MOBSTERS
a revieiv by Julia Spencer Page 3
HAVE A HARD TIME BUYING
INTO THE ARGUMENT THAT
BLACKS, AS A RACE, DON'T
HAVE IDEOLOGICAL OR
VALUE DIFFERENCES."
OPINION BY TREY JACOBSON
Page 7
Tomorrow's future
The Electric Car
Page 2
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The Battalion
Vol. 90 No. 177 USPS 045360 8 Pages
College Station. Texas
£
"Serving Texas A&M since 1893"
Tuesday, July 30, 1991
ederal Reserve levies $200 million fine against bank for fraud
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal
Reserve acted Monday to levy a record
200 million fine against the Bank of
xedit and Commerce International,
nd New York indicted the huge bank
nd its Pakistani founder for what a
rosecutor termed "the largest bank
aud in world financial history."
Manhattan District Attorney Robert
orgenthau announced an indictment
Against BCCI, founder Agha Hasan
Cbedi, another top executive and four
ffiliate institutions on charges of de-
auding investors, falsifying records
nd stealing more than $30 million.
Almost simultaneously in Washing
ton, the Federal Reserve announced it
is seeking a $200 million fine against
BCCI and an order barring nine per
sons tied to the bank from involvement
with U.S. banking organizations.
The actions in New York and Wash
ington follow the seizure of BCCI of
fices around the world on July 5 amid
allegations of massive fraud and laun
dering of profits from drug trafficking.
The Fed said its decision was "based
on evidence of secret arrangements
that were made between senior offi
cials of BCCI and customers of BCCI."
It said the secret deals included loans
to customers to purchase shares of
three U.S. banks: First American
Bankshares Inc. of Washington, Na
tional Bank of Georgia and CenTrust
Savings Bank of Miami. The BCCI cus
tomers who bought the shares were
not required to repay the loans, the
Fed said.
Fed spokesman Joseph Coyne called
the $200 million penalty "the largest
fine we've ever assessed." He ac
knowledged, however, that the Fed's
ability to collect the fine is in doubt,
since BCCI has been hemorrhaging as
sets.
"As time goes on and creditors are
paid off, perhaps we can get some of
the fine," he said.
Banking regulators believe BCCI has
funneled as much as $15 billion of de
positors' money into illicit activities.
In New York, Morgenthau said the
indictment against BCCI and the other
defendants "spells out the largest bank
fraud in world financial history."
The indictment named Aoedi, the
founder and former president of BCCI,
and Swaleh Naqvi, the bank's chief op
erating officer until October 1990, as in
dividual defendants.
In Karachi, the wheelchair-ridden
Abedi, 69, said he would be cleared of
all allegations.
"The truth will ultimately prevail,"
he said. "I have full faith in God. He's
always guided me." Abedi resigned
from BCCI last year.
The timing of the announcements
was coordinated by the Fed and Mor
genthau's office, which have been
working closely together, Coyne said.
However, the investigations were
moving along parallel tracks and the
actions were not dependent on one an
other, he added.
The Fed's action was the first time
the government has publicly linked
BCCI with CenTrust, which was seized
by regulators in June 1990,
Siftin’ down on the job
SCOTT D. WEAVER/The Battalion
Ed Griffin, a firefighter from Marcus Hook, Penn., holds down a hose putting out a practice fire that simulated a chemical plant explosion. The
Monday at the Breighton Fire School. Griffin and other firefighters were school brings firefighters from around the world.
Blood drive
reveals one
HIV carrier
A&M health officials have not confirmed
total number of students who test positive
By K. Lee Davis
The Battalion
Texas A&M has one confirmed
HIV carrier, but the number of
students with the AIDS-causing
virus can only be guessed at,
A&M health officials and a Dal
las blood bank said.
Cindy Franzetti, director of
g ublic affairs at the Wadley
lood Center, confirmed that
one A&M student has tested
HIV positive in Wadley's most
recent campus drive.
"There might be one (HIV pos
itive test) every A&M drive, but
never more than that to my
knowledge," Franzetti said.
Franzetti also said that Wadley
had 23 HIV positive tests out of
100,000 donations in 1990.
Dr. Kenneth Dirks, director of
the A.P. Beutel Health Center,
said he believes the University of
Texas' reported HIV rate —
nearly one out of 100 students —
is inflated.
"They were not using a statis
tically valid sample, so the actual
level (of infection) is probably
much smaller," Dirks said.
Dirks added that A&M has
never undertaken the type of
program that was used in Aus
tin.
UT and 34 other schools were
part of a study funded by the
Centers for Disease Control to
attempt to discover the rate of
HIV infection on the nation's
campuses.
A&M does HIV testing for
those who request it at a cost of
$11. The County Health Depart
ment charges $5 and Planned
Parenthood does the test for
free. No student has tested posi
tive in the University's tests,
Dirks said.
See Health/Page 8
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Regents adopt anti-harassment policy amendment
By Mack Harrison
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Board of Re-
S ents on Friday adopted with no
iscussion an amendment to the
anti-harassment policy in the
Objectives, Rules, Regulations
for the A&M System that re
frains from naming any specific
group.
