SAUDI GUNRUNNER INVESTING IN RP
MANILA, DECEMBER 12, 2007 (STAR) By
Marvin Sy - Saudi Arabian billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi is invading
barako country with the construction of a port and an airport in Batangas.
In 1987, Khashoggi was implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal as a key middleman in the arms-for-hostages exchange along with Iranian arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar during the administration of US President Ronald Reagan.
Khashoggi, in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Co., will invest $500 million (about P20.85 billion) in the build-operate-transfer projects.
Khashoggi is one of the world’s richest men, while the Abu Dhabi Investment Co. is owned by the emirate and has diverse investments worldwide.
Khashoggi allegedly borrowed money for these arms purchases from the now-bankrupt financial institution the Bank of Credit and Commerce International with Saudi and US backing. In 1988, Khashoggi was arrested in Switzerland, accused of concealing funds, and held for three months and then extradited to the US, where he was released on bail and subsequently acquitted.
The investment commitments were announced by President Arroyo upon her arrival yesterday following a visit to several countries.
Mrs. Arroyo said her visit to Spain and the United Kingdom resulted in at least two major investment commitments amounting to some P69.8 billion.
Spain’s biggest bank, Banco de Bilbao Vizcaya y Argentaria, has approved a credit facility worth 800 million euros (P48.94 billion) for Spanish investments in the Philippines.
It was through the efforts of Albay Gov. Joey Salceda that the credit facility was approved, Mrs. Arroyo said.
Part of the funds would be made available for Spanish businesses wishing to invest in the Philippines, while another portion would be used as a supplier’s credit for businesses in the Philippines, she added.
Among the areas targeted for financing are renewable energy, particularly wind and solar, and “modular ports and bridges.”
Indra Sistemas, one of Spain’s biggest companies, has also committed to expand its information technology business in the Philippines.
It has also expressed interest in joining the bidding for the upgrading of the Philippines’ air traffic control system.
Bionor Transformacion, which is part of the INSECC and CIE Automotive Group, Spain’s leading producer of biodiesel, has also signed an agreement with the Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp. to develop at least 100,000 hectares of jatropha plantations in Palawan.
In London, Mrs. Arroyo met with steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who reaffirmed his company’s plan to establish a $1.6-billion steel mill in Iligan City.
Mrs. Arroyo also met with Cynthia Carroll, chief executive officer of Anglo-American, a flagship British company, which committed to continue investments in the mining industry.
Before returning home, Mrs. Arroyo spent a night in Kuwait to meet with the Emir, Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah, from whom she secured a commutation of the death sentence of Filipina Marilou Ranario, who had been sentenced to death for killing her Kuwaiti employer.