A Mideast version of the Bernie Madoff scandal is threatening to tarnish Hezbollah's reputation in Lebanon for being incorruptible, and the powerful Shiite militant movement faces calls to bail out small investors to keep its position from being undercut.
Hundreds of Lebanese sold land or drained their retirement savings and handed over hundreds of millions of dollars to Salah Ezzedine, a Shiite businessman with connections to Hezbollah. The anti-Israeli Hezbollah is on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations and maintains the strongest military force in Lebanon. For its Shiite followers, however, it is seen as a trusted quasi-government that provides social services and aid. The group gets substantial funding from Iran and paid out millions to rebuild the Shiite heartland in south Lebanon after a devastating 2006 war with Israel.
Hezbollah has said it had nothing to do with the alleged swindle and has so far resisted pressure to rescue the investors. Nevertheless, many investors put their trust in Ezzedine, principally because of the financier's connections to Hezbollah and because of his reputation as a pious, respectable Shiite. Ezzedine's investment company promised as much as 40 percent in annual returns, according to residents of this southern Lebanese village.
Ezzedine and his partner, Youssef Faour, have been arrested on suspicion of cheating investors out of perhaps up to $1 billion, prosecutors say. Earlier this month, they were charged with fraudulent embezzlement, a crime punishable by 15 years in prison. Alleged victims included well-off Shiites but also smaller investors who sold land or pulled out savings to bundle the cash and give it to Ezzedine.
Lebanese are comparing to the swindle by Madoff, now serving a 150-year prison sentence for masterminding a multibillion-dollar scheme that burned thousands of investors.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah earlier this month denied the group had any connection with the financier. A parliament member from Hezbollah reportedly lost money with Ezzedine and is suing him -- a sign, the group's supporters say, that it, too, was victimized.
Still, Hezbollah is trying to ward off any blow to its status among loyalists. Nasrallah spoke recently by video link to a group of investors in the south to hear their complaints and reassure them, although he made no promises of compensation, according to an investor who lost money, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
one rumor is that some Persian hotshots in Lebanon to help Hezbollah also lost some loot
another rumor is that Iran is ticked at Hezbollah for this problem and some others (e.g., sloppy work re building security infrastructure, different priorities on use of aid from Iran)and has taken over large portions of the decision making of Hezbollah
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/01/2009 11:15 Comments ||
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#2
The Hezzies and others of their ilk are completely incapable of embarrassment.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/01/2009 23:28 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran is entering talks with six world powers this week with good intentions, the Islamic Republic's chief nuclear negotiator said Wednesday even as the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Tehran broke a transparency law.
Saeed Jalili's comments, echoing those by other Iranian officials in the run-up a one-day meeting in Geneva Thursday -- described the meeting as an "opportunity and a test" for the world powers.
But director Mohamed ElBaradei said in a televised interview Iran broke a U.N. transparency law by failing to disclose much earlier a nuclear plant being built for uranium enrichment, agency.
Iran reported the site to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Sept. 21. Western powers said Tehran was forced to do so after learning they were about to discover a plant whose construction began 3-1/2 years ago.
"We are entering the talks with a good will," Jalili said on Wednesday at Tehran's international Imam Khomeini airport. He is secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.
Western diplomatic sources have said the newly disclosed plant was hidden inside a mountainside on a former Iranian Revolutionary Guards base near the Shiite holy city of Qom. It heightened suspicions of a covert Iranian aim to develop atomic bombs, they said.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] With the possibility of an upcoming Israeli attack on Iran receiving fresh media attention, Saudi Arabia denies offering overflight clearance to Israeli fighter jets.
The denial came after the Daily Express claimed that Saudi officials, in a closed-door meeting with British Intelligence Chief Sir John Scarlett and his Israeli counterpart Meir Dagan, had agreed to allow Israeli bombers use their airspace for a strike on Iranian nuclear sites.
Saudi officials were quick to deny the reports on Wednesday, demanding that the newspaper print a correction and apologize by the means of compensation.
Details of an Israeli attack on Iran through Saudi Arabia were first revealed by John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, who has vocally advocated war on Iran on countless occasions.
Bolton, who says he held secret talks with Saudi officials during a recent visit to the Persian Gulf, recently told the Sunday Times that it would be "entirely logical" for the Israelis to use the Kingdom's airspace to attack Iran.
"None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn't trumpet it as a big success," he added.
While Saudi officials deny having diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv, an Israeli defense source recently confirmed that the Mossad spy agency maintained "working relations" with the kingdom.
Lebanon's Al-Manar TV station has also revealed that Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi Secretary General of the National Security Council, has played a leading role in securing cooperation between Saudi and Israeli intelligence agencies
For years, Israel has threatened to bomb Iran's nuclear installations, but the likelihood of an attack has significantly increased after the country announced that it is laying the groundwork for its second enrichment facility in Fordu south of the central city of Qom.
Dodging scrutiny over its own arsenal of up to 200 nuclear weapons, Israel accuses Iran of refining uranium for military purposes.
Iran, however, continues to dismiss the allegation, saying its nuclear activities are solely aimed at peaceful energy production and under close monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[11136 views]
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#1
STARS-N-STRIPES > NEW IRAN NUCLEAR SITE NEAR MILITARY BASE.
Wihc again shows why an ISRAELI COMMANDO GROUND OPER WOULD BE BOTH LARGE-SCALE + PROBLEMATIC.
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM [07/2008?] > RUSSIA-CHINA WARN USA THAT ANY ISRAELI [nuclear] ATTACK AGZ IRAN MEANS "WORLD WAR". MEDVEDEV = "World War would be our response".
#2
If Israel used the Saudi airspace and muddled up the Saudi military air com system the way they might be able to do,, there really wouldn't be much that the Saudis could do about it (other than deny that Saudi space was used and blame Syria and the Iraqis.
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/01/2009 11:19 Comments ||
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A Mideast version of the Bernie Madoff scandal is threatening to tarnish Hezbollah's reputation in Lebanon for being incorruptible, and the powerful Shiite militant movement faces calls to bail out small investors to keep its position from being undercut.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran is entering talks with six world powers this week with good intentions, the Islamic Republic's chief nuclear negotiator said Wednesday even as the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Tehran broke a transparency law.
