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.”
