Posted on 11/11/2004 5:40:17 PM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
JERUSALEM, 12 November 2004 — A group of Palestinian lawyers called on the new Palestinian leadership yesterday to order a full investigation into alleged misuse of Palestinian Authority funds under the late Yasser Arafat.
No one knows how much money may be involved but various sources put Arafat’s personal fortune at between $4.5 billion and $6.5 billion. Arafat’s nephew Nasser Al-Qudwa, however, has said that the late leader’s fortune did not exceed $250 million, mostly invested in real estate and two mobile phone companies in North Africa.
While most Palestinians insist that Arafat did not personally benefit from corruption, all admit that he allowed his entourage, especially those related to his wife Suha, to engage in shady deals involving public funds.
“Yasser Arafat lived a simple, almost Spartan life,” Hannan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament) said yesterday. “He shunned luxury, was used to simple food, and did not indulge in expensive habits.”
Nevertheless, Ashrawi admitted that charges of corruption against Arafat’s administration could not be dismissed out of hand.
“The new leadership should start with a clean slate,” she said. “It is important of everyone to have a clear picture.”
No one knows exactly how much money may be involved. But a rough estimate of the funds controlled by Arafat during the past 10 years is possible. Between 1994 and 2004 the Palestinian Authority received a total of $8 billion from the European Union. During the same period the Israeli government transferred $3.8 billion in customs duties and taxes collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
According to sources the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) also received upward of $5 billion in donations, mostly from Arab states between 1968 and 1990, part of which was invested in Europe and the Gulf states.
The late Arafat never agreed to publish any accounts, nor did he allow a general audit of the PLO or the Palestinian Authority accounts. In 2003, however, he allowed a European Union team to audit part of the accounts related to funds from EU. The audit concluded that the Palestinian Authority’s finances were in “a state of confusion”.
There were rumors yesterday that Arafat had signed a will leaving his fortune to Suha. But this could not be confirmed.
Arafat’s fortune was managed by a number of people including a cousin and a nephew. But the man believed to know most about the late leader’s investments is Muhammad Rashid, a Kurdish-Iraqi financier who has been Arafat’s business adviser for years. Last week there were reports that Rashid was engaged in talks to make a deal with Suha, allowing the bulk of the funds to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority.
Yesterday, however, Rashid was quoted as saying that he would present a report only to the new leadership.
This is probably the true range of this bandit's wealth.
And he didn't take any of it with him.....
Well Jimmy "The Pacifist" Carter is not too worried about the money this terrorist stole from the Palestinian people..all he did today was PRAISE THIS BLOODY TERRORIST as if he was some sort of hero....tell that Jimmy to the dead children of Israel, you left wing moron!!!! Why don't you put your Nobel Prize on his stinking grave....you, along with your buddies in the U.N. -----
This is one comment on a thread at that OTHER site. Many of those Dems were calling him a terrorist:
"IMHO, some of them went FAR beyond the bounds of decency. No matter what one's opinions are of Arafat's actions during his life, is it really appropriate to make fun of the death of a fellow human being? Whether you agree with him or not; this was a man who stuck to his convictions right or wrong despite much adversity to the day he died."
Arafat was a murderer of children and of innocent persons who had nothing to do with his "cause."
Arafat is not only responsible for the murders of innocents, but he also stole from those he supposedly represented. He kept his own "people" living in squalor while his wife lived an opulent lifestyle in Europe.
Seriously, describing Arafat as a man of conviction is absurd. Arafat certainly should be a man of conviction but the world has simply gone crazy and so he was never even brought to Trial.
Would you also be an apologist for Hitler, Stalin, or Mao et al?
I take it that you didn't read my post very well. It came from THAT OTHER web site-- DU-- even many of them expressed same feelings as you as well as me. NOW APOLOGIZE! My feelings were hurt---
(Just kidding).
OMG.
I am sorry. I tend to read fast and sometimes I err. Sorry about that!
No big deal. I've done the same thing. Oh, also at that other site, they saluted their own vets. I was somewhat surprised to see that.
bump
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