BILLIONS OF IRAQI STOLEN MONEY IN SYRIAN BANKS

[Gość: AIYSHA]

Syrian acknowledges holding Iraqi funds
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
DAMASCUS, Syria

Syrian banks are holding Iraqi assets, and their return to Iraqi control is
under discussion, Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam said Saturday.

Khaddam's remark broke ground as earlier this month Syrian Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Bushra Kanafani denied US reports that Syria had millions of
dollars worth of Iraqi money.

Kanafani dismissed as "baseless" press reports that Syrian and Lebanese
banks were holding up to US$3 billion worth of assets from the regime of
former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. She spoke to reporters on Oct. 11.

Ten days later, however, an official of the US Embassy in Damascus said
Syria was cooperating with the United States to see whether its banks hold
any such assets.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that an
American team was in Syria to gather evidence about Saddam's assets. He
denied the reports that the assets amounted up to $3 billion in Syria and
Lebanon.

Vice President Khaddam said: "There is some (Iraqi) money and some (Iraqi)
demands" to recover it.

"This matter is still under discussion," Khaddam added. He did not
elaborate.

A UN resolution passed after the US-led war against Saddam's regime calls on
all nations to seize and return to the American-administered Fund for
Development in Iraq all assets of the former Baghdad government so they may
be used to benefit the Iraqi people.

In May, Lebanon's Central Bank said it had frozen millions of dollars in
Iraqi funds and would return them to Iraq after a "legitimate" government is
formed. The US Treasury has said Lebanon has US$495 million in Iraqi funds.

Khaddam spoke to reporters after meeting a delegation of Iraqis on
developments in their country. The spokesman of the delegation, Saleh
Metleg, made clear he opposed the US occupation of Iraq and the US-appointed
Iraqi Government Council, saying it had compromised itself by "joining hands
with the occupiers."

Syria was a staunch opponent of the US-British invasion of Iraq and has been
accused by Washington of supplying military equipment to the Saddam regime
and allowing fighters to enter Iraq to attack the US forces. Syria denies
the charges.

"No Arab country will participate in sending troops to Iraq," Khaddam said,
referring to America's call for other countries to send troops to Iraq to
keep the peace.

Some Arab states, particulary in the Gulf region, have offered to assist
Iraq's reconstruction with aid and technical expertise. But Arab countries
have not offered to contribute troops to Iraq.