European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 5, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday August 5, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 17money matter today s tip government tax collectors and specialists who make a living advising taxpayers Are offering the same message to Congress simplify the tax system before it collapses. A the greatest Challenge our tax system faces inthel990sistoease the Burden of complexity on taxpayers a said Fred Goldberg the internal Revenue service commissioner. Once people conclude that it is a too difficult too time consuming too expensive to comply a Many will Stop complying he said. Leonard Podolin of the american Institute of certified Public accountants told the House ways and Means committee that it costs individuals and businesses As much As $120 billion a year for preparation of  rates London up fridays rates for the . Dollar to other currencies. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other local currencies in dollars Gold was quoted at $357 an ounce Silver at $4.10. Aug. 1 aug. 2 British pound.1.6725 1.688 German mark.1.753 1.741 French franc5.938 6.004 dutch guilder.1.968 1.9882 belgian franc 36.02 36.25 italian lira1,304.50 1,320.10 Swiss  1.5185 greek drachma191.10 193.90 turkish lira4,408.80 4,442.60 saudi arabian Riyal. 3.7504 3.7504 Spanish peseta109.27 110.35 portuguese escudo. 149.75 151.17 Canadian dollar.1.1498 1.1503 austrian schilling.12.2865 12.408 norwegian Krone.6.816 6.8825 danish Krone. 6.76 6.8275 these Are unofficial rates As reported by wire service and banking sources and they Are listed to give some idea of daily currency fluctuations. Swiss Banks were closed thursday for a National Holiday. The Only official rate concerns the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.72 through monday based on fridays noontime  owner to rejuvenate famed resort French lick ind. A the ailing French lick Springs resort whose Mineral Waters and Casino Drew such diverse figures As Franklin d. Roosevelt and gangster Al Capone has a new owner. Luther James owner of hotels inns and rental property in Kentucky and Indiana bought the once fashionable 485-room resort for $2.6 million thursday. In the 1920s and �?T30s, the resorts popularity reached its Peak when the wealthy were drawn to its Mineral Waters and illegal gambling. Actress Lana Turner actor John Barrymore composer Irving Berlin the Vanderbilt and president Truman were on the guest lists. Capone gambled at the Casino and Roosevel announced his candidacy for the presidency in the hotels convention Hall in 1931. Besides the $2.6 million Price James will assume a $550,000 loan he must repay to the town of French lick. Norman Rales 70, a Potomac md., businessman had been trying for two years to sell the 90-year-old resort French licks second largest employer. Fri probes Bocci s lobbying in Georgia to change Law. By the Washington Post. Washington the Fri is investigating whether the Bank of credit and Commerce International tried to manipulate the political process in Georgia. Investigators Are focusing on the Sale of an Atlanta Bank that Bocci controlled to first american ban shares inc. Of Washington a Bank that regulators said also was under by Cir a control. Sources said the National Bank of Georgia paid Georgia lobbyist Charles Jones and his Hinesville ga., Law firm $1.25 million to help persuade the state legislature to Clear the Way for the Bank a Sale. An amendment to state banking Law was required. The Georgia Bank also financed trips to London and fort Lauderdale fla., and other entertainment for some lawmakers sources said. The lobbying Effort is under investigation by the Fri As part of a multistage probe of the Luxembourg based Bocci which was indicted last week in new York on bribery and fraud charges after being shut Down by regulators. The lobbying interests investigators As an example of How Bocci forged links with political figures around the world to get what it wanted. But William Henshaw special agent in a charge of the of big a Atlanta office declined to elaborate on the possible violations the Fri is investigating. The first american Purchase of National Bank of Georgia is a key chapter in a 100-Page filing by the Federal Reserve Board outlining what it said were repeated violations of banking Law by Bocci Over More than a decade. At the Center of by Cir a activities in Georgia was investor Ghaith Pharaon. The saudi presented himself As the owner of the Georgia Bank but was in fact a front Man for Bocci concealing its control of the institution the fed report said. In 1986, Pharaon was in financial trouble and Bocci feared his creditors might seize neg thus possibly jeopardizing by Cir a investment the fed report said. So Bocci a caused Quot first american to buy neg for $220 million it said. That assertion contrasts with statements by first american chairman Clark m. Clifford and president Robert a. Altman. They have said that the acquisition was Cliffords idea and that Alt mail negotiated the Purchase from Pharaon. However the Sale was carried out it could not have gone through without a change in Georgia banking Law governing acquisitions by out of state institutions. Jones hired . A a Jake Cullens a former state legislator to help lobby for the Bill. The Atlanta business chronicle reported last week that Cullens was paid As much As $400,000 for his work. Cullens said in an interview Friday night that he has not been contacted by any investigators. He said he did entertain legislators during the session but added that any reports of a influence buying were  a that Wasny to necessary a he said. A there was no opposition to the Bill. You  pass legislation like that if the big