scandals
was ECCl—the
1991 collapse of an
international bank that
involved
arms dealers dictators drug king
pins and Washington power brokers
Those swashbuckling characters
dominated contemporary headlines
But for the past 20 years an un
likely figure has played a central
role Adil Elias a 59 year old Or
lando developer whose properties
include a T G I Friday s restaurant
and a Volcano Island miniature golf
course has battled international
bankers attorneys and liquidators
to help depositors in the Bank of
Credit
Commerce International
get back their money
Day and night he s always on the
case says Tony Scott owner of a
West London photography studio
who was among the more than
800 000 depositors from more than
70 countries who had savings tied up
at BCCT He says most account holders
figured their money was gone for
good but not Mr Ellas He was the
driving force in the effort to recover
as much as possible says Mr Scott
who also is active in the process
Any recovery was by any reckon
ing a long shot The liquidators
from Deloitte the accounting firm
appointed by a British court to re
cover the bank s assets told deposi
tors they would be lucky to get more
than 10 cents for each dollar they
kept with the bank The take so far
about 8 5 billion or more than 86
cents on the dollar
For Mr Elias the married father
of two grown sons the battle has
taken a toll He says he has suffered
five heart attacks which he blames
Adil Elias has worked to recover
funds tied up at the failed bank BCCI
of lawsuits in courts from the Cay
man Islands to Luxembourg and a
his siblings and extended family
But on July 5 1991 Mr Elias heard
Mr Elias pursued twin causes
He wanted to show that the liquida
handful of high profile investiga
on his car radio a report that the
tions including inquiries by Con
Bank of England had closed BCCI and
gress BCCI was essentially a crimi
nal enterprise
says Richard
Herring a Wharton School professor
who has written extensively on the
seized its assets
tors were being paid too much and
that they weren t moving aggres
sively enough to track down assets
In one instance Mr Elias was
bank
Prosecutors won more than
two dozen convictions but most of
the major figures avoided prison or
died before they were sentenced
The bank established in Luxem
bourg in 1972 counted among its
into a Member of Parliament named
Keith Vaz
cartel and even the Central Intelli
Mr Vaz whose district included
many BCCI customers was able to
secure a meeting with then Prime
Minister John Major Over tea Mr
Elias argued that assets should be
gence Agency investigators found
The murky nature of many of the
bank s operations made it difficult
to identify and track down assets
That became Mr Elias s mission
The son of a Sudanese clergy
man Mr Elias says he received his
Ph D in engineering in London and
then returned to Sudan to work Af
ter a coup in 1989 he was forced to
leave relocating in Orlando
His life savings—less than half a
million dollars—were on deposit
with BCCI as were the savings of
to conclude next spring after dozens
England for a week He marched
with other depositors on Parlia
ment where he literally bumped
Noriega Colombia s Medellin drug
ference calls with overseas attorneys
than 300 trans Atlantic flights
The BCCI liquidation is expected
he recalls thinking an assessment fol
lowed by a flurry of angry calls from
family members
The next day Mr Elias flew to
London where he says he slept on
the steps outside of the Bank of
clients dictators such as Manuel
on the stress of countless 3 a m con
and travel that has included more
This is a disaster
released to account holders immedi
ately He lost as the bank s assets
were tied up in jurisdictional squab
bling among governments
Mr Elias was later elected by
BCCI creditors to two five member
one of three creditors who filed a
motion with the Luxembourg court
opposing as too low a 350 million
settlement with the government of
Abu Dhabi—BCCI s majority share
holder—that the liquidators had ne
gotiated Two years later the par
ties agreed on a 1 4 billion payout
All told about 1 6 billion of the
more than 8 5 billion that has been
collected in the liquidation has gone
to fees according to documents
posted on the website for the liqui
dation About 600 million of that
has gone to Doloitte the liquidator
A Deloitte spokesman declined to
comment on Mr Elias but defends
the firm s performance noting its
fees were approved by the courts
The anticipated final recovery of
Luxembourg—that worked closely
with the liquidators to approve all
just short of 90 is an excellent out
come particularly given the low ex
pectations of recovery at the begin
ning of the process the spokesman
settlements and major actions
says
committees—one
in the U K one
in