HSBC eclipsed

If the heyday of globalisation came at the turn of the century, then trailblazing HSBC is only now coming to terms with its demise.

That is one way to read Tuesday's restructuring announcement, the latest episode in the bank's long evolution, which stretches back to 1865 when it first opened its doors in Hong Kong. Since then, HSBC has always seen itself as a “local bank serving international needs” and indeed for decades adopted the slogan “the world's local bank” to describe itself.

But by 2018, surging internet connectivity, coupled with the rapid development of digital banking, meant branch closures for all the major banks, as the whole concept of a bank as a local ally began to seem old-fashioned.

As such, HSBC adapted and found a new slogan: “Together We Thrive”, which in the UK gained some notoriety as a perceived subtle stand against Brexit. Globally the narrative was deemed a success, as it connected the bank with its 41 million personal, wealth and corporate customers in 60 countries.

However, in recent years, one of HSBC's major shareholders, the Chinese insurance company Ping An, has been pushing the bank to hive off its Asian business, a campaign that culminated in a vote at the HSBC annual general meeting in 2023.

Iraq's lost fortunes

All the billions lost to corruption in Iraq since 2003 and it comes down to a pair of London suburban villas.

We have revealed this week how these ordinary if not modest homes were given to Baghdad officials fleeing a mobile phone corruption scandal in their homeland. Safa Rabee and Ali Al Khwildi moved into the large properties almost a decade ago after giving approval to the "expropriation" of assets from an investment vehicle that was the target of an $800 million fraud, having backed telecoms firm Korek.

An international arbitration ruling has now ordered Korek to pay back $1.65 billion to Iraq Telecom, which was established by French firm Orange and Kuwaiti investor Agility to invest in next-generation mobiles in Iraq in 2011.

Court documents and other records seen by The National state there was an "extraordinary" conspiracy to push out the foreign investors from Korek, one of three main communications networks in Iraq. It said it was "persuaded that the evidence overwhelmingly invites the inference that the property transactions were arranged as bribes to Dr Al Khwildi and Dr Rabee".

A semi-detached mock-Tudor home in the shadow of Wembley Stadium, north London, became the four-bedroom home of Mr Al Khwildi, who was chairman of the board of commissioners at the Communications and Media Commission (CMC). It was bought for an over-the-asking price sum of ￡830,000 ($1.07 million) in 2014.

On the other side of London, a larger detached property in the quiet town of Banstead was bought for ￡1.5 million a decade ago as a home for Mr Rabee, who was also a director for the commission. The panel heard that relatives of Mr Rabee viewed the property before it was bought by a Lebanese middleman with close ties to Korek.

Its judgment said Iraq Telecom's case “has presented cogent circumstantial evidence that the London property transactions were bribes” to Mr Al Khwildi and Mr Rabee, and that the tribunal “agrees” with the claim.

In April 2017, the Iraqi Parliament voted to sack Mr Rabee, a member of the Islamic Dawa Party, after accusing him of “taking bribes and commissions” but no action appears to have been taken.

Mr Al Khwildi failed to attend an inquiry at the Parliament in January 2021 and was noted as not in the country.

The officials were dismissed from their posts in 2021 and the following year Mr Rabee was killed in a car accident south of Baghdad.

A trove of court documents and other records seen by The National has revealed an “extraordinary” conspiracy of powerful Iraqis and their associates to push out foreign investors from one of the most lucrative communications networks in the country. The International Chamber of Commerce arbitration panel in 2023 said the scheme to defraud the investors was based on bribing the regulators of Korek.

The case involves Iraq Telecom, a joint venture between France’s Orange and Agility,a Kuwaiti company, for the purpose of investing in Korek, based in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

The two companies invested about $810 million for an indirect 44 per cent minority stake in Korek, with the rest held by the company's Iraqi shareholders. The agreement, which was concluded in March 2011, included what is known as a call option that would allow it to buy more shares and take control of Korek.

A few years later, the tribunal heard, the original shareholders began to actively attempt to prevent Iraq Telecom from taking control.

They decided this could be achieved “through cash payments and real estate transactions for the benefit of high-ranking CMC officials”. The CMC became increasingly hostile to Iraq Telecom’s involvement with Korek, according to evidence presented to the tribunal.

A letter signed by Mr Rabee to Korek in December 2013 alleged that Korek, Agility and Orange failed to fulfil the conditions under which the investment had been approved. Mr Al Khwildi was chairman of the board of commissioners at the CMC when legal documents claim his part in a conspiracy.

In May 2014, Orange issued a statement indicating it anticipated obtaining a majority holding in Korek. But in July, the CMC announced its decision “to revoke partnership between Korek” as well as Orange and Agility, and declared it “null and void”.

Happy birthday, wonder material

One has moved on to Singapore but the other remains in Manchester. I refer of course to professors Kostya Novoselov and Andre Geim who first defined the widely hailed "wonder material" graphene, exactly 20 years ago.

Both knights of the realm and Nobel laureates have said graphene is proving its worth after being hailed as a the future for composites since the discovery.

Prof Novoselov visited China this year to praise the role of science and technology uniting the world and the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative in promoting talent.

Prof Geim led a team at the University of Manchester, which this year discovered one-dimension superconductivity in quantum using graphene.