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 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 four and seven billion pounds (6.3 and 11 billion dollars, 4.9 and 10.2 billion euros) into accounts around the world, which must now be tracked down.
Downing Street has estimated Saddam’s riches could total up to 13 billion pounds.
One of Saddam’s relative’s, 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 claimed to have 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 blood-thirsty, 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, managed to demonstrate how Saddam had siphoned off a fortune and hidden it around the world, according to the paper.
In August last year, Boscaro died when his paraglider plummeted to the ground from under a clear-blue sky.
“Officials who examined the canopy noticed cords were damaged,” said the paper.
“Within months coalition troops were on their way to Kuwait,” the paper continued. “However, the many millions Saddam siphoned off for his own purposes may never be fully traced, let alone recovered.”
AFP
