The French bank, BNP Paribas has long had a reputation for being willing to do just about anything to make a franc.
After all, they were the one Western bank that was willing to step up and provide financing for Iran when no one else would touch the ayatollahs. To this day, BNP Paribas is more active in Iran than any other foreign bank and their financing operations there are measured in the billions of dollars.
But it isn’t just BNP Paribas’ operations in Iran that have been scrutinized.
The bank was a key player in the horribly corrupt UN oil for food program which allowed Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to bypass international economic sanctions. At a November 2004 hearing in the U.S. House International Relations Committee, at least three instances were revealed where BNP Paribas reassigned letters of credit from U.N.-approved relief sponsors to illegal third parties.
These activities have landed BNP Paribas on the Divest Terror Initiative’s Dirty Dozen list:
http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/p12120.xml
Given BNP Paribas’ close, warm relations with the Ayatollahs in Iran, it is certainly no surprise that they would be heavily involved in Shariah-Compliant Finance. After all, Iran dominates the world of Shariah compliance.
We can now tack another flyer up on the BNP Paribas Wall of Shame. They are expanding the reach and influence of Shariah by starting a new Shariah Fund which will invest in Islamic bonds (sukuk) and the contrived, convoluted mortgage products known as murabaha.
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSKLR45859920090421
