Justice Department Praises New Agreement on BCCI

THE Justice Department has obtained an agreement with Abu Dhabi under which prosecutors can interview a key witness in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) scandal, according to The Washington Post's Sunday edition.

The Justice Department and banking officials reached the agreement in Geneva following a secret meeting with representatives of the Persian Gulf emirate, the paper reported. It quoted sources as saying a $1.5 billion civil suit against Abu Dhabi's ruler would be dropped by the trustee of the First American Bankshares Inc., a former subsidiary of BCCI.

Abu Dhabi agreed to allow prosecutors to interview Swaleh Naqvi, a former BCCI official under federal indictment.

Mr. Naqvi, chief deputy to the founder of BCCI, Aga Hasam Abedi, is under house arrest in Abu Dhabi. Mr. Abedi, who is in Pakistan, has not been interviewed.

Investigators also gained access to thousands of BCCI documents taken from London to Abu Dhabi before the bank was closed by regulators.

The Justice Department provided no details on the agreement but released a statement from Deputy Attorney General Philip Heymann saying: ``This is a remarkable agreement in terms of what we've succeeded in getting.'' Violence Summit Held

Black activists at a summit on violence produced an agenda Saturday heavy on the notion of reaching out to save wayward young people through family, church, and school.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose National Rainbow Coalition convened the three-day summit, called for black Americans to take the ``moral offensive'' in the attack on violence.

Participants called Saturday's agenda a watershed and said it would be received enthusiastically in inner-city communities struggling with violent crime.

``This is the first meaningful and measurable blow to deal with the problem. While black people are not a monolith, on this issue we are pretty close to a consensus,'' said Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D) of Maryland, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

He suggested attacking the problem with a traditional-values campaign stressing responsibility, respect for the elderly, pride in black heritage, and stronger connections between black parents and teachers.

Proposals on the agenda included: mentoring 10 youths each at 100 churches in 100 cities; antiviolence pledges between students and parents; crackdowns by parents on studying and attending school; employment programs for young people age 17 to 30; degree programs at black colleges for prison inmates; supervised after-school programs; and removing barriers to family life in social-service programs.