Word: bahrain
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Connections to B.C.C.I. are proving to be politically sticky. Last week the Bush Administration denied any knowledge of a business relationship between Charles Hostler, the U.S. envoy to Bahrain, and B.C.C.I. An NBC News report had linked Hostler, a major G.O.P contributor, to a Connecticut real estate development controlled by reputed B.C.C.I. front man Mohammed Hammoud. Hostler says he became involved in the Connecticut project because of friendship with Hammoud and did not profit from it, and denies ties to B.C.C.I. Hammoud's connections, however, seem clear. Internal B.C.C.I. documents examined by TIME show that the bank planned to move...
...firm Bahrain chose to find its bonanza has a freewheeling history, even by Texas standards. Harken director E. Stuart Watson, a former executive for oil giant Atlantic Richfield, calls the Dallas company's deals "convoluted" and difficult even for industry veterans to grasp. Says Harken founder Phil Kendrick, still a small shareholder: "Their annual reports and press releases get me totally befuddled. There's been so much promotion, manipulation and inside dealmaking. It's been a fast-numbers game." Some former executives charge the firm with routinely inflating its assets to make its balance sheets look better. Harken's longtime...
...1980s, Harken was bloated and indebted, but it won a windfall. Bahrain, which produces a mere 42,000 bbl. of oil a day (Saudi Arabia's output: more than 8 million), decided to hunt for more crude. In 1989 Bahrain officials suddenly and mysteriously broke off promising talks with Amoco. One minister then telephoned an old friend, Michael Ameen, the respected former head of Mobil's Middle East operations. "They wanted a small American company," claims Ameen, who says he drew a blank. But 10 minutes later, Ameen got a call from an investment banking friend in Arkansas, who recommended...
...With the Bahrain deal in hand, Quasha decided to dump almost everything else. The company owned 1,000 wells and 600 gas-station pumps, all of which helped produce more than $40 million in losses in 1990. Earlier this year, Quasha spun off Harken's debt-laden businesses into separate public companies and then retired as chairman. "I've yet to find a business that's had nothing but successes," says he. "We've obviously had disappointments...
George Bush Jr. was probably never a prime mover behind the Bahrain deal. In fact, board members say he voiced doubts about whether Harken had the means and expertise for such a distant oil play. Even so, he has already earned a handsome profit from it. In late June 1990, five months after the deal was ( sealed and about a month before Iraq invaded Kuwait, young Bush sold 66% of his Harken stake (or 212,140 shares) at the top of the market for nearly $850,000, which represented a 200% profit on his original stake. Yet he failed...