General Mediterranean Holdings

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The General Mediterranean Holdings (GenMed) is a financial holding established in 1979 in Luxembourg, through which Anglo-Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi control his financial empire. Nadhmi Auchi is "one of the most important intermediaries in the affairs of Middle Eastern countries.", according to various sources, among them Italian banker Pierfrancesco Pacini Battaglia ^[1]. The firm has holdings in real estate, finance, aviation and technology. The consolidated group assets exceed US$ 2.25 Billion [1].

1 Financial empire
2 Ties with Luxembourg and UK politicians
3 References
4 See also

[edit] Financial empire

GenMed is one of the largest single shareholders of the French bank BNP Paribas, through which the Oil-for-Food money transited through an escrow account. Mr. Auchi's London lawyer, David Corker, said that since 2001 General Mediterranean Holdings had reduced its BNP Paribas stake to about 0.4 percent of the bank's total shares, about half of the position he held before then. That stake would still make Mr. Auchi one of the bank's biggest single shareholders ^[1]. Regent-GM, one of Britain’s biggest suppliers of generic drugs to the National Health Service (NHS) is a subsidiary of GenMed. The chairman of Regent-GM was former Tory health minister Gerry Malone. GenMed bought Riverside Park, a yet-to-be-built development on a prime 62-acre parcel on Roosevelt Road, investing in Antoin Rezko's Rezmar Corp.'s project ^[2] (Rezko is linked to US Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich). GenMed also has stakes in Orascom, the most important Egyptian telephone company owned by Onsi Sawiris. Auchi helped Orascom obtain a deal in post-Saddam Iraq.

GenMed and Nadhmi Auchi were involved in the Elf scandal. The sale of Spanish company Ertoil to Elf oil company has formed a substantial part of the court case. Auchi has been charged on the extradition warrant with three charges of conspiracy to defraud involving the takeover of Ertoil by General Mediterranean Holdings (GMH) and its subsequent sale to Elf between December 1990 and August 1994.

In 1996, according to European news accounts, Belgium's ambassador to Luxembourg charged that Banque Continentale du Luxembourg, a bank that Nadhmi Auchi and Paribas jointly controlled until 1994, had handled personal accounts for former dictator of Iraq Saddam Hussein. Nadhmi Auchi sold his stake in the bank to Paribas in 1994, and Paribas sold off its stake in 1996. Auchi's lawyer, Mr. Corker, said that Banque Continentale contested the Belgian ambassador's charge ^[1].

[edit] Ties with Luxembourg and UK politicians

GenMed counted several English and Luxembourg personalities, such as former president of the European Commission Jacques Santer. General Mediterranean Holdings, which is also involved in arms dealing, celebrated its 20th birthday party in 1999 with a bash at the Park Lane Hilton Hotel. There a member of the British government, Lord Sainsbury, presented Auchi with a painting-on behalf of Tony Blair. The painting was signed by 100 MPs, including former Conservative Party leader William Hague and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy [2] [3].

Lord Steel, former Liberal Party leader, has been under pressure to sever links with GenMed. He was paid between £10,000 and £15,000 a year as a non-executive director of General Mediterranean ^[3]. Former UK Foreign Officer Minister Keith Vaz was also paid as director ^[4]. Former Conservative Chancellor Lord Lamont was chosen to serve on the board of Luxembourg banking company Cipaf, another subsidiary of GSM.