Attorney General questions former Arafat aide over embezzlement allegations

28 / 03 / 2008

Bethlehem – Ma'an - The Palestinian Attorney General Ahmed Al-Mughani announced on Friday that he has met with the former economic adviser to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Khaled Salam, who is currently under investigation for financial irregularities involving money belonging to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Media outlets have recently reported that Salam is planning to invest 600 million US dollars in a construction project in the Jordanian Red Sea resort city of Aqaba.

The Attorney General's is currently investigating whether Salam's money was stolen from the PA as he was formerly charged with managing the PA's investments and financial accounts.

Khalid Salam, also known as Mohammed Rashid, is suspected of having embezzled huge sums of money from the PA following Arafat's death in 2004.

In the Jordanian capital Amman on Thursday Salam presented the Attorney General with documents and contracts related to the project, which he says prove the funds for the project are from his own assets.

The Attorney-General said in an exclusive interview with Ma'an that after studying the documents he found that the project is being financed by a multi-investment shareholder fund called "Joud Four," which is managed by Khalid Salam.

According to the Attorney General, it is expected that the total financial investment for the project over eight years will total 600 million dollars.

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