{"id":205719,"date":"2022-02-28T12:01:08","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T12:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=205719"},"modified":"2022-02-25T04:47:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T04:47:45","slug":"whistleblower-exposes-credit-suisses-bankrolling-of-spy-chiefs-involved-in-cia-torture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/02\/whistleblower-exposes-credit-suisses-bankrolling-of-spy-chiefs-involved-in-cia-torture\/","title":{"rendered":"Whistleblower Exposes Credit Suisse’s Bankrolling of Spy Chiefs Involved in CIA Torture"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A major global journalism project called \u201cSuisse Secrets” revealed the names of criminals and corrupt government officials who had Credit Suisse accounts, including spy agency chiefs implicated in the CIA’s torture program.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

India Today<\/p><\/div>\n

22 Feb 2022 – <\/em>Over a year ago, a whistleblower provided Credit Suisse bank account data to the German newspaper S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung from over 18,000 accounts, which belong to foreign customers.<\/p>\n

The German newspaper shared<\/a> the data with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which brought in media partners from all over the world to investigate and verify the data.<\/p>\n

Now, in a major global journalism project<\/a> called \u201cSuisse Secrets,\u201d OCCRP and several media organizations have revealed the names of criminals and corrupt government officials who had Credit Suisse accounts, including spy agency chiefs implicated<\/a> in torture and rendition during the \u201cwar on terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Switzerland has a strict bank secrecy law, which allows the Swiss government to harshly punish whistleblowers who leak banking data containing alleged evidence of corruption. Swiss banks also enjoy a law that enables authorities to prosecute journalists for publishing, or even possessing, banking data.<\/p>\n

As such, the whistleblower remains anonymous, and not a single media organization in Switzerland participated in the \u201cSuisse Secrets\u201d project.<\/p>\n

“I believe that Swiss banking secrecy laws are immoral,\u201d the \u201cSuisse Secrets\u201d whistleblower declared in a statement sent to S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung. \u201cThe pretext of protecting financial privacy is merely a fig leaf covering the shameful role of Swiss banks as collaborators of tax evaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The whistleblower accused the Swiss legal system of enabling corruption and starving developing countries of \u201cmuch-needed tax revenue. These countries are the ones that therefore suffer most from Switzerland’s reverse-Robin-Hood stunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSwiss legislators are responsible for enabling financial crimes, and by virtue of their direct democracy, the Swiss people have the power to do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the reports<\/a> published by OCCRP, \u201cBank of Spies: Credit Suisse Catered to Global Intelligence Figures,\u201d detailed how the CIA and other United States intelligence agencies benefited from Credit Suisse\u2019s corruption.<\/p>\n

The family of Omar Suleiman, who was the chief of Egypt\u2019s General Intelligence Service, had an account with Credit Suisse that held more than $68 million.<\/p>\n

Suleiman was known<\/a> to the U.S. for the brutal tactics he employed to keep the \u201cdomestic beasts at bay,\u201d as one diplomatic cable released by Chelsea Manning and published by WikiLeaks showed. Yet Suleiman was a trusted U.S. ally.<\/p>\n

As OCCRP recounted, in February 2003, Suleiman\u2019s family had a Credit Suisse account opened. The U.S. was prepared to invade Iraq, and Secretary of State Colin Powell told the United Nations Security Council he had \u201cevidence of Iraq\u2019s training of al Qaeda in chemical weaponry.\u201d The source of this claim was Ibn Sheikh al-Libi, who was tortured by Egyptian intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAl-Libi, a Libyan, had been captured in Pakistan in 2001 before being rendered by the CIA to Egypt in 2003. He would confess, Egyptian handlers told him, because \u2018three thousand individuals had been in the chair before him,\u2019 and they had all done so. After being squashed inside a tiny box, Al-Libi would later say he told the Egyptians \u2018what they wanted to hear,\u2019 OCCRP noted.<\/p>\n

Following the uprising against Egypt President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, Swiss authorities publicly claimed they would freeze accounts held by individuals linked to Mubarak and his regime. However, the Suleiman family\u2019s account was untouched.<\/p>\n

Ghaleb Al-Qamish, who led the Yemen\u2019s Political Security Office (PSO), was described as Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh\u2019s \u201cblack box.\u201d In the country, he was \u201cthe most feared security official.\u201d<\/p>\n

