IMF: Arafat diverted US$900 million in public money to special account

Jerusalem Post (AP) ^ | 9/20/03

[truthandlife]

An audit of the Palestinian Authority revealed that President Yasser Arafat had diverted US$900 million in public funds to a special bank account he controlled and most of the money was later invested in Palestinian assets, an International Monetary Fund official said Saturday.

Karim Nashashibi, IMF resident representative in the West Bank and Gaza, credited openness and transparency in the Palestinian Authority's accounting under Finance Minister Salam Fayad for disclosing the transfers between 1995 and 2000.

The large majority of the money was invested in Palestinian assets at home and abroad, Nashashibi said. A Palestinian Investment Fund was established to manage those assets and privatize them, he added.

But the IMF official did not rule out the possibility of the remaining funds being misused, saying he believes an audit of the remaining funds will be conducted later.

"In any system you can always have a possibility of misuse of funds," Nashashibi said. "But what we're trying to do is have a level of disclosure and transparency so that future or present misuse does not happen ... At least there is a followup, there is disclosure."

There have been charges of corruption and mismanagement in the Palestinian Authority. In a special annual issue of Forbes Magazine, Arafat was reported to control US$300 million, making him among one of the richest in its category of "Kings, Queens and Despots."

Nashashibi said the revenues were diverted from the budget to a special account controlled by Arafat and his chief economic adviser.

"We estimated that amount to be around US$900 million over a period of five years," the IMF official said.

He said that the Palestinian Authority was involved in 69 commercial activities, both at home and abroad, worth an estimated US$700 million in today's market prices, "which probably in '99 were US$900 million."

Nashashibi said Fayad, the Palestinian finance minister who was the resident representative of the IMF in the Palestinian territories in 2000, told Arafat that the account must be disclosed.

The disclosure came as Fayad won a promise of additional financial assistance at a meeting Saturday with the Group of Seven major industrialized nations in Dubai.

The Palestinian economy has contracted by 30 percent because of the Palestinian-Israeli violence over the last three years and IMF officials said it needs an injection of about US$1.2 billion in assistance.

Arafat, regarded by Palestinians and Arabs as the symbol of the Palestinian struggle for a homeland, has been the most famous Palestinian leader since waging a guerrilla war against Israel in the 1960s.

Israel on Sept. 11 announced that it will "remove" Arafat at an unspecified time, calling him an obstacle to peace.

Israeli officials have suggested he may be exiled, killed or simply isolated at his shattered compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah. The United States, while isolating Arafat politically, has criticized the Israeli decision, which sent Arafat's popularity soaring among his people and among many Arabs.

[Dutch Boy]

Time to drop some leaflets on the refugee camps. I wonder how long Arafat stays in power if the people find out they have been lied to.

[bulldogs]

They would care less. They would blame it on the jews.

[secretagent]

I saw no indication, in the article, of lies by Arafat to the Palestinian people.

[drypowder]

I have to admit that I am the ultimate when it comes to distrusting Bill & Hillary Clinton. If my memory is correct, didn't Hillary welcome Araft's wife by kissing her and wasn't Bill instrumental in re-arming the PA and paid for with US tax dollars? What's the potential of the Clintons getting a kick back on the $ they directed the US to send to Yassar? Sent of a skunk?

[travelnurse]

I saw no indication, in the article, of lies by Arafat to the Palestinian people.

---

"Public Funds" Diverted into the PA.... What does that tell ya?

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Never happen. They'd believe Arafat over western "propaganda" any day of the week, and most of them can't read anyway.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Arafat visited the White House 7 times that I know of. Makes me sick. They should have shot the SOB at airport when he arrived.

[RoughDobermann]

Arafat was reported to control US$300 million

Pretty well off for a simple "man of the people," ain't he?

[LayoutGuru2]

Just buying some jackets for the kids...

[yonif]

And yet the EU, UN, and the US itself continue to give money to this terror regime.

[secretagent]

The article doesn't talk of funds diverted into the PA, but rather of "public funds" diverted from the PA to a special account controlled by Arafat.

Second, it makes no allegation of Arafat lying about this. No quotes of any kind from Arafat.

[secretagent]

No indication from the article how well off Arafat made himself from the 300 million he controlled.

The man might have austere tastes or luxurious tastes. But the article makes no mention of Arafat personally profiting from his "trusteeship" of the monies.

[RoughDobermann]

No indication from the article how well off Arafat made himself from the 300 million he controlled.

No, there isn't. However, some things are so self-evident that they need not be spoken, you know?

[RoughDobermann]

"No indication from the article how well off Arafat made himself from the 300 million he controlled.'

In a special annual issue of Forbes Magazine, Arafat was reported to control US$300 million, making him among one of the richest in its category of "Kings, Queens and Despots."

On second thought, the article seems rather clear...

[yonif]

From Haaretz News ticker today:

U.S. Treasury Secretary: U.S. fully backs PA efforts to bring economic stability, will continue to provide budgetary support

[OldFriend]

How much was shared by X42.

[Bobby777]

sheesh ... disgusting to pour money into Arafat's killing mahine ...

[Happy2BMe]

Hmmmm... money going out, IDF coming in.

Is Arafat giong somewhere?

[meenie]

How much of the 200 million that the US was sending Abbaas to upgrade his security forces had arrived. Oh, never mind, it was going to such a good cause.