The former treasurer of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Jaweed al-Ghussein has accused Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of massive corruption in remarks published in the Israeli press.
"I discovered how he took money given to the Palestinian people by donor countries and put it in his own account," Ghussein, 71, told the Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot. The Israeli newspaper said Ghussein personally deposited half a billion dollars in secret bank accounts for the Palestinian leader.
It added Ghussein had transferred between 7.5 and 8.0 million dollars each month from Palestinian public funds to Arafat's personal account. "There was never any clear demarcation between the tasks of the heads of PLO and the Palestinian Authority, so questions about the responsibility for good management went unanswered," he was quoted as saying.
"I constantly and vainly called for reforms and transparency and when I finally quit in 1996, I warned donor countries of the situation, because I could not simply carry on being held responsible for these disappearances of money," he said.
Ghussein, himself accused by the Palestinian Authority of embezzlement, fled to London via Israel, a Palestinian security source said Friday. Ghussein had embezzled millions of dollars during his time as PLO finance chief, the source said.
The head of Israeli military intelligence on Tuesday told the parliamentary defense and foreign affairs committee that Arafat had amassed a personal fortune of 1.3 billion dollars, parliamentary officials said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
