
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 19, 1992                   TAG: 9203190138
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

WITNESS SAYS BCCI HIRED TEENS FOR PROSTITUTION

Drug-money laundering, bribery, arms merchants and noteworthy politicians. The global scandal of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International had almost everything it needed to be a major motion picture - except sex. Now it has that, too.

Nazir Chinoy, former head of BCCI's French and African operations, testified Wednesday before a Senate subcommittee that the international bank's Pakistan office regularly arranged for teen-age girls to be brought in from the countryside to "take care of any personal needs" of the wealthy Middle Eastern clients of the bank.

When Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., asked Chinoy whether the 15-, 16-and 17-year-old girls were procured as prostitutes, Chinoy smiled. "Yes, sir," he said. "They're referred to as singing and dancing girls in Pakistan."

Providing prostitutes for BCCI customers was handled by the "protocol department" in BCCI's Pakistan office, where the primary responsibility was to look after wealthy clients and princely families who came to Pakistan. The department spent about $6 million and employed about 450 people in 1988, including 100 chauffeurs and numerous gardeners and cooks, in addition to the young girls, he said.

Chinoy, who has pleaded guilty to drug-money laundering in Tampa and is cooperating with U.S. investigators, also added the name of Jesse Jackson to the list of U.S. friends of BCCI. The bank paid the hotel bills of Jackson, his wife and several others in his party during two trips to Paris in late 1985, Chinoy said.

Chinoy told Senate investigators that after leaving Paris, Jackson went to Africa, where he encouraged state banks to open accounts at BCCI, an allegation Jackson denied. Jackson then returned to Paris, this time requesting that he and his party stay in a suite at the more elegant George V Hotel. BCCI also provided Jackson with a Rolls-Royce for his stay.

Jackson said Wednesday that BCCI did pay about $11,000 for his accommodations during two visits to Paris in late 1985. But he said that he has never had any business relationship with the bank or its founder, and that he was unaware of any wrongdoing at the bank at the time.

Chinoy added his testimony to the long list of reports of illegal and unscrupulous activities at BCCI. The Luxembourg-based bank was closed by regulators around the world last July. It pleaded guilty in December to secretly and illegally owning First American Bankshares Inc., Washington's largest bank-holding company, and two other U.S. banks.

by CNB