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Husseins took 1b bank { May 6 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/06/international/worldspecial/06BANK.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/06/international/worldspecial/06BANK.html
May 6, 2003
Hussein's Son Took $1 Billion Just Before War, Bank Aide Says
By DEXTER FILKINS
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 5 — In the hours before American bombs began falling on the Iraqi capital, one of President Saddam Hussein's sons and a close adviser carried off nearly $1 billion in cash from the country's Central Bank, according to American and Iraqi officials here.
The removal of the money, which would amount to one of the largest bank robberies in history, was performed under the direct orders of Mr. Hussein, according to an Iraqi official with knowledge of the incident. The official, who asked not to be identified, said that no financial rationale had been offered for removing the money from the bank's vaults, and that no one had been told where the money would be taken.
"When you get an order from Saddam Hussein, you do not discuss it," said the Iraqi official, who held a senior position in a bank under Mr. Hussein's government. He said he had been told about the seizure of the cash by the Iraqi financial officials who had turned over the money to Mr. Hussein's son and the adviser.
The allegations provide a glimpse into the final days of Mr. Hussein's rule — which, with its emphasis on family connections, has been compared to the mafia — and perhaps a clue about how he intended to finance his escape and survive out of power.
Qusay Saddam Hussein, Mr. Hussein's second son, presided over the seizure of the money, along with Abid al-Hamid Mahmood, the president's personal assistant, the Iraqi official here said. The seizure took place at 4 a.m. on March 18, just hours before the first American air assault.
The two men carried a letter from the president, bearing his signature, authorizing the removal of the money, the official said.
The sheer volume of the cash was so great — some $900 million in American $100 bills and as much as $100 million worth of euros — that three tractor-trailers were needed to cart it off, the Iraqi official said. It took a team of workers two hours to load up the cash. Their work was completed before employees of the downtown Baghdad bank arrived for work.
The seizure of the money was confirmed by a United States Treasury official assigned to work with Iraqi financial officers here to rebuild the country's banking and financial system.
Iraqi officials said they were uncertain of the effects that the disappearance of $1 billion would have on the Iraqi economy. The Iraqi official said the removal of the money amounted to about a quarter of the Central Bank's hard currency reserves.
The billion dollars is nearly twice the amount of hard currency believed to have been looted by Iraqis in the three weeks after the collapse of the Iraqi government. American and Iraqi officials said about $400 million in American dollars and at least $40 million in Iraqi currency were taken by looters from banks across the country after April 9.
The disappearance of such a sizable amount of cash as $1 billion is giving rise to fears here that it is being used to finance remnants of Mr. Hussein's government, many of whose senior members are believed to be hiding in Baghdad or its environs.
Some members of the Iraqi National Congress, an umbrella organization for groups that opposed Mr. Hussein, assert that the money may be a central element in what they described as an extensive "post-occupation strategy" devised by Mr. Hussein that envisioned an American takeover of the capital and his eventual return to power.
Neither Iraqi nor American officials claimed to know the whereabouts of the $1 billion or, for that matter, of Saddam Hussein, Qusay Hussein or Mr. Mahmood. All three men are being sought by the United States.
The Iraqi official insisted on anonymity because, he said, he feared that he could fall victim to Mr. Hussein or one of his associates who remain at large.
Some Americans suspect that the money may have been spirited across the border into Syria, in much the same way some senior officials in Mr. Hussein's government are believed to have fled Iraq.
Col. Ted Seel, a United States Army Special Forces officer who said he was aware of the seizure of money from the Central Bank, said intelligence information at the time indicated that a group of tractor-trailers crossed the Iraqi border into Syria. Colonel Seel, who is assigned to the Iraqi National Congress, said the trucks' contents were unknown.
Mr. Hussein held near-absolute power in his government, and so, in a sense, it is unclear what laws might have been violated by the cash seizure. But the Iraqi bank official said the country's banks had been largely left alone during Mr. Hussein's years in power. He said the president and his family would sometimes demand cash from Iraqi banks but not in the amounts said to have been taken on March 18.
"Sometimes they would come in for small amounts, maybe $5 million," the official said.
In the case of the $1 billion, the official said Qusay Hussein and Mr. Mahmood had brought five Iraqi officials with them to the bank: the director of the Central Bank, the Iraqi finance minister and the director of the Iraqi treasury. The only others present, he said, were workers to load the money and the drivers of the trucks.
The Iraqi official, as well as others in Baghdad, said the former Iraqi finance minister, identified as Hekmet al-Azawi, was in American custody.
George Mullinax, an official with the Treasury Department, said the money had been taken by "Saddam Hussein's people." He put the figure taken at about $900 million.
"If you had $900 million dollars, you would need two or three flatbed trucks to carry it all away," he said.
Mr. Mullinax said it was possible that a large chunk of the money had already been recovered. He said the roughly $650 million in American $100 bills discovered by an American sergeant in one of Mr. Hussein's palaces last month might be from the Central Bank. He said that had not been determined for certain.
The Iraqi official, however, said the $650 million certainly belonged to Mr. Hussein's eldest son, Uday, who, he said, was known for hoarding vast stores of personal cash. "That was Uday's money," he said.
American and Iraqi officials have recovered other large sums of cash since the fall of the Hussein government. Last month, Iraqi bank officials, with the help of American soldiers, recovered an armored car loaded with about $250 million in American currency.
Dhia Habib al-Khyoun, chairman of Rafidain Bank, one of Iraq's largest, said the $250 million had been gathered into the armored car from branch banks around the country.
While it was unclear for what purpose the $1 billion was taken, it seems clear that Mr. Hussein took steps in the dying days of his government to safeguard at least some of its money.
In early March, Mr. Khyoun said, he was ordered to disburse the Rafidain's Bank hard currency deposits to branches around Baghdad. He said the goal was to safeguard some hard currency in case the headquarters of the bank was bombed.
Mr. Mullinax, the Treasury official, said he believed that the Central Bank's vaults had not been opened since the beginning of the war. But the Iraqi official said some 18 billion Iraqi dinars, or about $9 million, had been taken by looters from the bank.
American troops have since sealed off the area around the Central Bank and have barred entry to all but its employees.
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