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REPORT: Saddam Son Took $1 Billion from Iraq Vaults

Tuesday, May 6, 2003
(7:08 AM)
Reuters

Col. Ted Seel, a U.S. army special forces officer, said he was aware of the seizure of cash, the newspaper reported. He said there was intelligence information at the time that suggested a group of tractor trailers were crossing into Syria from Iraq.

Image Credit: The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Reuters
A son of Saddam Hussein and a close adviser carried off nearly $1 billion in cash from Iraq's central bank hours before the U.S.-led war on the country began, the New York Times reported on its Web site late on Monday.

The amount of cash was so large -- $900 million in American bills and $100 million worth of euros -- that three tractor trailers were needed to carry it, the newspaper reported, citing an Iraqi official.

The alleged removal was said to have been ordered by Saddam himself. Qusay, the deposed leader's second son, and one of the president's personal assistants, Abid al-Hamid Mahmood, carried a letter from Saddam authorizing the removal of the money, the newspaper reported.

"When you get an order from Saddam Hussein, you do not discuss it," an unnamed Iraqi official who held a senior position in a bank told The Times. The unnamed official was told about the removal of the cash by the people who turned it over to Qusay and the adviser, the newspaper reported.
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2003 © Reuters, Ltd.

Dan