POLITICS: What Will Happen to Arafats Millions?

An interesting behind the scenes fight may be developing during the Yasser Arafat crisis. What of the purported billions that Arafat, now possible his wife, controls. According to former Finance Minister Jaweed al-Ghussein, the PLO was worth 3-5 billion dollars (US) when he quit in 1996. Most estimates put the figure at a lot less now, but fear is spreading that if Arafat dies, the money will be pilfered by Arafat cronies.





Accounting for the money will be difficult if not impossible as no formal accounting system has ever been used. While Arafat did not live an extravagant lifestyle, he did need money to maintain loyalties. The only one who knows where all the money is Arafat, and possibly his wife. His wife has restricted access and information of his condition since he was admitted to a French hospital. The PLO has numerous investments over the years ranging from airline in the Maldives to a Greek shipping company, banana plantations, a diamond mine in Africa and real estate.

Jockeying for position on all sides methinks. I've read some less than flattering comments about Arafat's wife basically holding his body hostage in exchange for a handsome financial settlement. I saw this on CNN today:

In a statement delivered by telephone to the Arabic-language TV network Al-Jazeera, Suha Arafat told Palestinians that her husband's would-be "inheritors" were coming.

"I want the Palestinian people to be aware of the scope of this conspiracy. They want to bury him alive," she said.

and

Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi told CNN that Mrs. Arafat's remarks were "very, very unfortunate" and "very provocative, almost slanderous."

"[Yasser Arafat] is not just a husband or a father," Ashrawi said. "He is father of a nation. ... He is not just Suha's husband, and he should not be reduced to just Suha's husband.

It really makes you wonder if she is keeping him on life support and attempting to extort a little retirement fund for herself. This has the potential to get really ugly.

B.

Originally posted by Bleys
It really makes you wonder if she is keeping him on life support and attempting to extort a little retirement fund for herself. This has the potential to get really ugly.

From what I've been reading, it seems as though Arafat had stolen over 1 billion which he kept in a "secret" swiss bank account. I'd post a link or two, but all I could find were Israeli sources. There are rumors floating about that no one has the account number. I'd say if anything, Arafat's wife and many of the Palestinian reps might be struggling for the entire amount, and not just a little retirement fund... but no one knows where to find the $$$. It's hard to know what to believe though, as most info about Arafat that's floating around right now seem to be little more than rumors.

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You know as much as everyone keeps talking about the millions that Arafat has hidden away it's almost taken on a legendary quality equal to Solomon's Gold.

The future of treasure hunting will be done by accountants and computer geeks.

When a leader is so corrupt as to steal so much from his people, its disgusting.

I wonder what the palastinians would think if they found out he was keeping their money and his family were living rich whilst his people are poor.....

What sort of person feels he has to steal so much money, especially considering how mortal a person is, and that you can't take it with you.

Such insanity as this and creating the Intafada only show what sort of "leader" Arafat was.

Sounds to me that he wasn't so much a leader as he was a mob boss.

I also agree that this may turn into a treasure hunt of sorts. It's times like this that I wish I had more knowledge of computers