Credit Suisse allowed Qamish to open an account in 1999 that held $3.7 million by 2006.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 9\/11, the CIA set up \u2018black sites\u2019 in allied countries around the world\u2014secret prisons where terror suspects were held incommunicado,\u201d OCCRP recalled.<\/p>\n

Qamish was a participant in the CIA rendition program, which involved millions of dollars lavished on officials like him for assisting the U.S. government in hosting black sites and performing torture against detainees.<\/p>\n

Sa\u2019ad Khair, the head of Jordan\u2019s General Intelligence Directorate (GID) from 2000 to 2005, was yet another U.S. ally, who \u201coversaw Jordan\u2019s role\u201d in CIA renditions and torture.<\/p>\n

His Credit Suisse account was opened in 2003, and it grew to $21.5 million before he died in 2009.<\/p>\n

According to Human Rights Watch, at least 14 detainees were allegedly tortured while in the custody of Khair\u2019s GID between 2001 and 2003. He was a \u201cproxy jailer\u201d for the CIA, \u201cholding prisoners that the CIA apparently wanted kept out of circulation.\u201d (Khair inspired the 2008 film directed by Ridley Scott called \u201cBody of Lies.\u201d)<\/p>\n

In the mid-1980s, General Akhtar Abdur Rahman helped the CIA funnel cash to jihadist groups in Afghanistan, who fought the Soviet Union. He was the leader of Pakistan\u2019s Inter-Services Intelligence group (ISI).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was around this time that Credit Suisse accounts were opened in the names of his three sons,\u201d OCCRP mentioned.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia matched U.S. funds for the mujahideen beginning in the 1970s, and those funds were transferred to the CIA\u2019s Swiss bank account. Akhtar was the \u201cend recipient.\u201d Over time, he embezzled millions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the two Akhtar family accounts at Credit Suisse \u2014 held jointly by Akhtar\u2019s sons Akbar, Ghazi, and Haroon \u2014 was opened on July 1, 1985, when the sons were in their late twenties and early thirties,\u201d according to OCCRP. \u201cThat same year, U.S. President Ronald Reagan would raise concerns about where the money intended for the mujahideen was going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy 2003, this account was worth at least five million Swiss francs ($3.7 million at the time). A second account, opened in January 1986 in Akbar\u2019s name alone, was worth more than 9 million Swiss francs by November 2010 ($9.2 million at the time).\u201d<\/p>\n

Spy agency officials are typically treated by banks as \u201cpolitically exposed persons.\u201d A Swiss compliance expert told OCCRP they are \u201cfar too risky\u201d since they have a \u201cgreat deal of power, questionable connections, and very opaque sources of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beyond the stories on spies, OCCRP published a report<\/a> on Credit Suisse\u2019s role in backing a Zimbabwean fraudster, which enabled President Robert Mugabe\u2019s violent crackdown during the 2008 election in Zimbabwe. They also uncovered<\/a> the role a Credit Suisse account held by the Guta family in Ukraine contributed to the destruction of a Ukrainian agriculture firm.<\/p>\n

A report<\/a> from The Guardian further exposed how King Abdullah of Jordan owned at least six Credit Suisse accounts for \u201choarding\u201d his wealth.<\/p>\n

The bank secrecy law in Switzerland is designed to prevent the public from learning that Credit Suisse routinely engages in corrupt acts, like allowing CIA-backed \u00a0torturers and arms dealers to maintain accounts worth millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

It has existed in some form since 1934, when the Banking Act was passed. Bank employees in Switzerland were threatened with jail if they disclosed \u201cconfidential customer information.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2008 economic collapse was an opportunity to unravel this bank secrecy law, however, the law survived. In fact, the maximum sentence for violating the law increased from six months to three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis law is a massive restriction of press freedom in Switzerland,\u201d said Arthur Rutishauser, a chief editor for Tamedia, a Swiss media outlet which declined to participate in the \u201cSuisse Leaks\u201d project. \u201cIt only serves to censor and intimidate the media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Neiman, a U.S. lawyer who represents Credit Suisse whistleblowers, told OCCRP, the law \u201cseems like a law from the 1800s. That law demonizes those who come forward with good information to expose corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

___________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kevin Gosztola is <\/em>managing editor of <\/em>Shadowproof, host of the “<\/em>Dissenter Weekly,” co-host of the podcast “<\/em>Unauthorized Disclosure,” and member of Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 thedissenter.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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