Pakistan ex-ISI chief Gen Akhtar Abdur Rahman named in 'SwissLeaks'

Islamabad, February 21

Pakistan’s former spy chief and architect of the Mujahideen network against the former USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan has been named one among thousands other high-profile figures from around the world in a massive leak of secret banking data from a leading Swiss bank.

General Akhtar Abdur Rahman Khan was the closest aide of former dictator General Zia-ul-Haq. Both died under mysterious circumstances in a plane crash in 1988.

Khan has figured in a massive leak, dubbed as the “SwissLeaks”, which was provided to Süddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper, by a whistleblower, who claimed to have exposed the secret wealth of clients notorious for drug trafficking, money laundering and corruption, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The investigation was heralded by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which has 47 different media outlets across the globe.

Senior intelligence officials and their offspring from several countries that cooperated with the US also had their money stashed at Credit Suisse, a New York Times report said.

“As the head of the Pakistani intelligence agency, General Akhtar Abdur Rahman Khan helped funnel billions of dollars in cash and other aid from the US and other countries to the mujahideen in Afghanistan to support their fight against the Soviet Union,” the NYT report said.

According to the newspaper, an account was opened in the name of three of General Akhtar’s sons in 1985, even though Akhtar never faced charges of stealing aid money.

Years later, “the account would grow to hold USD 3.7 million, the leaked records show,” the NYT report said.

An OCCRP report claimed that the Saudi Arabian and US funding for mujahideen fighters battling Russia’s presence in Afghanistan would go to the CIA’s Swiss bank account.

“The end recipient in the process was Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence group (ISI), [at the time] led by Akhtar,” the report said.

The report further added that “by the mid-1980s, Akhtar was adept at getting the CIA cash into the hands of Afghan jihadists.

It was around this time that Credit Suisse accounts were opened in the names of his three sons.” OCCRP’s report stated that one of the two Akhtar family accounts at Credit Suisse — held jointly by three of Akhtar’s sons — was opened on July 1, 1985.

A second account, opened in January 1986 in Akbar’s name alone, was worth more than 9 million Swiss francs by November 2010 (USD 9.2 million at the time), it said.

However, one of General Khan’s sons told the project’s representative this information was “not correct” and “conjectural”, the Dawn reported. — PTI

Was close to Gen Zia-ul-Haq

• General Akhtar Abdur Rahman Khan was the closest aide of former Pak dictator General Zia-ul-Haq
• Both died under mysterious circumstances in 1988

Bank rejects allegations

Credit Suisse strongly rejects the allegations and inferences about the bank’s purported business practices. Credit Suisse

Tale of two accounts

$3.7 million found to be stashed in an account in 2003; it was opened in 1985 in the name of three of General Akhtar’s sons

$9.2 million found in a second account in 2010; the account was opened in Jan 1986 in Akbar’s name alone

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