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Wednesday, November 10, 2004
TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND
Financial adviser: Arafat
owns nothing
Aide says ailing despot 'has no personal property anywhere in the
world'
Posted: November 10, 2004
5:00 p.m.
Eastern
� 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Yasser Arafat's financial adviser is claiming the ailing Palestinian
leader owns no property � this despite estimates the despot is worth many
billions of dollars.
Appearing on Al-Arabiya TV, based in Dubai, Muhammad Rashid claims he
knows nothing about an Arafat will.
The
interview was translated and posted on the Internet by the Middle East
Media Research Institute TV Monitor Project, or MEMRI TV.
"To my knowledge � and I am responsible for these words � the ailing
brother Abu Ammar [Arafat] has no personal property anywhere in the
world," Rashid says, "not a tent, nor a house, nor a building, nor a farm.
I have worked with President Arafat for the past 25 years and he has no
bank account that could be called a personal account, in the name of
Yasser Arafat."
Though the size of Arafat's fortune is not public knowledge, estimates
have run between several hundred million dollars to $6 billion. Most of
the funds are in foreign accounts and are thought to consist of money
given the Palestinian Authority by European and Arab nations.
Rashid begins to cry during his next respond, wiping tears from his
eyes:
"In all honesty, I cannot imagine the period after the president. I
maintain a deep faith in Allah and in the prayers of all the people
worldwide for the president. I know nothing about a will, and I ask you to
excuse me from talking about this issue."
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