Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible

by Douglas Farah

  16 UN list of banned Afghan planes, December 2000

  17 Los Angeles Times interviews with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Saqr al Nahyan, January and April, 2002.

  18 Los Angeles Times interview with former U.S. official, April 2002.

  19 Los Angeles Times interview with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Saqr al Nahyan, January and April 2002.

  20 “Report of the Committee of Experts to the UN Security Council Regarding the Arms Embargo against the Taliban,” May 22, 2001.

  21 Los Angeles Times interviews with Ariana officials, April 2002.

  22 Daniszewski et al., “On the Trail”; Los Angeles Times interview with Farid Ahmed, April 2002.

  23 Los Angeles Times interview with Potgeiter, April 2002; Texas state incorporation records obtained by the authors.

  24 During a tour of Kabul International Airport on April 10, 2002, Los Angeles Times correspondent John Daniszewski found the ruins of three Taliban Antonovs. One, on the civilian side of the airport, bore the tail number, YA-DAI, of an An-24 that Taliban records indicated had been sold to the militant government from Bout’s Air Cess operation and then placed with Ariana. A flight load data chart inside the plane indicated it had last flown on January 28, 2001, with forty-two passengers from Kabul to Konduz, near the front lines in the long conflict with the Northern Alliance.

  Chapter 9: Gunships and Titanium

  1 This account is based on the recollections of two eyewitnesses present at the meeting and who separately related the same essential elements of the story. One is Cindor Reeves, who is in a witness protection program of the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, where he is expected to testify against Taylor in his crimes against humanity trial in The Hague. The other source cannot be named for fear of reprisals by Bout.

  2 “Final Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” S/2002/1146, United Nations, October 15, 2002, paras. 72-74.

  3 Paul Salopek, “Shadowy Men Run Guns, Feed Fires of War,” Chicago Tribune, December 24, 2001, p. A1.

  4 “Final Report . . . Illegal Exploitation,” para. 107.

  5 This was documented in the film documentary Darwin’s Nightmare, written and directed by Hubert Sauper, distributed by Mille et Une Productions, Coop 99 and Saga Film, 2004.

  6 U.S. Department of State, notes on Sierra Leone, accessed at www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5475.htm.

  7 Authors’ interviews with Cindor Reeves and second source indicated in note 1 for this chapter.

  8 Authors’ interviews with two sources with direct knowledge of events.

  9 For a full discussion of Bah’s ties to al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations see Douglas Farah, Blood from Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror (New York: Broadway Books, 2004).

  10 Author interview with Cindor Reeves, Bah’s aide-de-camp, November 2001.

  11 Los Angeles Times interview with Simi Ruprah, sister of Sanjivan Ruprah, Brussels, March 2002.

  12 “Executive Outcome,” Federation of American Scientists, April 2002, accessed at www.fas.org/irp/world/para/executive_outcomes.htm.

  13 UN Panel of Experts, UN Report on Sierra Leone, December 2000, para. 225.

  14 “Final Report . . . Illegal Exploitation,” paras. 72-73.

  15 Ruprah interview with the FBI, January 25, 2002, transcript obtained by the authors; also, e-mails between Ruprah and Farah, summer 2006.

  16 Ruprah e-mail to author, May 18, 2006.

  17 “Final Report . . . Illegal Exploitation,” paras. 72-73.

  18 Lansana Gbrie, “War and Peace in Sierra Leone: Diamonds, Corruption, and the Lebanese Connection.” Diamond and Human Security Project, Occasional Paper 6. Ottawa: Partnership Africa Canada, January 2003.

  19 “Report of the Panel of Experts in Relation to Sierra Leone,” United Nations, December 2000, para. 227.

