TOday's humor:
Citibank sued over transfers to West African tycoon
(Adds Citigroup comments in grafs 3-5 and 14)
By Gail Appleson, Law Correspondent
NEW YORK, March 19 (Reuters) - Dubai Islamic Bank has sued Citibank N.A. for allegedly transferring more than $151 million from a DIB account to a mysterious West African tycoon who the United Arab Emirates bank says practices black magic.
The suit, which was filed Monday in Manhattan federal court, alleges that Citibank, a unit of Citigroup (NYSE:C - news), unlawfully transferred the money to the U.S. and overseas accounts of West African millionaire Foutanga Dit Babani Sissoko and his associates.
Citigroup said the suit was without merit.
''This suit is a desperate attempt by Dubai Islamic Bank to recover funds following their failure to uncover their own internal fraud,'' a Citigroup spokesman said.
He said that the Dubai bank had acknowleged in other lawsuits that it was defrauded by its own high level executives.
Last year DIB sued Sissoko in state court in Miami alleging that he stole his fortune by using ''black magic'' powers to bewitch a branch manager in Dubai and force him to turn over $240 million of the bank's money.
The discovery of the missing funds last March caused panic among depositors and led the United Arab Emirates government to pump almost $500 million into the bank to restore confidence.
The branch manager allegedly transferred DIB money to accounts in the United States and Europe after Sissoko rubbed a magic potion in his arm.
Sissoko first became known in Miami in August 1996, when U.S. Customs officials seized an illegal shipment of two military helicopters and filed bribery charges against two men who said they were working for him. Sissoko later pleaded guilty to paying a $30,000 bribe to customs agents.
While living in Brickell Key, an exclusive downtown Miami island, he made a name for himself by sharing his wealth. He gave $10,000 to a masseuse, although he would not let her touch him because of his religious beliefs.
Each of his three lawyers received a $60,000 Mercedes car. He bought a Range Rover for a complete stranger and donated $300,000 to the Miami Central High School marching band so it could travel to New York to play in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
The suit filed in New York states that arrest warrants for Sissoko are outstanding in Dubai and Switzerland and that he is believed to be hiding in Mali.
The suit alleges that Sissoko had an account in Citibank's private banking unit, which DIB alleged is a ''tool for wealthy clients'' to carry out secret transactions. DIB alleged that Citibank assisted Sissoko in using his private bank account as part of a money laundering scheme in which millions of dollars were sent to numerous international bank accounts.
The Citigroup spokesman said the bank had followed all applicable laws including those involving money laundering.
In December, a congressional report citicized Citibank's private banking unit for lax controls that allowed Raul Salinas de Gortari, a brother of the former president of Mexico, to allegedly launder as much as $100 million in payoffs from drug traffickers.
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