Victor P. Dahdaleh, who was charged with bribery by British authorities on Monday, has no shortage of powerful connections. The international businessman counts former US President Bill Clinton and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as friends and beneficiaries of his generosity.
Peter Mandelson, who was EU commissioner for foreign trade, introduced Dahdaleh in a 2006 speech to the Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce as “Victor my friend” and described him as “a business dynamo, a public-spirited figure and a big-hearted personality all rolled into one.” Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) allege Dahdaleh was also corrupt. They have charged him with paying bribes to officials of Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C., a smelting company whose majority owner is the Bahrain government.
The SFO said the payments, made between 2001 and 2005, were connected to contracts that the American aluminium giant, Alcoa, Inc., made for supplies of alumina shipped to Bahrain from Australia. Dahdaleh, who lives in London and holds dual British and Canadian citizenship, denies the charges. He was released on bail pending a court hearing scheduled for October 30. British authorities said that during the course of their investigation, they had been in contact with the U.S. Department of Justice, which has been conducting a parallel inquiry.