  20 Ruprah interview with FBI and e-mails to the authors, 2006.

  21 Ibid. Ruprah’s direct boss in maritime affairs was Benoni Urey, an Israeli Liberian who also was a Taylor confidant. A short, beefy man, Urey was an avid member of the Rotary Club who was a holdover from previous regimes, retained by Taylor because he knew how to make money. Because government ministers often had to pay Taylor a high commission on any transactions within Liberia, Ruprah was told that he would pay 30 percent of the profits he reaped from his mining concessions to Taylor. The money was to be paid to Urey. In an illuminating exchange with the FBI agents, Ruprah was asked if the money he paid went to government coffers. “I don’t believe so,” Ruprah responded. “Rather, they went to private coffers.” The FBI agent asked incredulously, “But Urey represented the government, right?” “He represented Taylor,” Ruprah answered, stressing the crucial difference.

  22 “Report of the Panel of Experts in Relation to Sierra Leone,” para. 226.

  23 Ruprah e-mail to the authors, May 18, 2006.

  24 Ibid., August 1, 2006.

  25 “Final Report of the Monitoring Mechanism on Angola,” United Nations, S/2000/1225, December 21, 2000, paras. 142-143.

  26 “Report of the Panel of Experts in Relation to Sierra Leone,” para. 229.

  27 Kathi Austin was the first to discover the tie between the aircraft used for the FARC weapons drops and Bout’s aircraft empire.

  28 Peruvian and Colombian judicial documents provided by Kathi Austin to the authors; Sean Federico-O’Murchi, “Peru Confirms Drugs-for-Guns Ring,” MSNBC, August 25, 2000, accessed at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3340855/print/1/displaymode/1098/ ; An Vrankckx, “European Arms Exports to Latin America: An Inventory,” IPIS Background Report, March 2005, pp. 33-40.

  29 Federico-O’Murchi, “Peru Confirms.”

  30 U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, “Intelligence Brief: Victor But, Transnational Criminal Activities,” December 2000, p. 9.

  31 Ibid.

  32 Ruprah interview with FBI, Washington, D.C., January 25, 2002.

  33 Ibid.

  34 “Report of the Panel of Experts concerning Liberia,” United Nations, October 26, 2001; Belgian 2003 intelligence report on Viktor Bout, in possession of the authors.

  35 “Report of the Panel of Experts concerning Liberia,” October 26, 2001, para. 207.

  36 Ibid., para. 257. One of the certificates from Guinea was dated September 25, 1998, almost two years older than the actual date when the weapons were actually purchased. The Guinean official who signed the original document had left the government several years before.

  37 “Report of the Panel of Experts in Relation to Sierra Leone,” paras. 232-234.

  38 Ibid., para. 234.

  39 Ibid., para. 233.

  40 “Report of the Panel of Experts concerning Liberia,” para. 52.

  41 Ibid., para. 416. After the first two transfers, the LISCR officials refused to make further payments in that way, so Urey changed his strategy. On September 13, 2000, Urey authorized a payment of $174,000, and a week later another transfer for the same amount from the Maritime Affairs account at Ecobank in Monrovia “for onward transmission to the San Air General Trading Account in Sharjah, via the account of S. Ruprah.” Further payments were made in coming months, through Ruprah to Bout and San Air General.

  42 Documents in possession of the authors. The documentation from Ruprah’s computer is extensive and explicit. For example, on August 24, 2000, Ruprah sent a fax of an “account statement” on what was owed to Bout by Taylor. It noted the delivery of the first helicopter on July 4, and that it cost $525,000, which had been paid in full. It listed the delivery of a second helicopter on July 27 at the same price, but that only $500,000 had been paid. It noted that “Statement 1” for weapons totaling $640,000 remained unpaid, as did “Statement 2” for weapons totaling $650,500. “Statement 2” notes “Items Delivered 23-08-00,” including 4 Strela antiaircraft launchers; 16 missiles for Strela launchers; 40 100-kilogram bombs for an Mi-8 helicopte
r; 250,800 rounds of ammunition; and 1,016 missiles for an Mi-8 helicopter. Airfreight for the deliveries cost $125,000. In total, the “account statement” showed that Bout had been paid $1.55 million and was owed an additional $1.11 million. An undated fax sent after the first account statements was addressed “To: V” “From: SR.” It noted payments made in the previous fax and other payments made for other, miscellaneous weapons-related activities. A separate document, called “Statement 3,” lists the weapons scheduled for delivery on August 31, 2000, with a total value of $1,305,500. The statement lists the quantity and cost of each item on the list. The 1,000 AK-47 assault rifles were $195 each; the 100 RPG launchers cost $2,100 each; the 20 60-millimeter mortars coast $5,250 each; and the 2,000 60mm mortar bombs cost $69 each.

