BBC Breaking: UAE President Shaikh Zayed has died

upcoming on:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/default.stm

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The president of OPEC member the United Arab Emirates, Shiekh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, has died, state television says.

"The royal court announces to Arab and Islamic countries and the rest of the world the death of the leader of the nation Sheikh Zayed ... on Tuesday evening," said an announcement read out on Abu Dhabi television...

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=613984§ion=news

The veteran ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, has died.

An announcement on Abu Dhabi television said the 86-year-old sheikh had died on Tuesday evening.

The ruler of the emirate of Dubai, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid, will act as president of the seven emirate group until a new overall ruler is chosen.

He named his eldest son, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, as crown prince as long ago as 1969.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3975737.stm

I was very privileged to hear him speak at the Al Bustan hotel in Oman last year. He is exceptionally intelligent and he is compassionate.

of the family, much inter-martried with the Al-Nahayyans from Abu Dhabi.

UAE has been prime US/UK war ally since Gulf 1 but backlog of personal corruption of ruling families in the UAE (eg BCCI) has created vast, delicate diplomacy problems. As bad as with the Saudis.

$25 billion. Never officially assessed but:

"In domestic affairs, the UAE became involved in a major financial scandal in 1991, when international regulators closed down worldwide operations of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) on fraud and forgery charges. Sheikh Zayed was a founding shareholder of BCCI, and Abu Dhabi businesses and investors lost approximately $2 billion. In December 1993 the government of Abu Dhabi filed a civil suit against BCCI and 13 of its top officials. In July 1994 the former chief executive of the bank pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to charges of fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering."

http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/GeogHist/histories/history/hiscountries/U/unitedarabeemirates.html

and

"In 1990, when accountants and regulators in the United Kingdom found fraud at BCCI, the Abu Dhabi ruling family and government stepped in again, agreeing to formally buy the bank, assert control, guarantee its losses, replace BCCI's head with the head of its own BCCI affiliate, the Bank of Credit and Commerce Emirates (BCCE), move BCCI's operations and records from London to Abu Dhabi, and work on a plan to find a way to save the bank despite its having acknowledged "mishandling" at least $2.2 billion of Abu Dhabi's money.

By July 5, 1991, when BCCI was closed globally, the Government of Abu Dhabi, its ruling family, and an investment company holding the assets of the ruling family, were the controlling, and official "majority" shareholders of BCCI -- owning 77 percent of the bank. But since the remaining 23 percent was actually held by nominees and by BCCI's alter-ego ICIC, Abu Dhabi was in fact BCCI's sole owner.

After July 5, 1991, it was in Abu Dhabi that most of BCCI's top officials remained, where they remain under the control of the Abu Dhabi government, under conditions said to be luxurious, which the Abu Dhabi government refuses to discuss. While there, they have remained incommunicado, and out of the reach of foreign investigators, unwilling, or unable, to tell the world what happened."

and

** There is some evidence that the Sheikh Zayed may have had a political agenda in agreeing to the involvement of members of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and its investment authority in purchasing shares of Financial General Bankshares, then of CCAH/First American. This evidence is offset, in part, by testimony that Abu Dhabi share purchases in the U.S. bank were done at Abedi's request and did not represent an actual investment by Abu Dhabi until much later.
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/14abudhabi.htm

More on the old crook:
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/14abudhabi.htm

Khaleej Times reports:
Under the UAE constitution, Vice-President and Prime Minister Shaikh Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, will act as president until the federal council which groups rulers of the seven emirates meets within 30 days to elect a new president.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, a son of Shaikh Zayed, will automatically take over as ruler of the capital. Official sources expect the council to elect Shaikh Khalifa as the next president of the federation.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2004/November/theuae_November77.xml§ion=theuae

Bank of England misfeasance trial.

No comment as yet from Gordon Pollock QC who leads the plaintiffs' £1billion lawsuit against the Bank and it's officials but BBC Radio News reported a few minutes ago that a statement may be expected some time tomorrow.

For all those that wait................

that were used as slave jockeys.

no sympathy here...

One more POS bites the dust...

Under Zayed, the Emirates have become the most prosperous and FREE of all the Arab countries in the ME. I am over here teaching the next generation who will take it to FREE, PROSPEROUS and DEMOCRATIC federal constitutional monarchy.

he has engineered the emirates into one of the few middle-east success stories and has actually invested the oil wealth in the people and the country...

The Emirates are such a success story that the economy is NO LONGER dependent on oil for GDP... They have been that successful


He will be missed here...

oil boom as his own genius.

His entire life has been spin spin spin. His proven connections between what has laughingly been called Al Qaeda (ie loose band of criminals/terrorists doing the dirty work of thre CIA and MI6), big time money launderers, drug barons and assorted international felons specialising in arms dealing and terror....are a mater of concern.

The current BCCI London class action has yet to hear the specific evidence of his collusion with organised crime and the Thatcher/Reagan-Bush 1 kleptocracy.