JERUSALEM, 12 November 2004 — A group of Palestinian lawyers called on the new Palestinian leadership yesterday to order a full investigation into alleged misuse of Palestinian Authority funds under the late Yasser Arafat.
No one knows how much money may be involved but various sources put Arafat’s personal fortune at between $4.5 billion and $6.5 billion. Arafat’s nephew Nasser Al-Qudwa, however, has said that the late leader’s fortune did not exceed $250 million, mostly invested in real estate and two mobile phone companies in North Africa.
While most Palestinians insist that Arafat did not personally benefit from corruption, all admit that he allowed his entourage, especially those related to his wife Suha, to engage in shady deals involving public funds.
“Yasser Arafat lived a simple, almost Spartan life,” Hannan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament) said yesterday. “He shunned luxury, was used to simple food, and did not indulge in expensive habits.”
Nevertheless, Ashrawi admitted that charges of corruption against Arafat’s administration could not be dismissed out of hand.
“The new leadership should start with a clean slate,” she said. “It is important of everyone to have a clear picture.”
No one knows exactly how much money may be involved. But a rough estimate of the funds controlled by Arafat during the past 10 years is possible. Between 1994 and 2004 the Palestinian Authority received a total of $8 billion from the European Union. During the same period the Israeli government transferred $3.8 billion in customs duties and taxes collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
According to sources the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) also received upward of $5 billion in donations, mostly from Arab states between 1968 and 1990, part of which was invested in Europe and the Gulf states.
The late Arafat never agreed to publish any accounts, nor did he allow a general audit of the PLO or the Palestinian Authority accounts. In 2003, however, he allowed a European Union team to audit part of the accounts related to funds from EU. The audit concluded that the Palestinian Authority’s finances were in “a state of confusion”.
There were rumors yesterday that Arafat had signed a will leaving his fortune to Suha. But this could not be confirmed.
Arafat’s fortune was managed by a number of people including a cousin and a nephew. But the man believed to know most about the late leader’s investments is Muhammad Rashid, a Kurdish-Iraqi financier who has been Arafat’s business adviser for years. Last week there were reports that Rashid was engaged in talks to make a deal with Suha, allowing the bulk of the funds to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority.
Yesterday, however, Rashid was quoted as saying that he would present a report only to the new leadership.