  43 “Report of the Panel of Experts concerning Liberia,” paras. 282-290.

  44 Ibid., para. 288. Authors’ interviews with Johan Peleman, member of the UN panel of experts on Liberia.

  45 “Report of the Panel of Experts concerning Liberia,” para. 290.

  46 Authors’ interview reporting during the crisis, and interviews with U.S. and British intelligence officials and RUF commanders.

  47 On March 7, 2003, the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone indicted Sankoh, Taylor, and Bockarie for crimes against humanity. Sankoh died in prison on July 29, 2003. Fearing Bockarie planned to turn himself in and cut a deal, Taylor reportedly ordered the execution of the commander he had publicly called his son. On May 6, 2003, Bockarie was gunned down by forces of the Liberian Special Security Service. The soldiers then proceeded to Bockarie’s compound and shot down his wife and at least three children. The next month, the UN tribunal indicted Taylor himself for war crimes. It was only the second time that the sitting president of a country had been accused of crimes against humanity. Taylor was charged with creating and backing the RUF in its long spree of atrocities and use of child soldiers. Taylor also was accused of harboring members of al Qaeda sought in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Under mounting pressure to resign, Taylor agreed in August 2003 to go into exile in Nigeria. He remained there for three years as the prosecutor’s noose tightened and UN authorities froze his assets and targeted his inner circle, including his old friend and arms connection Bout. In March 2006 Liberia’s newly elected president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, formally asked Nigeria to extradite Taylor to face the war crimes charges. Taylor tried to flee to Cameroon but was captured and now waits in a jail cell in The Hague for his trial.

  Chapter 10: “Get Me a Warrant”

  1 Human Rights Watch World Report, 2000; Agence France-Presse and Reuters accounts and weekly news roundups by the United Nations’ Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa, 2000.

  2 Agence France-Presse and Reuters accounts and Human Rights Watch, World Report, 2001.

  3 “Final Report of the UN Panel of Experts on Violations of Security Council Sanctions against UNITA,” S/2000/203, March 10, 2000, fn. 7.

  4 Los Angeles Times interview with Johan Peleman, January 2002.

  5 Authors’ interview with British intelligence analyst, June 2006.

  6 House of Commons, Hansard debates, January 18, 2000.

  7 Agence France-Presse and Reuters accounts and Sierra Leone government Information Services Archives, May 1-31, 2000; authors’ interview with British intelligence analyst.

  8 Los Angeles Times interview with former U.S. official, April 2002; Peter Landesman, “Arms and the Man,” New York Times Magazine, August 17, 2003.

  9 House of Commons, Hansard debates, November 7,2000.

  10 Los Angeles Times interview with Peleman.

  11 John Daniszewski, Stephen Braun, Judy Pasternak, Maura Reynolds, and Sergei L. Loiko, “On the Trail of a Man behind the Taliban’s Air Fleet,” Los Angeles Times, May 19, 2002.

