Qusay's cash hoard recovered

WASHINGTON - Most of about US$1 billion ($1.75 billion) in currency taken by Saddam Hussein's son Qusay from the central bank in Baghdad just before the Iraq war has been recovered, a United States Treasury official said yesterday.

The Treasury's David Aufhauser said records kept by central bank officials indicated that it was probable that US$850 million in banknotes found by US troops in Baghdad in April was part of the hoard removed from the bank by Qusay.

Aufhauser told a hearing of a House of Representatives Financial Services subcommittee, it was "more likely than not" that much of the stolen currency had been recovered.

He said Iraq central bank employees kept good records of Qusay's withdrawal of US$900 million in US dollars and another US$100 million in euros, down to the number of boxes needed to ship the money: 236.

He said 191 of the boxes had been found, with about US$850 million in US dollars and US$100 million in euros.

It was the first time a US official had linked the cash found by US troops with the withdrawal from the central bank by Qusay. Hoards of cash were found in a number of places.

Aufhauser also said the search by the United States for the deposed Iraqi dictator's assets would continue, noting about US$495 million had been reported found and "secured" by Lebanon, to eventually be returned to Iraq's central bank.

He said there had apparently been "substantial leakage" over the years of Iraqi assets overseas that other countries had claimed they had frozen in connection with the first Gulf War in 1991.

About 30 countries had said they had blocked about US$2.35 billion in official Iraqi assets in 1991, Aufhauser said. But he said about US$1 billion remained unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, US military officials yesterday defended their approach to keeping Baghdad safe and said they were "aggressively targeting" looters. But they said they would not authorise a shoot-to-kill policy.



Major General Buford Blount, commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, said people arrested for looting were being held for about three weeks. He said 600 were detained at a holding facility at Baghdad airport. Those who committed a crime with the aid of a weapon would be detained until Iraq's judicial authorities were fully operational again, he said.

In the past day or two, 200 Iraqis have been arrested for criminal acts, said Lieutenant General David McKiernan, commander of US ground forces.

McKiernan said overall security in the city was improving, but he acknowledged that young Iraqi men presented a security concern because of high unemployment that is feeding resentment of US forces.

He also said holdouts from the Baath Party and the Saddam Fedayeen, a militia led by Saddam's other son, Uday, were another security threat.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq