Will Abu Dhabi's Past Come Back to Haunt Us?

Will Abu Dhabi's Past Come Back to Haunt Us?

Citigroup is rejoicing at its $7.5 billion capital injection from Abu Dhabi, though Meredith Whitney told Scoreboard that wouldn't be nearly enough to tide it over. But these cash infusions from petrodollars got us thinking about whether this is a good thing. We're not afraid of free trade and open markets -- that's a good thing. But rich foreigners trying to buy political influence is a very bad thing. And it's happened before.

Twenty years ago, the ruling sheiks from Abu Dhabi were involved with a very corrupt bank called BCCI. New York City DA Robert Morgenthau smelled something rotten in one of BCCI's New York branches and he began poking around.

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