Palestinian official Ahmed “For the Straight Guy” Qurei is being accused of diverting to a personal bank account funds earmarked for his people.
Head of the Palestinian negotiating team Ahmed Qurei has denied reports published by a number of news websites that three million US dollars has been diverted to a joint bank account he holds with two unknown persons.
Qurei told Ma’an that the money is part of five million dollars given to Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the bank account mentioned in the news reports is the bank account of the Palestinian National Fund in the Arab Bank in Amman.
He said he did not know who was behind the news stories or what was the motive behind publishing such accusations and demanded legal action should be brought against those who were trying to discredit him.
“I would like to clarify that this amount is part of the five million dollars for the benefit of both Fatah and the PLO, and that the account number 111444/713 noted in the letter named “Adli Sadeq” to Mohammed Dahlan, is the account of the Palestinian National Fund in the Arab Bank in Jordan,” Qurei told Ma’an.
“The Account No. 21250/510 referred to in the letter refers to the account of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) in the Arab Bank in Jordan. The account is in the names of different persons known to the movement and the decision of the leadership since the mid-eighties and the start of the Fatah movement was to register the account in the names of different persons for security reasons,” he added.
“This five million dollars was deposited on behalf of the late president Yasser Arafat in the name of the secretariats of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Fatah movement,” he said.
He just admitted the account was set up this way due to a decision essentially made by Yasser Arafat, and the money was deposited on his behalf. Not a good move.
Having said that, I really hope he doesn’t resign.
