Khalid bin Mahfouz

Bath was never directly implicated in the BCCI scandal.

But according to the Outlaw Bank, an award-winning 1993 book by Time correspondents Jonathan Beattie and S.C. Gwynn, Bath originally made his fortune by investing money for Sheikh Khalid Bin, that's Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz, and another BCCI-connected Saudi, Sheikh bin Laden.

Allegedly, and he absolutely is, it's not allegedly at all, the father of none other than Osama bin Laden, the man accused by the U.S. government of masterminding the August 1998 terrorist bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed more than 250 people, and now the mastermind of the attacks upon the Pentagon and the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City.

According to news reports, in a 1976 trust agreement drawn shortly after Bush's father was appointed director of the Central Intelligence Agency, now listen closely, Saudi Sheikh Salem M. Bin Laden appointed Bath as his business representative in Texas.

Um, I got a con- I w- I was contacted by a very senior figure connected to the Department of Justice.

Um, and I traveled to meet a person who gave me a memo showing how 11 passports were given to a Saudi sheikh, bin, uh, Khalid bin Mahfouz, in December of 1990.

Passports were handed over to the sheikh and his entourage at a dinner in the Shelbourne Hotel by the then Taoiseach, Charles Haughey.

The person who prepared the application for the passports and issued the naturalization certificates required to get a passport was none other than the Minister for Justice, Ray Burke, who had done it in his home in Swords, the same house, um, on the Saturday before the dinner on the Sunday in the Shelbourne Hotel.

...

but he was under investigation by the US, uh, uh, revenue authorities for alleged fraud, um, criminal authorities for alleged fraud involving BCCI, including their involvement with leading major drug dealers in Latin America and other, um, criminal activities and fraud.

And that investigation had led to the, led them to Khalid bin Mahfouz, who was concerned that he may be extradited to America, uh, that he would, he would, uh...

He would, he re- he, he said he needed a passport because of these investigations and his, his Pakistani, a guy called Rashid Kaloon, uh, who was one of, a key figure in the bank as well, um, also, uh, required a passport as long, along with members of his family.

So it was Christmas of 1996, 95, 96, I was contacted by a very senior figure connected to the Department of Justice.

And I traveled to meet a person who gave me a memo showing how 11 passports were given to a Saudi Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz in December of 1990, passports were handed over to the Sheikh and his entourage at a dinner in the Shelburne Hotel by the then Taoiseach Charles Howie.

The person who prepared the application for the passports and issued the naturalisation certificates required to get a passport was none other than the Minister for Justice, Ray Bourke, who had done it in his home in Swords, the same house, on the Saturday before the dinner on the Sunday in the Shelburne Hotel.

Now, the question was, there was a passport for investment scheme.

Based in the Cayman Islands.

But he was under investigation by the US revenue authorities for alleged fraud and criminal authority for alleged fraud involving BCCI, including their involvement with leading major drug dealers in Latin America and other criminal activities and fraud.

And that investigation had led them to Khalid bin Mahfouz, who was concerned that he may be extradited to America, that he would, he said he needed a passport.

Because of these investigations, And his Pakistani, a guy called Rashid Kahloun, who was a key figure in the bank as well, also required a passport, along with members of his family.