- A retired banker living in Switzerland spent 10 years
helping Iraqi President Saddam Hussein hide millions of dollars via a bank
account under the name of Satan, Britain's Sunday Times has reported.
-
- Elio Borradori, 75, funnelled millions of dollars in
"commissions" and "consultancy fees" into companies
controlled by Saddam's appointees, operating through Panama, the Bahamas
and Switzerland, according to the report.
-
- US officials estimate Saddam channelled between $10 billion
and $18 billion into accounts around the world, which must now be tracked
down.
-
- The British government today estimated Saddam's riches
could total as much as $33 billion.
-
- One of Saddam's relatives, Saad al-Mahdi, who controlled
the "Satan" account with the Banca del Gottardo in the Bahamas,
was beheaded by the Iraqi leader, possibly because he was skimming cash
from the account, the report said, labelling him "something of a playboy".
-
- The newspaper also said it had uncovered documents relating
to export deals with Iraq made by two French arms companies, Dassault and
Thomson-CSF.
-
- "Many of the documents relate to the 1980s, others
suggest activity in the mid-1990s," said the paper.
-
- The companies in question deny exporting banned goods
to Iraq under UN sanctions in the 1990s.
-
- Borradori admitted working for Saddam, saying: "Is
it worse to work as a trustee of Saddam Hussein than to work for a mafia
godfather or a drug trader? If the answer is yes, everyone in Switzerland
should destroy their passports."
-
- According to the paper, the former banker cannot remember
details of his work for Saddam, whom he described as "a bloodthirsty,
crazy man", having met him on several occasions.
-
- Gianluca Boscaro, a Swiss lawyer hired by relatives of
the beheaded al-Mahdi to pursue their claim to some of the cash, had managed
to demonstrate how Saddam had siphoned off a fortune and hidden it around
the world, according to the paper.
-
- But, in August last year, Boscaro died when his paraglider
plummeted to the ground.
-
- "Officials who examined the canopy noticed cords
were damaged," the paper said.
|