  12 Los Angeles Times interview with Johan Peleman, March 2002.

  13 Authors’ interviews with former U.S. officials; Daniszewski et al., “On the Trail.”

  14 Authors’ interviews with former U.S. officials.

  15 Texas Secretary of State Limited Liability Company Record, San Air General Trading, LLC. Registered agent: Richard A. Chichakli. Charter number: 0706956223. Filing date: 6/6/2000. Also U.S. Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Specially Designated Nationals List, April 26, 2005, San Air General Trading FZE (aka San Air General Trading LLC), P.O. Box 932-20C, Ajman, United Arab Emirates; P.O. Box 2190, Ajman, United Arab Emirates; 811 S. Central Expwy, Ste. 210, Richardson, TX 75080. In 2005, Treasury Department officials targeted both Chichakli and the Texas branch of San Air for assets freezes. In a June 2, 2005, letter to Treasury (posted on Chichakli’s Web site) demanding the return of his assets, Chichakli insisted that “Treasury had no proof, nor have presented any evidence to support that business relations existed between Richard Chichakli and Victor Bout.”

  16 Daniszewski et al., “On the Trail.”

  17 Los Angeles Times interview with former U.S. official.

  18 Los Angeles Times interview with Jerry Dobby, April 2002; Air Cess incorporation records, Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, document 97000081214, filed 9/18/1997, dissolved 9/21/2001.

  19 Los Angeles Times interview with former U.S. official.

  Chapter 11: Now or Never

  1 This account of the briefing was based on conversations with a participant in the meeting and a person who was briefed on the session immediately after it took place.

  2 “Final Report on the Monitoring Mechanism on Angola Sanctions,” S/2000/1225, para. 136. “Another company apparently involved in the Air Cess network is the Liberian registered air company Santa Cruz Imperial, a subsidiary of the Flying Dolphin, owned by United Arab Emirates. Although it is registered in Liberia, it lists its operations office as Dubai, United Arab Emirates, but the actual base for the aircraft seems to be in Sharjah. In the past, one of its aircraft, EL-ALE, was noted as supplying UNITA forces

  3 Los Angeles Times interview with senior Belgian Foreign Ministry official, February 2002.

  4 Peter Landesman, “Arms and the Man,” New York Times Magazine, August 17, 2003, p. 57.

  5 Los Angeles Times interview with Jan D’Olivera, April 2002.

  6 “Report of the Panel of Experts pursuant to Security Council resolution 1343 concerning Liberia,” S/20001/1015, October 26, 2001, para. 19.

  7 Ibid., pp. 51-52.

  8 Ibid., para. 19.

  9 This account is based on the account of one person who attended the party. Other sources confirmed that the party took place but declined to provide details.

  10 Douglas Farah, “Arrest Aides Pursuit of Weapons Network,” Washington Post, February 26, 2002, p. A1; authors’ interviews with U.S. officials.

  11 “United Nations List of Individuals Affected by the Travel Ban,” Resolution 1323 (2001).

  12 Copy of invoice in possession of the authors.

  13 Ibid.

  14 Authors’ interviews with European intelligence sources; review of intelligence documents by author.

  15 Excerpt of Sanjivan Ruprah e-mail obtained by the Los Angeles Times from Belgian attorney Luc de Temmerman, former lawyer for Ruprah.

  16 Copy of the proposal in possession of the authors. The correspondence was first made public by the International Peace Information Service of Belgium on October 13, 2003. The documents were found on the hard drive of Ruprah’s computer following his arrest in Italy in August 2002, after his skipping bail in Belgium.

  17 Los Angeles Times interview with Johan Peleman, March 2002.

  18 Ibid., Los Angeles Times interview with Luc de Temmerman, March 2002.

  19 Copy of the proposal in possession of the authors, note 16.

  20 Ibid.

  21 Farah, “Arrest Aides Pursuit”; Stephen Braun, Judy Pasternak, and Sebastian Rotella, “Al Qaeda Linked to Russian Arms Dealer,” Los Angeles Times, February 16, 2002.

  22 Copy of the proposal in possession of t
he authors. Its existence was first made public by the International Peace Information Service of Belgium on October 13, 2003.

  23 Excerpt of Ruprah e-mail obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

  24 Authors’ interview with European intelligence official.

  25 Andre Verloy, “Victor Bout’s American Connection,” Center for Public Integrity, June 7, 2004.

  26 Authors’ interview with private contractor, May 10, 2006