Government licenses were said to be given only to a few well-connected companies in each field. As a result, the need to get and keep a license became a cost that had to be met.In 1979, The New York Times reported that a document dated 17 September 1978 from Ashraf’s office requested a transfer of $708,000 from her Bank Melli account to her account at the Union Bank of Switzerland in Geneva under the code name ‘Sapia’.