French prosecutors have launched a money-laundering probe into the alleged transfer of $11.5 million to accounts held by the wife of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Yasser Arafat.
According to the weekly Le Canard Enchaine , the Bank of France approached the Paris prosecutor's office in October after tracking monthly transfers of nearly $1.27 million between July 2002 and July 2003 from Switzerland to Suha Arafat’s French bank accounts.
Residing in Paris, Suha Arafat has been unavailable for comment. French prosecutors said the results of their preliminary investigation would be known in a few months, after which a formal investigation can be launched.
According to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report released in September, some $900 million in PA funds were diverted by PA officials to overseas accounts between 1997 and 2003. Suha Arafat was allegedly a recipient of some $10 million of the missing funds. — (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
