--- born: 1933 category: BCCI Scandal died: 2019-09-07 location: Agra, British India relations: - fn: 1 role: chief executive type: employed_by with: '[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]' - fn: 10 type: reported_to with: '[[Agha Hasan Abedi]]' - fn: 4 reverse: true start: 1991-07 type: prosecuted with: '[[Robert Morgenthau]]' summary: Swaleh Naqvi was the chief operating officer of BCCI, taking over after Agha Hasan Abedi's 1988 heart attack. tags: - Person - BCCI - CIA --- Swaleh Naqvi was the chief operating officer of [BCCI](/organizations/bank-of-credit-and-commerce-international/), taking over after [Agha Hasan Abedi](/people/agha-hasan-abedi/)'s 1988 heart attack.[^1] ### Role at BCCI Naqvi was instrumental in the day-to-day operations and manipulations within BCCI. He personally maintained some six thousand secret accounts, which were at the core of the bank's deception.[^2] He was responsible for orchestrating the sale of [Clark Clifford](/people/clark-clifford/) and [Robert Altman](/people/robert-altman/)'s stock in [First American Bank](/organizations/first-american-bank/) to a BCCI front man.[^3] Naqvi, along with Abedi, was indicted by [Robert Morgenthau](/people/robert-morgenthau/), the Manhattan district attorney, in July 1991 for fraud, bribery, grand larceny, and money laundering.[^4] He was also indicted by the [Department of Justice](/organizations/department-of-justice/) in November 1991 for his role in the bond manipulation at [CenTrust Savings Bank](/organizations/centrust-savings-bank/) and the secret ownership of [Independence Bank of Encino](/organizations/independence-bank-of-encino/).[^5] ### Connections and Influence Naqvi had close ties with Abedi and was involved in many of the bank's illicit activities, including the use of nominees and offshore networks to conceal ownership and financial transactions.[^6] He was also involved in the meeting where [Eugene Holley](/people/eugene-holley/) introduced [Bert Lance](/people/bert-lance/) to Abedi.[^7] ### Arrest and Extradition Naqvi, a British subject who had served more than twenty years as Abedi's deputy, was arrested in [Abu Dhabi](/places/abu-dhabi/) in September 1991 and held there for nearly three years. On January 12, 1994, the [Justice Department](/organizations/department-of-justice/) and the Abu Dhabi government agreed that American prosecutors would have access to BCCI witnesses and documents; under the arrangement, as United Press International reported it, the [United States](/places/united-states/) dropped a 1.5 billion dollar civil suit against Sheikh [Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan](/people/zayed-bin-sultan-al-nahayan/), brought no criminal charges against him, and received 400 million dollars' worth of Abu Dhabi's shares in First American Bank. Naqvi was handed to American officials on May 7, 1994.[^8][^9] ### Plea and Sentence On July 8, 1994, a federal judge in [Washington](/places/washington-dc/) accepted his guilty plea to fraud, racketeering and conspiracy charges, in which he admitted responsibility for 255 million dollars in losses in the United States; Morgenthau opposed the agreement as too lenient.[^10] On October 19, 1994, Judge Joyce Hens Green sentenced him to eleven years for a racketeering conspiracy to control American banks secretly, including First American, and ordered him to pay 255 million dollars; with credit for the time he had spent in custody in Abu Dhabi, he was to serve about eight.[^9][^11] In June 1994 the Abu Dhabi court trying BCCI's former executives had sentenced him in absentia. United Press International first reported "four sentences totaling 11 years" on nine counts, and later reported the sentence as fourteen years, the figure also given by the *American Banker*, which called it the longest imposed. An appeals court in Abu Dhabi declined to hear his appeal unless he attended in person.[^8][^9][^12] At [Abbas Gokal](/people/abbas-gokal/)'s trial at the [Old Bailey](/organizations/old-bailey/) in 1997 he was named as an absent co-conspirator.[^13] [^1]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 10. [^2]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 140. [^3]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 216. [^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 14. [^5]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 383. [^6]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 143. [^7]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 180. [^8]: Hussain, Thomas. "UAE jails and fines BCCI executives," United Press International, June 14, 1994. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/06/14/UAE-jails-and-fines-BCCI-executives/7650771566400/ [^9]: "Ex-BCCI chief faces jail in UAE," United Press International, October 20, 1994. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/10/20/Ex-BCCI-chief-faces-jail-in-UAE/7767782625600/ [^10]: "Ex-BCCI executive admits fraud, conspiracy," *The Baltimore Sun,* July 9, 1994. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-07-09-1994190050-story.html [^11]: "Former BCCI Executive Gets 11-Year Prison Sentence," Associated Press, *The Seattle Times,* October 19, 1994. https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19941019&slug=1936843 [^12]: "Abu Dhabi gives former BCCI execs prison sentences of up to 14 years," *American Banker,* June 1994. https://www.americanbanker.com/news/abu-dhabi-gives-former-bcci-execs-prison-sentences-of-up-to-14-years [^13]: "On the trail of Gokal," *Accountancy Age,* May 23, 1997. https://accountancyage.com/1997/05/23/on-the-trail-of-gokal/