The_Info_Web/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Khalfan al-Mazrui.md

category	tags	summary	relations	updated
Other	Person BCCI Banker CIA PrivateDepartment	Khalfan al-Mazrui was the head of the Karachi office of Sheikh Zayed's Private Department, responsible for BCCI's operations in Pakistan.	type with role fn employed_by Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan head of the Karachi office of the Private Department 1 type with role fn relative_of Sami Masri brother-in-law 3 type with role fn relative_of Ghanim Faris al-Mazrui brother (per Sami Masri) 4	2026-10-15

Khalfan al-Mazrui was the head of the Karachi office of Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan's Private Department.¹ Jonathan Beaty wrote that he directed the Private Department in Karachi, "the entity that administers the fabled wealth of Abu Dhabi," and as such was "ultimately responsible for the operations of BCCI in Pakistan."² He was the brother-in-law of Sami Masri, whose sister was his wife.³ Masri told Beaty that Khalfan was the brother, "if he understood the complicated lineage being described," of Ghanim Faris al-Mazrui, the director general of Sheikh Zayed's Private Department and a longtime director of Bank of Credit and Commerce International.⁴

Role in BCCI Operations

Al-Mazrui was involved in the restructuring efforts of BCCI after its financial difficulties.⁵ Beaty wrote that Zafar Iqbal, whom Abu Dhabi named to head BCCI and its restructuring, "was Khalfan's arch-rival for power within the Emirates."⁶

Beaty reported that Masihur Rahman, BCCI's former chief financial officer, described a cabal of BCCI bankers around Crown Prince Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.⁷

He was responsible for cleaning up the missing hundreds of millions of dollars that were drained off by employees in Karachi, and was sent in to manage the Private Department's Karachi section.⁸ The Private Department in Karachi had a staff of hundreds, and Beaty wrote that nearly 80 percent of them were BCCI employees seconded to Zayed's personal staff.⁹ Masri told Beaty he was not sure whether his brother-in-law realized the extent of the bank's black operations.¹⁰

Connections and Interactions

Al-Mazrui was in communication with Beaty regarding Sami Masri and the BCCI investigation. Beaty reached him by telephone in London after two days, and Khalfan sent word agreeing to meet Beaty and Masri in Casablanca.¹¹ He was cautious and wary, especially about discussing sensitive information over the phone: Beaty wrote that the sheikh, who had little English, did not want to talk about anything important on Pakistani telephones.¹²

Masri told Beaty that Khalfan and "Prince What's-his-name Sultan" were meeting "all the BCCI heads in London," and Beaty wrote that the meeting between the heads of the bank and Abu Dhabi's representatives failed to materialize before he learned by telephone that a London meeting had been held.¹³

Khalfan met Beaty at the Inter-Continental hotel in Casablanca, a man perhaps in his mid-forties. Beaty briefed him there on BCCI's criminal activities, and Khalfan suggested that Beaty go to Abu Dhabi to see whether Ghanim had time to see him.¹⁴

Footnotes

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1. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, cast of characters. ↩︎

2. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 66. ↩︎

3. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 68, 85. ↩︎

4. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 68. ↩︎

5. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 128. ↩︎

6. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 86. ↩︎

7. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 59. ↩︎

8. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 128. ↩︎

9. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 72. ↩︎

10. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 68. ↩︎

11. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 71-76. ↩︎

12. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 72-73. ↩︎

13. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 70-71. ↩︎

14. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 85-87. ↩︎