The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich

made huge business with South Africa. Huge business,” one of Rich’s close cadres with access to the company’s books admitted to me. At first he did not wish to tell me the exact sum, so I wooed him with numbers. “A billion?” I asked him. He shook his head and laughed. “One and a half billion?” I asked. Without uttering a noise he mouthed the word “more.” I shook my head in disbelief, whereupon he nodded and said: “Two billion dollars. We made a profit of over two billion dollars in South Africa.” Two billion dollars was an unbelievable sum in those days. Proof that this sum is no mere overestimation can be found in the debates that took place before the South African parliament in April 1984. During these debates it was discovered that the state Strategic Fuel Fund had paid Marc Rich306 million above the spot market price for one large oil delivery alone. 23
    “I don’t know,” Rich said when I asked him about the2 billion. It seemed as if he were trying to avoid the question. I asked him if he no longer wanted to remember, whereupon he finally answered that he had never calculated how much money he had earned in South Africa over the course of those fifteen years. He did confirm, however, that the trade with South Africa had been his “most important and most profitable” business.
    There are good reasons for viewing Rich as something of a Karl Marx figure, “who made all of the oil countries aware of their interests,” as Rich’s business partner and friend Isaac Querub commented. One can see him as someone who provided third world countries with their “first opportunity to play a role in the global market,” as the trader in Jamaica put it. One can view Rich’s traders as profit-oriented development workers “who gave the key of knowledge,” as the expert on Angola believes. Angola and Jamaica are good examples of this thesis, whereas apartheid South Africa is the exact opposite. Angola and Jamaica were able to assert themselves and develop, but the opposite was true in South Africa, for in the end Rich’s services helped to support a regime that oppressed its black citizens.
Dealing with Dictators
     
    How does one do business with racist, dictatorial, and corrupt governments? Is it possible to do so without becoming an accessory to these governments’ crimes? I spoke with Rich about these questions in his office in Zug. The rain ran in streaks down the widowpanes and lent a fitting atmosphere to our discussion. Rich’s desk, which was usually quite orderly, was covered in open medicine packages. He sneezed continuously throughout our discussion.
     
    Is it possible to remain neutral when doing business in such countries?
Yes, business is neutral. You can’t run a trading company based on sympathies.
    Iran, Cuba, South Africa. You were always a crisis profiteer.
Whatever we did, we did legally. We were doing business with Iran, Cuba, and South Africa as a Swiss company. These businesses were completely legal according to Swiss law.
    The law is the only criterion?
The law is the only objective standard.
    In the case of South Africa you indirectly supported apartheid. Your critics maintain that, thanks to you, apartheid was able to survive longer.
I don’t know if this is true. I doubt it. I was fundamentally against apartheid. We were all against apartheid. I just was doing normal business with South Africa.
    How do the two fit together?
I’m not a political person. We were not a political company. We just wanted to be an excellent trading company for our customers. The South Africans needed oil, and people were reluctant to sell it to them because of the embargo. We agreed to do it because we felt it was nothing illegal.
    Many people—including some businesspeople—would cite ethical reasons for not making some of the deals that you have made. Is that naive?
I think so.
    Why?
Because it was perfectly legal to do the business we did do.
    Can you understand some of your critics’ arguments?
They like to pick on me. By making dramatic statements they have a better chance to sell their newspapers or to create publicity for themselves. The politicians always want to be in the media.
    You feel absolutely no remorse whatsoever?
No, no.
     
    It is not as if Rich does not see or does not wish to see the dictators’ crimes or the racism of apartheid. He does not ignore them. He was appalled by the fact that the Cuban people allowed the Communists intopower. He was disgusted by