-Caveat Lector- http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid= 1039065108422
Ginossar's ties to PA funds to be investigated MATTHEW GUTMAN Dec. 5, 2002 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed to launch an investigation into allegations that Yossi Ginossar, a former Shin Bet official and senior envoy to negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, helped transfer $300 million in Palestinian funds to a Swiss bank and then managed the account for PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Israel has for almost two years accused the PA of gross financial mismanagement, rampant corruption, and the use of money from Swiss bank accounts to fund terrorism against Israel. Ezrad Lev, an accountant and close associate of Ginossar, told Hebrew daily Ma'ariv and Israel Radio on Thursday that Ginossar's advisory role to Arafat continued even as the current violence raged. Lev and Ginossar worked with Arafat's chief financial advisor, Muhammad Rashid, advising him on investments. Ginossar, 56, profited handsomely from the connection, receiving over $10 million for his services. The United States and European donors to the PA as well as the World Bank and PA Finance Minister Salam Fayad have been scrambling in recent months to locate the money that Rashid withdrew last year transferring it to an unknown location. Ginossar, a 19-year Shin Bet veteran, admitted to having worked with Rashid accused by Israel of funneling money from secret slush funds to terrorist organizations but said that nothing he did was illegal. Lev claims the opposite. "The money could have been used for personal needs, to form a shelter for Arafat and senior Palestinian officials, to pay salaries, or even, and I really hope not, for illegal activities," Lev said. He and Ginossar, who served as a liaison to the PA for four prime ministers, first opened the account in Switzerland's reputable Lombard Odier & Cie Bank in 1997, using Arafat's personal documents (including a Palestinian passport, numbered "1"). The funds, at first listed as "monies of the Palestinian people," were transferred from a branch of the Arab Bank in Ramallah. The Israeli financial advisors set up the account for a front company called Ledbury, but later changed its name to Crouper when they sensed that rumors of its existence were circulating. The government, however, was aware of some of Ginossar's dealings well before Lev's confession. In November 2000, as Israel was conducting intensive negotiations with the PA, Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein petitioned the High Court of Justice to curtail the government's use of Ginossar as an emissary due to "conflicts of interests" stemming from Ginossar's close business associations with PA officials. Then, in March of 2001, Rubinstein urged Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to use Ginossar "only in life-or-death situations." Ginossar had served as an envoy to the PA for prime ministers Itzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Binyamin Netanyahu, and Ehud Barak. Ginossar was also involved in an alleged cover-up of the 1984 Bus 300 incident in which Shin Bet officials killed two bound terrorists following their hijacking of the coastal bus. He was also accused of using excessive force in extracting a false confession of espionage from a Circassian IDF soldier. Ginossar also has a long history of involvement with Palestinian businessmen and security officials. According to Palestinian sources he had a partnership along with former head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service boss Jibril Rajoub, in the Oasis Jericho casino, among other business concerns. This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ ShowFull&cid=1039065108422 [ Back to the Article ] Copyright 1995-2002 The Jerusalem Post - http://www.jpost.com/ <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
