 In his four decades as Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat has run a murky financial empire that includes far-flung PLO investments in airlines, banana plantations and high-tech companies, and money hidden in bank accounts across the globe. Jaweed al-Ghussein, a former PLO finance minister, told The Associated Press it was worth $3 billion to $5 billion when he quit in 1996. No one will say how much it's worth now - some estimates say for tax purposes as little as a few million. But as 75-year-old Arafat fights for life in a hospital near Paris, Palestinians fear that what's left will disappear or be pocketed by Arafat cronies. ``It's the money of the Palestinian people,'' said Palestinian legislator Hassan Khreishe, adding that he would urge a parliamentary investigation.
| "Hey! Who let this rube in?" |
That could prove difficult. Arafat has long resisted proper accounting for the funds, which include Arab payments to the PLO in the 1970s and 1980s, and Western aid to his self-rule government, the Palestinian Authority, after interim peace deals with Israel in the 1990s. Arafat lived frugally, but needed large sums to maintain loyalties. He would register investments and bank accounts in the names of loyalists, both to buy their support and protect the holdings from scrutiny and seizure, said al-Ghussein. Only Arafat had the full picture, he said, and it's not clear whether he left a will or financial records. Arafat never divulged his finances. Pressed at a February meeting with leaders of his Fatah movement, he cut them short, saying ``Suha has spent it all there are no assets,'' according to one participant.
Mohammed Rashid, Arafat's financial adviser, denied his boss was rich. ``Arafat has no personal property in any part in the world,'' he told Al-Arabiya television on Sunday. ``He doesn't even have a tent, a house, an orchard or any account that we can call personal in the name of Yasser Arafat.'' However, Forbes magazine ranked him No. 6 on its 2003 list of the richest ``kings, queens and despots,'' estimating he was worth at least $300 million. Shalom Harari, a former top Israeli intelligence official, said Arafat may have stashed away up to $700 million, part of it for an emergency such as a new exile, especially with Israel threatening to expel him. |