European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 21, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 a the stars and stripes saturday december 21, 1991bcci agrees to racketeering charges by the los Angeles times Washington the Bank of credit and Commerce International agreed thursday to plead guilty to sweeping new Federal racketeering charges and forfeit a record $550 million to help repay foreign depositors and Shore up two struggling . Banks it controlled through front men. The forfeiture of All by Cir a Frozen assets in the United states a double the previous record for a criminal forfeiture a will provide a combined total of up to $275 million for Independence Bank of Encino calif., and first american ban shares of Washington. The other half will go into a fund for foreign victims of the Bank a collapse. Attorney general William p. Barr said that the agreement also will provide Law enforcement authorities with wider Access to internal Bocci records worldwide providing a major boost to continuing investigations of individuals associated with the  actions prior to storm under review by the los Angeles times i apes of California Highway patrol radio transmissions Are being reviewed As part of a state investigation into the thanksgiving weekend traffic Accident that left 17 dead officials say. The tape recordings show that cup officers were aware three hours prior to the tragedy that wind driven dust was dramatically cutting visibility on portions of interstate 5, according to transcripts printed in the Fresno Bee on thursday. A a we a better put out a traffic advisory a one transcript reads. Subsequent conversations Between cup dispatchers and other officers continued to focus on the dust problems on 1-5 and on secondary highways 50 Miles South of the collision site. Officials shut Down the secondary roads before the pileup. Following the nov. 29 tragedy the cup Central division commander John Anderson blamed the Chain reaction collisions on speeding motorists. A spokesman for Anderson said the radio transmissions were primarily from cup officers stationed 30 to 50 Miles South of the catastrophe. A this could take years off the time it would otherwise take to investigate and prosecute individual wrongdoers a Barr said. The far reaching settlement was approved by a court in by Cir Slegal Home of Luxembourg on wednesday the last step in an unprecedented cooperative Effort by Federal agencies new York state prosecutors and court appointed liquidators in three countries trying to Salvage Money from the wrecked Bank. The agreement does not affect pending cases against individuals. Among them Are Federal racketeering charges filed against Bocci founder Agha Hasan Abedi former president Swaleh Naqvi and Ghaith Pharaon the saudi arabian tycoon who allegedly helped Bocci gain secret control of Independence Bank and National Bank of Georgia. The most immediate beneficiary of the Deal will be Independence Bank which officials said will get $5 million in Cash right away and More later. Executives at the troubled institution have warned that it could fail by years end without an infusion of up to $50 million. Regulators Hope to bolster the Bank enough to make it attractive to a buyer. The Money for Independence and first american will come from Bocci deposits and other assets Frozen when regulators Here and in six other countries seized the Bank july 5. Officials said no determination had been made yet on How the $275 million will be divided Between the two Banks. If either Bank fails the Money would be used to reimburse the Federal Deposit insurance corp. Bocci has not been accused of looting Independence or first american but both Banks have suffered after negative publicity associated with their involvement with Bocci. As part of the plea the liquidators will receive about $275 million of by Cir a . Assets. The Money will go into a worldwide fund to repay thousands of depositors and creditors believed to have lost As much As $15 billion when the Bank was seized. Of Christmas tree Bridget Sonnier right adjusts a tree ornament on Catherine Zaweski s mortar Board before the Louisiana state University a fall commencement ceremony thursday in Baton Rouge la. The two psychology majors were among 1,412 graduates. Articles question Dan fingerprinting by the Washington Post a fierce debate Over the reliability of Dan a a fingerprinting in criminal trials erupted this week in the pages of two of the world s leading scientific journals. Fueling the dispute is the allegation that advocates of the technique May have tried to influence scientists and a journal editor to minimize criticism of the Dan procedure for fear that pending Legal cases would he affected. Two scientists argue in Friday s science journal that proponents of a a fingerprinting Are making exaggerated claims for the method s chances of being wrong. Advocates typically say the procedures Chance of