EU investigators were Saturday, September 22, scrutinizing stock trading patterns prior to the September 11 US terrorist attacks to see whether anyone with prior knowledge may have reaped financial gain.
"There are insider trading investigations going on in some countries," said Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders, whose country holds the current EU presidency, during a break in a meeting of EU finance ministers.
Stocks virtually across the board, but particularly airline stocks, plunged to record lows following the kamikaze attacks by hijacked airliners on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington. But Reynders stressed there would be no rush to judgment.
"It is more important to have clear and detailed information than information in general terms," he told reporters. "We have asked the supervisory bodies in every member state to look into this and we are hoping to have their reports by mid-October."
He said the EU had reason to believe "suspicious trading" had occurred in the period before the attacks "to take advantage of market fluctuations that would result." France and Belgium were two of the countries mentioned in that regard he said, without elaboration.
And Germany's Bundesbank chief, Ernst Welteke, said on the sidelines of the meeting that a report of an investigation showed "bizarre" fiscal transactions prior to the attacks that could not be caulked up to coincidence.
Welteke said the transactions "could not have been planned and carried out without a certain knowledge," particularly citing heavy trading in oil and gold futures. "We don't want to make any judgments or statements until we have a full picture of the investigations," said Reynders, adding reports were expected for a regular joint meeting of EU justice and finance ministers on October 16 in Luxembourg.
That meeting, said Reynders, would also be looking at the state of implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1333 on freezing assets of ruling Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban are believed to be harboring Islamic radical Usama Bin Ladin, Washington's number one suspect in the plane attacks, as well as car bomb attacks on two US embassies in Africa in 1998.
Reynders and Pedro Solbes, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, used the news conference to officially introduce euro bills and coins, including the one side of each coin reserved for individual nation emblems.
Reynders made a big show of using his Belgian bank card to withdraw €150 from a specially constructed ATM (automatic teller machine) set up onstage, looking pleased and a bit surprised when it worked on the first try.
Solbes said programs were being organized in the 12-euro group nations for additional training for moneychangers, tellers and shop cashiers in the run up to the January 1 changeover. He said the commission was also setting up a network for an exchange of changeover information, "so every state can know what is happening in every other."
Later Saturday, the finance ministers were to tackle the thorny problem of skyrocketing airline insurance premiums in the wake of the attacks in the United States. Several European carriers, including Dutch carrier KLM, Belgium's Sabena and Polish national airline LOT have threatened to suspend service from Tuesday if the insurance coverage is not resolved by then.
Reynders said direct aid to airlines would create problems with competition rules incorporated in European treaties and was thus impossible in and of itself. Austrian Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser said in dealing with the airlines' dilemma "we're not really discussing money...We hope guarantees will be enough."
He dismissed the possibility the EU could match the type of aid approved Friday by the US Congress for US carriers. That package will provide the US airlines with five billion dollars in federal cash assistance and $10 billion in loan guarantees. Asked if the European Union could match that, Grasser said, "No, you can be sure about that, absolutely" not. — (AFP, Liege)
by Allen Nacheman
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