The amended policy — which
the Board also voted for in May
— states, "Faculty, staff and stu
dents should be aware that any
form of harassment and any
form of illegal discrimination
against any individual is incon
sistent with the values and ideals
of the Texas A&M University
System community."
Board Chairman Ross Mar
graves said he met with rep
resentatives from gay and les
bian groups before the Board
meeting, including A&M's Gay
and Lesbian Student Services.
"I met with the group, and
they were reasonable," he said.
"We had a good and informative
meeting."
Margraves said the group
asked the Board to add sexual
orientation to the previous pol
icy, which pronibited na-
rassment and discrimination
against anyone on the basis of
race, religion, nationality or
physical handicap.
Margraves said, however, the
A&M System does not need its
anti-harassment and anti-dis
crimination statement naming
any specific group. He said
GLSS was the only minority stu
dent group that wanted the old
policy reinstated.
The A&M System will not tol
erate harassment of anyone.
Margraves said. He defined dis
crimination as depriving some
one of something because they
fit in some category, and said he
did not see discrimination at any
A&M school.
"The Board spoke its will and
didn't see fit to change (the new
statement)," he saicL "There is
no evidence of system dicrimina
tion against gays."
Margraves said he would be
happy to meet with any student
group concerned about the pol
icy or any other issue.
The Board also named Dr.
Dennis McCabe, president of
Tarleton State University. Mc
Cabe, Tarleton's vice president
for university operations since
1988, served as the school's in
terim president since Jan. 1.
The Board also announced
four finalists for System chan
cellor:
□ Dr. Edward Hiler, deputy
chancellor of academic program
See Regents/Page 8
Gorbachev opens summit
to political rival Yeltsin
MOSCOW (AP) — Soviet
President Mikhail Gorbachev
dramatically set the stage
Monday for his summit with
President Bush, throwing
open part of the superpower
meeting to the presidents of
two Soviet republics including
political rival Boris Yeltsin.
Gorbachev's conciliatory
esture, announced just hours
efore Bush arrived, under
lined the changes taking place
within the Soviet Union even
as the two nations emphasized
their own improved relations.
"We think that this summit
is historic, because we are on
another level, a level of part
nership and cooperation,"
said Gorbachev's spokesman.
Vitaly Ignatenko.
Bush arrived to a nighttime
airport welcoming ceremony.
□ Bush popular with Soviets/Page 6
A military band played the na
tional anthems of both nations
as he stood at attention beside
Soviet Vice President Gen
nady Yanayev on a platform in
front of Air Force One, which
gleamed in the glare of tele
vision and airport lights.
The two-day meeting,
which begins on Tuesday, also
will include a final push for
U.S.-Soviet sponsored Arab-
Israeli peace talks.
Kurds could wrestle northern Iraq
from Saddam Hussein's control
ZAKHO, Iraq (AP) — Nearly a
year after grabbing Kuwait, Pres
ident Saddam Hussein not only
has lost that country but has
practically relinquished north
ernmost Iraq to the Kurds.
A U.S.-led rapid deployment
force is assembling on the Turk-
ish-Iraqi border, with a mandate
to check any Iraqi aggression
against the Kurds. Iraq is banned
from its own airspace north of
the 36th parallel, and under
U.N. orders to give up its weap
ons of mass destruction.
Backed by tens of thousands
of lightly armed but well-trained
g uerrillas, some Kurdish leaders
elieve that they have effectively
freed themselves of Iraqi control.
Iraq crushed a Kurdish upris
ing in the north and a Shiite re
bellion in the south after losing
the Persian Gulf War, sending
hundreds of thousands of refu
gees fleeing into neighboring
Turkey and Iran.
But United Nations resolu
tions and pressure from the
U.S.-led alliance stopped the
Iraqi crackdown on the Kurds. A
Western coalition force returned
hundreds of thousands of Kurd
ish refugees to their homes, es
tablishing a "security zone" that
the allies left to the Kurds on July
15.
In continuing negotiations
with the Kurds, the Iraqi govern
ment has said they will be
granted autonomy within Iraq,
after decades of Kurdish rebel
lions and broken government
promises.
The talks have bogged down
over Kurdish demands for more
territory and for the introduction
of democracy in Iraq and a lesser
role for Saddam's powerful
Baath Party.
Officials say they do not know
how long the allied military unit
will be stationed on the hot,
dusty plain near the Turkish
town of Silopi, seven miles from
the Iraqi border. But a tentative
withdrawal date is the end of
September, perhaps with an ex
tension until the end of the year.
Nelson fans get
wrong number
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Willie
Nelson fans are helping him settle his
$17 million tax debt by buying his lat
est recording.
The problem is,
they've been call
ing the wrong
number.
Hundreds of
people wanting to
order the album,
“Who’ll Buy My
Memories: The
IRS Tapes,” di- .. ,
aled an incorrect WHIle Nelson
toll-free number, "1-800-IRS-TAPE.”
Nelson displayed the number on his T-
shirt when he appeared on ABC-TV’s
“PrimeTime Live."