Banks in the state were opposed to  he declined to discuss his fees. The Bill passed the state Senate unania i uni sly and was approved by the House by a vote of 155 to 4. The Atlanta business chronicle noted at the time that the Only beneficiary of the Bill was neg. A i sought passage of the legislation for my clients Benefit Quot Jones was quoted As saying in the business chronicle. A the legislation was sought by neg primarily the fed report said a by the summer of 1987, Georgia Law had been amended due at least in part to the lobbying efforts of neg. Although the Sale kept Pharaon a creditors at Bay the Georgia subsidiary is unprofitable internal Bank Quot records show. Pharaon acquired neg in the late 1970s from former Carter administration official Bert Lance of Calhoun ga., and other owners. The payments Bocci made in Georgia Are thought by investigators to be Only part of its efforts to enlist political help. On thursday William Taylor the Federal Reserve boards chief Bank regulator overseeing the Bocci investigation was asked during a congressional hearing if the fed had obtained a list of american officials who have received payments from Bocci. A i know of no list of individuals who received payoffs a Taylor said. A i would like to have such a list.�?�. Taylor said however that investigators a have a few instances where there Are expenses paid for people who take trips and attend conferences and the like. Any Bill paid to a Law firm you have to know what a behind  business grads taking plunge to jump Start East Europe firms by the new York times Chapel Hill . Wanted recent business school graduates willing to forgo High pay for a year or two and risk culture Shock to help a Small Eastern european company make the shift from communism to capitalism. Responding to just such a Challenge were 42 graduates with masters degrees in business administration. Last month they completed four weeks of training at the University of North Carolina to prepare for assignments As management employees with companies in Czechoslovakia Poland and Hungary. They Are the first full class of the mba Enterprise corps created by a group of 16 american business schools to help pave the Way for Western businesses in newly democratized countries. At the same time the graduates Are to provide Small businesses in Eastern Europe with help they say they desperately need in Basic business practices privatization employee incentives joint ventures and modern manufacturing techniques. A this was an Opportunity to do something so different that i just  pass it up a said Margaret Minichini a 37-year-old graduate of the institutions business school. A former Federal express employee who helped open that company a branches in the new York area she will be working for a newly chartered czechoslovak Bank that is opening branches in the country a Post offices. A this is an Opportunity to get in on the ground floor in a newly developing re Gion a she said. A no matter How this turns out i will have had an experience that few others have  for some of the other participants that yearning for experience has More pragmatic roots. Jeffrey Silverberg 27, a graduate of the . Kellogg graduate school of management at Northwestern University said that in countless Job interviews a the big buzzword was  but few corporate recruiters were willing to offer recent graduates an immediate shot at foreign assignments. A they All wanted people with foreign language skills and knowledge of other cultures. But All they were willing to do is hire you for Domestic jobs and say maybe in two or three years you might go overseas a said Silverberg whose Job will be working in Small business clinics being set up in Czechoslovakia. Although he does not discourage such pragmatism Jack Behrman director of the mba Enterprise corps and a professor at the Kenan Flagler business school in Chapel Hill cautioned that none of them can be certain exactly what they will face when they take on their new jobs. He added however that the program will teach them flexibility the capacity to adapt to changing goals and How to Cope with different cultures. The corps is financed by the . Agency for International development the business schools and several foundations and american corporations. Corps members have pledged a year to the program. Once finished they will receive a stipend from the group of business schools until they find new jobs. The idea grew from challenges issued last year by Texas businessman h. Ross Perot and David Gergen a former White House communications director. They urged mba graduates to help open new paths for american business in Eastern and Central Europe. As a former assistant Secretary of Commerce under president Kennedy Behrman in 1963 helped to establish the International executive service corps a program that provides foreign companies with Short term assistance from retired american business executives. But the idea of the mba Enterprise corps is to integrate the Young business graduates into the companies themselves. All have had intensive language training in the last four weeks and will receive More once they reach their assignments. Their salaries will be comparable to those of other managers in their companies $150 to $300 a month and they will be paid by the companies not the program. Each company will provide them with housing similar to that of average poles czechoslovak or hungarians not the luxury hotels enjoyed by Many american executives assigned to those countries. Ann Kalin and her husband Jack Lynch will be taking the skills they Learned at the University of Pennsylvania a Wharton school to Krakow business services in Poland. A this is not going to be like going to Paris for a year a she said