US embassy cable - 05AMMAN6435

S E C R E T AMMAN 006435 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PLEASE PASS TO OPIC FOR S. LEMPRES 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/10/2015 
TAGS: EINV, KTFN, ETTC, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: FURTHER COMMENTS ON APPLICATION FOR OPIC FINANCING 
- MIDDLE EAST FROZEN FOODS 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 6143 
 
     B. STATE 136058 
     C. (C) CIOC SPECIAL ANALYSIS PAPER - H. MAHMOUD 
        BUNNIA AND SONS GROUP (NOTAL) 
 
Classified By: CDA DAVID HALE, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B & D) 
 
1.  (SBU)  Ref (A) provided information relating to the 
history and commercial stature and activities of the firm of 
H. Mahmood J. Al-Bunnia & Sons Company regional office in 
Jordan, and noted that the Embassy has no derogatory 
financial information on this company.  The information was 
provided in response to an OPIC request for Embassy Amman,s 
recommendation on proposed OPIC financing in support of an 
Iraq investment by the Middle East Frozen Foods (MEFF) 
company.  It appears (ref B) that the majority partner in 
MEFF is prominent Jordanian resident Mustafa al-Bunnia, who 
is reportedly the dominant figure in the firm of H. Mahmood 
J. al-Bunnia & Sons Company (Dubai).  (Note: We believe 
verification of this point can only be obtained via 
examination of the registration certificate and "Authorized 
Persons" certificate which we believe is on file with the 
official registration office in Dubai.  End Note). 
 
2.  (S)  Ref (C), received subsequent to transmission of ref 
(A), includes derogatory allegations concerning Khalil and 
Sa,ad al-Bunnia, who are prominent businessmen primarily 
active in Iraq, and are cousins of Mustafa al-Bunnia.  These 
allegations include claims that Khalil and Sa,ad have links 
to fund-raising for insurgents.  However, several major Iraqi 
business figures in Jordan, who are not affiliated with the 
al-Bunnias, tell us that Khalil and Mustafa al-Bunnia have 
poor personal relations and are not known to cooperate in 
their various business ventures.  In addition, we note that 
to date we have received no/no substantive derogatory 
information concerning Mustafa al-Bunnia. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Despite the continued existence of a separate 
holding company called H. Mahmood J. al-Bunnia and Sons 
(founded in 1910 and based in Iraq), we understand that much 
of the original al-Bunnia conglomerate broke up some years 
ago and many of the al-Bunnias now operate independently, 
albeit under the shared rubric of "H. Mahmood J. al-Bunnia 
and Sons". 
HALE