Federal law enforcement agencies failed to follow up on information they had as early as the mid-1980s about illegal activities by the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, a House subcommittee report charged.
"The government had enough information to put BCCI on its most-wanted list many years back," said Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime.Government files as far back as 1983 "had details of BCCI shenanigans" and "senior officials of the Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Customs Service had indications as early as 1986 and certainly by 1987 of widespread, large scale criminal activity relating to BCCI and didn't act," Schumer said Thursday in releasing the panel's staff report.
BCCI, with worldwide operations, has been accused of numerous offenses, including money laundering, bribery, and using depositors money to cover billions of dollars in bad loans. But it was not until July of this year that British and U.S. regulators moved against the bank.
Later in July, the bank was indicted in New York City where the district attorney charged the bank was responsible for "the largest bank fraud in world financial history." A federal indictment was announced Thursday in Tampa, Fla.
Schumer said the federal law enforcement agencies now are taking appropriate action against BCCI and its officials. "Unfortunately, much of the damage has been done."
The subcommittee report was critical of the Customs Service, which conducted an investigation in Florida that netted five BCCI officers and several money launderers, but the agency failed to provide the resources needed to expand the investigation nationwide.
The report said the IRS has noted 15 separate BCCI matters in its files, 10 of which were referred for criminal investigations.