September 11 Commission Report - Gnostic Liberation Front

“The net effect of the Angolan arms buildup was the scrapping of the 1994 Lusaka Peace Agreement
between Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and long-time UNITA rebel leader Jonas
Savimbi, a one-time favorite of the Central Intelligence Agency and a person who President Reagan
once hailed as the "George Washington of Angola."
Jardo Muekalia, who headed UNITA's Washington office until it was forced to close in 1997, says that
that the military forces that ultimately succeeded in assassinating Savimbi were supported by
commercial satellite imagery and other intelligence support provided by Houston-based Brown &
Root, Cheney's old outfit….
According to Global Witness, the links between Angola's corrupt government and the Bush
administration are just as odorous as those linking Luanda's leadership to past and current members of
the French government, both Socialist and Gaullist. In addition to the French oil giant Total-Fina-Elf,
oil companies like Chevron, Texaco, Philipps Petroleum, Exxon Mobil, and BP-Amoco -- all with
close links to Bush and his White House oil team -- were heavily involved in propping up dos Santos
in return for profitable off-shore oil concessions.” [Report Alleges US Role in Angola Arms-for-Oil
Scandal, Special to CorpWatch, Wayne Madsen, May 17, 2002]
The Marc Rich (Glencore) connection is insightful because it identifies the probable link
between the Russian/Israeli Mafiya and the oil swap industry, and the structure of its
money laundering methods. These methods demonstrate involvement by the Deutsche
Bank. During the US Justice Department 1998-1999 investigation of the Bank of New
York’s money-laundering on behalf of the Russian Mafiya, Marc Rich was implicated:
“The probe, one of the largest in recent history, was born out of the U.S. Justice Department
investigation of the Bank of New York's role in large-scale money laundering from Russia in 1999.
The "Spiderweb" probe focused on the repatriation of funds from the Bank of New York and offshore
centers to Russia through Italian and other European front companies….
"Basically, the Russians were sending all the money that they could out of the country, and at one
point, many of the same people decided they wanted to bring the money back," one Italian investigator
said….
"I have an Interpol report that states that Marc Rich was one of the founding partners of Nordex," he
said. According to prosecutors, Nordex, a company based in Vienna, Austria, with offices in Germany,
Ireland, Lithuania, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine, is accused of having had a central role in the
money-laundering operation uncovered by the "Spiderweb" operation….
…Mr. Rich, as the principal director of Glencore International AG, had a direct relationship with
Benex. Although the true owners of Benex were never conclusively identified in Miss White's
investigation, Benex's offices, located on Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills, N.Y., shared the same
building with two companies connected with Mr. Loutchansky….
U.S. and Italian authorities say that a good part of the money laundered on behalf of the Russian mafia
and businesses passed through Benex's Bank of New York account and that from June to December of
1998 there had been a number of wire transfers from the "Glencore of Rich" to Benex for a total of
$178,000.…” [Marc Rich Linked To $9 Billion Money Laundering Investigation, P.K. Semler,
Washington Times, June 23, 2002]
Marc Rich’s Glencore was involved in laundering Russian Mafiya money through the
Bank of New York. (Pierre Falcone, the French/Algerian arms merchant indicted in the
Angola-gate arms deal also maintained an account at this bank as well.) According to
Australian sources, from the Bank of New York, the money was moved to the Pacific
island country of Nauru. What is interesting is the revelation that at the same time that
the Bank of New York was required to shut down relations with Nauru as a result of the
investigation so did the Deutsche Bank and Banker’s Trust. (Banker’s Trust is a Deutsche
Bank subsidiary, whose CEO-Buzzy Krongard went on to be the No. 2 Director at the
CIA), The simultaneous cessation of relations of these banks with Naura suggests these
THE SEPTEMBER 11 COMMISSION REPORT Page 104