Court OKs Sale of BCCI Subsidiary in Hong Kong : Scandal: The deal would give a majority stake in the bank to an Indonesian conglomerate.

A Hong Kong court on Monday approved the sale of a majority stake in Hong Kong’s subsidiary of scandal-ridden Bank of Credit & Commerce International to an Indonesian conglomerate. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed.

The deal marks the second time that a sale of a BCCI unit has been allowed since financial regulators seized the Luxembourg-based bank in July, shutting down its operations in 70 countries amid evidence of fraud, drug trafficking and money laundering.

Last month, Kenya’s BCCI branch was sold.

Hong Kong’s High Court approved the sale of not less than 51% of the Bank of Credit & Commerce Hong Kong Ltd. to the Hong Kong Chinese Bank, a subsidiary of the Jakarta-based Lippo Group.

Lippo is controlled by Mochtar Riady, reported to be one of the richest men in Indonesia. The Hong Kong Chinese Bank ranks 20th in Hong Kong in terms of equity and holds an estimated $625 million in assets.

In addition to the bank, the buyer will also get a lucrative credit card operation.

Noel Gleeson, the government-appointed provisional liquidator of the BCCI subsidiary, said the plan remains contingent on a set of preconditions that require cooperation from the bank’s major depositors.

In Hong Kong, the bank’s 24 branches serviced 47,000 mostly small depositors and had $1.4 billion in deposits.

The BCCI subsidiary is owned by the government of Abu Dhabi.

In other developments Monday, the New York Times reported that BCCI forgave a $150,000 loan to former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young’s consulting firm.

Young, also a former congressman and ex-U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the newspaper that BCCI’s action last year freed him from a personal obligation to make $32,000 in annual payments on interest and principal. Young said he suspended the firm’s operations in 1986.

Young, who was mayor of Atlanta from 1982 to 1990, said he looked upon the bank’s forgiveness of the debt as payment of $50,000 in annual retainer fees BCCI had promised but never paid.

The oral agreement for the fees reportedly was made by BCCI founder Aga Hassan Abedi, a Pakistani financier with whom Young had a long business relationship. Under the agreement, Young, through his consulting firm, was to introduce Abedi to Third World leaders.

Investigators say they have no evidence Young did anything illegal. Messages left by the Associated Press at Young’s office Monday were unanswered.

Also Monday, the leader of the Western Isles Council in Scotland, which had invested more than $38 million in BCCI, said he was resigning “as a matter of principle.”

In his letter of resignation, the Rev. Donald Macaulay said, “Although I had nothing whatsoever to do with the investment of money with the bank, it is a matter of honor that I show my sympathy for the people of the Western Isles in the loss that we all have suffered.”

The Western Isles Council had the largest stake among more than 40 local authorities that invested in BCCI. The council governs 32,000 residents of the Outer Hebrides islands in Scotland.