Fighting Corruption in Bahrain

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Bahrain, the former financial center of the Middle East
and the first country in the Middle East to discover oil. This is the
first time that I have come to Bahrain, though for many years it was
one of those places I always wanted to visit.

Bahrain became famous in the late 1970s when the wealth of Beirut fled
Lebanon at the start of its civil war in 1974. At the time Bahrain was
a sleepy island, just off Saudi Arabia and the Government chose to use
liberalization of the financial sector and low taxes as a competitive
edge. By 1980, when I was a new recruit at Citibank in Toronto, oil
prices had quadrupled, Bahrain was a leading financial center in the
world, and the world’s financial elite worried if the petro-surpluses
had been properly recirculated through the international financial
systems. I used to practice saying the name of the country
(BACHK-er-rain) in the hope that one day I would visit.

I came to Bahrain for a conference on corporate governance--to deliver
a keynote speech, give a longer speech on corporate governance and then
chair a three hour session on government corruption. I thought that I
would visit the financial district and maybe the souk but nothing more.
Instead I learned about twenty years of politics in a Middle Eastern
capital.

My host, Mohammed, is a graying man in his 50s. He told me that he had
been fighting government corruption for 25 years but I didn’t really
believe him. I told Mohammed that I wanted to tour around and he offered
to be my tour guide. It took some time before Mohammed finished with all
his obligations to conference participants but by 4:30 this afternoon
we were driving on the causeway to Saudi Arabia, for which I have no
visa. Mohammed told me that his black Mercedes 450 SI was a perk that
came with being a Member of Parliament, much as did legal immunity. He
told me that he was worried that his term was coming to an end and that
his political enemies might use the loss of immunity to put him in
jail. His brother, now retired, had spent ten years in jail for
criticizing the Government, even though the law limited jail sentences
to just three years. His brother’s jail was on an island, much like
Alcatraz in San Francisco, except that the jail has been torn down and
one of the local wealthy families has taken over the island for their
family compound.

I knew that Mohammed came from a prominent family. For the opening
ceremonies of the conference, he wore a black robe with gold trim over
his white robe that most of the Middle Eastern men wear. It was not the
fine silk robe of a crown prince but it was certainly not the usual
kind of white robe that the functionaries wear.

When I asked Mohammed who were the prominent families of Bahrain, he
listed six families and then mentioned his own. His family was one that
had access to the ruling family but was not part of it.

As we drove on the causeway to Saudi Arabia, Mohammed told me that he too
had been in prison—not for years but for weeks. When I asked if he
still suffered from that experience, he pulled out a hammer and said
that he could not tolerate to be in a locked space—that he once cuts
his hands and arms struggling to escape a car that had been
accidentally locked by his brother.

Mohammed told me about a secret police as virulent as any in eastern Europe and
that he had lived in United Arab Emirates and Kuwait for 13 years. He
had been blackballed from work due to his anti-Government statements.
“Whatever they say against the [current] King, I do not agree,” Mohammed
exclaimed. “He closed the secret police.”

Mohammed and I stopped in his office so that he could pray and pick up
his airline tickets. Before leaving, Mohammed started giving me gifts. He
handed me a leather wallet from his cupboard of customer gifts. Then he
rolled up his prayer rug and put in a yellow plastic bag.

“I cannot accept,” I complained. “This is your prayer rug.” “You don’t
want it?” Mohammed asked. “I do want it. I like rugs, but it is yours.”
Mohammed insisted and I had to accept. When I returned to the hotel, I
found that it was a lightweight factory copy of a rug in beautiful
greens and blues. It is perfect for traveling and a lovely souvenir
from a very courageous man in Bahrain.

Am leaving for Dubai in the morning.

Sue