Saddam admits depositing cash abroad
Saddam Hussein has acknowledged depositing billions of dollars abroad and has given interrogators the names of people who know where the money is, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council said today.
The US-appointed council estimates that the Iraqi dictator seized $40bn (€32bn) while in power and is now searching for that amount deposited in Switzerland, Japan, Germany and other countries, Iyad Allawi told the London-based Arab newspapers Al-Hayat and Asharq al-Awsat.
“Saddam has started to give information on money that has been looted from Iraq and deposited abroad,” Allawi told Asharq al-Awsat.
“Investigation is now concentrated on his relationship with terrorist organisations and on the money paid to elements outside Iraq.”
Allawi said Saddam, who has been questioned by American interrogators since his capture this month, gave names of people who know where the money is deposited and also know the location of arms and ammunition depots used by insurgents in attacks against the coalition forces and the Governing Council.
In similar remarks to Al-Hayat, Allawi said Saddam had confessed to “important matters”, a reference to the smuggling of billions of dollars abroad.
“We have asked international legal and specialised companies to follow up the money he (Saddam) has deposited in Switzerland, Germany, Japan and other countries which is estimated at around $40 billion under fictitious companies’ names,” Allawi told Al-Hayat.
In Baghdad, Ahmed al-Bayak, another member of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, said he was told by council members that Saddam had started to talk about names of people inside Iraq who were carrying out attacks against US forces.
