INTERNATIONAL BANKS ARE well aware that there is always a risk that they will be taken to task by the authorities of one of the countries in which they operate. They also know that the risks (and rewards) are bigger in the US than anywhere else.
So it might not seem particularly unusual that French bank BNP Paribas is headed to trial in New York, on charges relating to a series of oil prepayment contracts it entered into with respect to shipments of oil from the Republic of the Congo – that is, Congo-Brazzaville, not the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa, formerly Zaire). According to the complaint, BNP’s actions amount to a criminal conspiracy designed to prevent Congo’s creditors from being able to attach Congolese oil shipments and collect on their debts.
What is unusual – unprecedented, in fact – is that the case against BNP is being...
