Posted on 02/09/2006 4:15:52 PM PST by NormsRevenge
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian prosecutors froze bank accounts and seized assets of dozens of suspects in a widening corruption probe of senior government officials believed to have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds, the Palestinian attorney general said.
The suspects have been barred from leaving the Palestinian areas and their names have been forwarded to officials at the Gaza-Egypt and West Bank-Jordan crossings, Attorney General Ahmed al-Meghani told The Associated Press late Wednesday in a telephone interview.
Earlier this week, al-Meghani said his investigation concluded that Palestinian Authority officials may have stolen billions of dollars from the public coffers. Some of the cases involved companies with ties to the Palestinian Authority. Twenty-five suspects are in custody and at least six have fled to Arab countries, including four to Jordan, he said.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has pledged to clean up the Palestinian Authority and his Fatah Party, both infested with corruption, but progress has been slow.
The corruption of Fatah, which has dominated Palestinian politics for four decades, was seen as a key reason the Islamic militant group Hamas won parliament elections last month.
Palestinian legislator Azmi Shuaibi, an anti-corruption campaigner, said he had collected information about dozens of corrupt officials and handed them to the attorney general's office months ago, but little action was taken until al-Meghani took office in September.
Abbas' predecessor, the late Yasser Arafat, had permitted his inner circle to engage in corruption to help solidify his power. For years, Arafat spent money without supervision, giving loyalists control over profitable government monopolies and disbursing millions to supporters requesting grants for anything from medical operations to university tuition.
Many Arafat loyalists remained in office after Abbas was elected president last year.
The attorney general would not release the names of those under investigation. However, at least one deputy minister suspected of misappropriating more than $100,000 was among the suspects, according to documents shown to AP.
No Cabinet ministers or security chiefs were being investigated, Shuaibi said, noting that he had transferred information on two Cabinet ministers to the prosecutors' office.
Asked whether he was only going after lower-level suspects, al-Meghani said: "The coming days will prove the contrary."
Al-Meghani said he is investigating dozens of suspects and the probe is widening. "Every day, we get new proof (of wrongdoing)," he said, citing as an example the Palestinian Petroleum Authority, which held the monopoly for the import and sale of fuel products in the West Bank and Gaza. The authority, which operated with little supervision for a decade, was brought under control of the Finance Ministry in 2003.
The attorney general said the investigation of the Petroleum Authority alone yielded 30 suspects. Palestinian security officials said the former head of the authority, Harbi Sarsour, was imprisoned in the West Bank.
Al-Meghani said he has frozen the bank accounts and assets of dozens of suspects, but declined to give details. "It is a temporary freeze until we finish the investigation and the trials," he said.
He noted that one former suspect — Palestinian TV chief Hisham Miki who was killed by gunmen in 2001 — was believed to have stolen $23 million in public funds, and that his London apartment was seized during the investigation.
The attorney general said he has opened an office at the Rafah terminal between Gaza and Egypt, which is run by the Palestinians, under European supervision. Among other things, prosecutors at Rafah are to enforce the travel ban imposed on corruption suspects.
Al-Meghani said four fugitives are in Jordan and two in other Arab countries. He said the Palestinian foreign minister and Palestinian ambassadors were trying to persuade the suspects to return voluntarily. If they refuse, "then we will demand their return by force," he said.
Who would have suspected this? It's hard to believe that someone in the PA organization would actually stoop to theft. This wouldn't have happened if Arafat were still alive.
Still looking for the money Arafat's wife stole.
Who cares..? Save your money. They stole it. If you give them more they will steal that. Get it? You dont need a probe to figure that out.
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They still refer to cities and towns in the West Bank and Gaza as "refugee camps". They will continue to live off the good will of civilized society until we make some drastic changes. If it were up to me, I would send them nothing but seed and hand implements....if our ancestors did it, they can too.
STOP THE PRESSES!!!
I'm SHOCKED, SHOCKED, I tell you!
CORRUPTION in PALESTINE!!!
Glory be, is there nothing sacred anymore...
Where are my pills, my gun, my noose....it's too much...
Amen my brother.
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