Diplomatennaaiers (005)

maandag 13 januari-2014
Blijkens haar eigen verhaal was de slordig rijke Margit Nesselrod beginjaren tachtig van de vorige eeuw tot haar bevallige strottenhoofd betrokken bij de perikelen rond Hassan Zubaidi. Een vanuit Beirut en Damascus opererende sjeik, die later door de internationale pers als een charlatan werd weggeschreven, maar die ten tijde van het eerste kabinet Lubbers voor een zware delegatie van het Nederlands bedrijfsleven kennelijk interessant genoeg was om te onderhandelen over een nucleaire deal (1). Dat het daarbij om flinke bedragen ging moge duidelijk zijn. Net als bij de deal waarbij mrs. Nesselrod betrokken was en die door de Amerikanen en hun Britse bondgenoten vakkundig op de klippen werd gemanouvreerd toen Zubaidi de PLO bleek te sponsoren (2). Onze eerder als X geïntroduceerde informant daarover:

“She claimed a large sum of money. I don't remember if it was $US 2.5 billion or $US 4 billion that had been key-test telexed in 1981 to Barclay's bank in London from Dar Al Maal Al Islami (The Islamic Fund House) in Geneva. She had been a witness to the key-test. Turns out the money had never been brought to the US and Barclay's were claiming they had no record of receipt of the funds. She had sent one of her assistants to London and he returned to Newport Beach while I was there. Before the assistant arrived Margit Nesselrod briefed me on what had happened in London and what she hoped I could do to help her. Her assistant had gone to the Barclay's Bank in London where the funds had been sent. He asked to see the officer (whose name he had) and was told that this person never worked for the bank. The bank denied they had the billions Margit was looking for. He pushed the bank and told them he would bring in Scotland Yard. The bank said they would recheck their employment record and asked him to return the following day. When he returned the bank acknowledged they had made a mistake...The man he sought had worked for the bank, but not in 1981 when the funds were transferred. Sometime after that. And they had no records of where the man lived or worked. Again the assistant got testy and threatened to come back with Scotland Yard the next morning. He went out to one of London's gambling clubs that night, met a man who became friendly, drank too much with the man, was beaten up and told to get out of London the next day or he would be killed! He took the threat to heart, got on an early morning flight and showed up in Newport Beach shortly after lunch. Was his story true? I don't know. I listened to the briefing he gave Margit and I can assure you this man was shaken to his core. He was genuinely fearful. It wasn't an act. I returned to New York, conversed with Margit several times a week and finally she decided to try one last time to recover the missing money. I offered to have Zubaidi's former assistant, who was living in Switzerland, help confirm the Barclay's funds. Samir El-Jamal was a very competent part of Zubaidi's team. He and I got along very well and I had kept up a relationship with him after I left Damascus the second time. Margit asked me to have Samir make a statement to her explaining how he thought he could help her. She wanted a copy of the key-tested telex from the bank in Geneva”.

Dat statement van Samir el-Jamal is eerder in deze serie al voorbijgekomen (3) en was voor mrs. Nesselrod aanleiding de PLO-vertegenwoordiger op pad te sturen in Genève. Op zoek naar een kopie van de key-tested telex. Hold your breath and stay tuned.

(1) Zie de serie “Lubbers en de muzelmannenbom” op onze Followup-site (en het artikel "Steekspel rond een uranium-deal"
(2) Zie daarvoor vooral aflevering 6 van de serie “Het schaduwcommando van de prins” en het artikel “Neerlands stille kracht”, op de site van de Morgenster.
(3) Zie aflevering 3 dd. 6 januari 2014