Former President Suharto of Indonesian once famously dismissed the concern over his country’s corruption by saying: Well you come out here from Washington with these high ideas to tell us….
Will the recovery of Banco Nacional be reduced by the value of the Chase bank branches expropriated by the government?
Soon after the Fidel Castro regime came to power in Cuba, the Cuban socialist government expropriated four Cuban branches of the Chase Manhattan Bank. The value of the branches was $6.9 million. The Cuban government made no payment to Chase. At the same time, Chase sold for $17 million collateral it held securing $10 million of loans Chase made to two government owned Cuban banks. Chase kept the $7 million excess proceeds. In addition, Chase refused to repay $2.5 million that the government-owned Cuban Banks had on deposit at Chase. Banco Nacional de Cuba, a government-owned Cuban bank and the successor of the two government-owned Cuban banks, sued Chase in a U.S. court to recover the $9.5 million. Will the recovery of Banco Nacional be reduced by the value of the Chase bank branches expropriated by the government?