error is Only a few in a million or billion. Critics however contend that the statistical reliability varies considerably that it is usually much lower and that in some cases its likelihood of being wrong could be As High As one in 128. Also in fridays Issue however. Science takes the unusual step f publishing a rebuttal written by advocates of the method. That article concludes that Dan fingerprinting is As reliable As it is claimed to be. A rival journal nature joined the fray suggesting that science editor Daniel Koshland commissioned the rebuttal article at the Behest of scientists who have a financial slake in companies that perform Dan fingerprinting. Koshland said thursday that although he was approached by one scientist who has a commercial interest in the procedure no commercial considerations entered into his decision to run the rebuttal. Dan fingerprinting is a Way of testing a Sample of Dan from a persons cells to see whether it matches that of a Sample of Dan left at a crime scene typically in blood semen or hair roots. If the two samples give the same results when tested advocates of the method say it Means the Odds Are overwhelming a the actual numbers Are at the heart of the debate a that one person was the source of both samples. A if scientists were to compare the Complete sequences of a few genes All sides agree the method would he virtually acis plea agreements Here Are key elements of plea agreements involving the Bank of credit and Commerce International m forfeiture Bocci s court appointed liquidators agree to forfeit by Cir a Frozen assets in the United states estimated at $550 million. Depositors half the $550 million goes to a special fund for a payout to Bocci s depositors worldwide. A Rescue fund the other half goes to a special fund to Shore up Independence Bank of Encino calif., and first american ban shares inc. Of Washington. A fines Bocci pays $10 million in fines to Settle state charges filed in new York in  a amps foolproof. But that is a costly undertaking. So instead Dan fingerprinting looks for certain unusual sequences called tandem repeats in the genetic code of an individuals chromosomes. It cuts the Dan at those places and then displays the relative lengths of the resulting Dan segments. The display consists of a column of dark horizontal bands spaced at various distances. It is the number and spacing of the bands that Are compared to find a match. A what we re saying is that the Chance of any two people having a match is not As Low As they keep claiming a said Daniel l. Hartl a geneticist at the Washington University medical school in St. Louis. Hartl wrote the critical science journal article with Richard c. Lewontin of Harvard University. The rebuttal article by Ranajit Chakraborty of the University of Texas health science Center at Houston and Kenneth k. Kidd of Yale University says current statistical methods Are sufficient and give a conservative approximations of the True risk of  sued Over arrest of veterans san Francisco a the american civil liberties Union sued the army on thursday on behalf of military veterans who were arrested for displaying anti War banners. The veterans held their protest during a ceremony welcoming soldiers returning from the persian Gulf War. The lawsuit filed in . District court says military police at the Presidio of san Francisco army installation violated veterans constitutional rights. Six members of the veterans speakers Alliance were arrested and 10 were escorted off the base after they unfurled anti War banners in front of a reviewing stand. They weren to charged but were barred from returning to the base. Military police tried to confiscate the signs which read a vets say no War a said Paul Cox a member of the group. The lawsuit asks that the veterans be allowed to return to the base and that a permanent injunction be granted a restraining the military police from prohibiting the lawful exercise of rights guaranteed under the first  Presidio spokeswoman Rena Davies said the military  comment on the lawsuit. Cox a Vietnam Veteran said the group had marched to support Gulf War veterans but not the  workers fired for watching football Bay City Texas a five Security workers at a nuclear Power Plant were fired and More than a dozen others were disciplined for watching football on television while on Call in Case electronic surveillance broke Down officials said. Nineteen workers at Houston Light amp Powers South Texas nuclear project were captured on videotape watching the game. They included 17 Security workers for Wackenhut corp. And two employees of Ebasco services inc. Plant spokesman Glenn Walker said the Security personnel were supposed to be on Call in a waiting room at the main Entrance but were in a nearby building instead watching the game. The nuclear regulatory commission which oversees . Nuclear Plant operations was advised of the incident but took no action Walker said