French prosecutors said Tuesday they had opened an inquiry into transfers totaling $11.5 million into bank accounts held in France by Suha Arafat, the wife of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. The Paris public prosecutor confirmed a report in Le Canard Enchaine weekly that an inquiry into Suha Arafat, who lives in Paris, was launched last October after information provided by the Bank of France and a government anti-money laundering body.
Chirac didn’t get his cut?
The prosecutor’s office said they wanted to check transfers from a Swiss-based institution made between July 2002 and July 2003 into two separate accounts held by her in Paris.
Well, there goes Yasser’s retirement fund.
The office said the probe is at the preliminary stage, meaning its aim is to determine whether there is sufficient grounds to take investigations further. Suha Arafat could not be contacted for comment.
Out shopping before the checks bounce.
Yasser Arafat has rejected allegations of corruption within his Palestinian Authority. Yet it has suffered a fall in foreign donor money amid allegations that some of it has been siphoned off by corrupt officials or diverted to militants waging a suicide bombing campaign against Israel.
You mean like that 11 million? |