Reply #179: Farhad Azima is definitely of interest

[starroute]

According to the USACC:

In 1976, Mr. Azima founded Global International Airways, a large U.S. carrier, providing passenger and cargo service worldwide. Global operated an all Boeing fleet including 747s, 707s and 727s. Mr. Azima held the positions of President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer during the ten years of operation. Concurrent to his participation in Global, in 1982, he acquired the controlling interest in Capital Air, a U.S. scheduled air carrier with domestic and international operations. Mr. Azima served as Chairman. Capital’s operation included a large maintenance base for major aircraft overhaul located in Smyma, Tennessee. Both the airline and maintenance operations were sold in 1985.

Mr. Azima’s experience prior to the founding of Global International Airways includes the organization of major aviation support services for airline operations in the Middle East. This company later became a major transporter of livestock by air. Other activities in non-aviation fields include heavy industry, cement plants.

http://www.usacc.org/contents.php?cid=33


But see also:
Who is Farhad Azima?
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a258636.htm

Yeah, it's the freepers again, violating copyright to post stuff about a funding scandal that involved both Democrats and Republicans. But the main point is that Global International seems likely to have been CIA (though Azima denies it.)

Of Azima's alleged ties to the CIA, Barcella wrote that his client's former company, Global Airways, had contracts with the Department of Defense and several newspaper stories suggested they were intelligence missions. But even if it were true, Barcella said it was hardly "inappropriate" for a United States businessman to assist his government in an entirely legitimate and legal manner. Some might suggest it was patriotic."

He also said Azima has been linked to business dealings with rogue former CIA agent Edwin Wilson, who is now in jail. Barcella said he was the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Wilson in the early 1980s and that nearly half of Wilson's 54-year prison sentence is the result of his conviction of conspiring to kill Barcella. "Believe me," Barcella wrote, "if there had been any connection between Mr. Azima and Mr. Wilson, I would have known it."

Azima also has been linked to the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal during the Reagan administration. Azima has always denied any connection, but a plane linked to him allegedly was used in the affair.

(Hey, it isn't my fault if everything related to Azerbaijan seems to end up pointing back to Iran-Contra and figures, like Edwin Wilson, who were associated with Porter Goss in his early CIA days!)