-Caveat Lector- from: alt.current-events.clinton.whitewater The Sunday Times, London November 29 1998 Aid scandal: the misuse of housing cash will embarrass Tony Blair and Yasser Arafat by Stephen Grey British aid used to house Arafat elite BRITISH aid earmarked for poor Palestinians has been used by the European Union to finance luxury flats - with Italian granite-fitted designer kitchens - for rich supporters of Yasser Arafat. The scandal has benefited a general, a police chief and other acolytes of the Palestinian leader. The millions of pounds involved have been written off by Brussels. "In effect, $20m [12m pounds] has been spent without any economic controls and is not recoverable," admit the EU's own auditors. At least 2m pounds of this sum was contributed by Britain. The money had been targeted for cheap housing in the desperately poor and overcrowded Gaza Strip and the West Bank areas controlled by the Palestinians. Instead, according to a secret EU internal financial control report, it was used for flats designed with "elegance and luxury". Ten of the apartment blocks were built opposite a refugee camp at Nussairat, eight miles south of Gaza city. Each apartment is more than 100 square metres in size, with three bedrooms, a kitchen fitted with polished wooden cupboards and granite work-surfaces, and a bathroom complete with a large bath and shower area, decorated with either pink or blue ceramic tiles. Satellite television dishes sprout from the walls. The car parks are tightly packed with military vehicles and expensive civilian cars bearing red number plates, which are issued only to officials. Palestinian sources said 90% of the EU flats had been given to "returnees" - loyalists who had been in exile with Arafat and now served in his administration. Three have been taken over by a Palestinian brigadier-general, Mazan Iss Did. Another was taken by a police chief, Tala Abo Zaidi. The Palestinian ministry of industry also controls two flats. The housing project was part of a 60m pound aid package for the Palestinians announced after the Oslo peace accords with Israel. It has been administered by the Palestinian housing authority, which has refused to meet the EU auditors, according to their secret report. The original plan was for a self-sustaining building programme: cheap housing association mortgages would be available for Palestinians on modest incomes, whose payments would then finance further construction. Instead, building costs rose to 33,000 pounds for each apartment, 80% more than planned, due to split-level construction, entry phone systems and expensive lifts. This made them "inaccessible to the layer of population for which they were planned and has instead allowed well-to-do people, who were not targeted, to benefit from EU aid", said the auditors. Compounding the scandal, some of these affluent beneficiaries made low down payments - as little as 1,000 pounds, instead of the 20% required - and many are not keeping up their mortgage payments. "The degree of repayment of the loans on the part of the buyers in the Gaza Strip is zero," said the auditors. The aid programme is under the control of Manuel Marin, the Spanish commissioner for EU relations with the Middle East, who is already facing widespread criticism over his handling of fraud allegations in the EU's humanitarian aid budget when he was aid commissioner. The scandal has emerged as Britain prepares to announce in Washington tomorrow a doubling of aid to the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Derek Fatchett, the Foreign Office minister, will announce that more than 105m pounds will be spent over the next three years, half through EU programmes. More than 1.2 billion pounds has been given by all international donors to the Palestinians in the past five years. Fatchett said Britain had already voiced concerns to Arafat about corruption involving aid and planned to use tomorrow's announcement to demand much greater accountability and openness from the Palestinians. "Anyone going to Gaza is struck by its poverty and disadvantage. It is very important to ensure that the aid reaches those in the greatest need," he said. The Palestinian Authority's own auditors have already embarrassed Arafat with an inquiry which showed that nearly 40% of his administration's budget was misused or stolen through "kickbacks." The EU auditors warn the same corruption could apply to money in its projects and demanded "extreme vigilance". They are also critical of EU funding for a new hospital in Gaza, which was "not conceived correctly or run according to the principles of efficiency". More than 14m pounds was handed over to build a "luxurious" clinic which was far too lavish for local needs. "The cost of maintaining and using this hospital will be well over the financial means of this country," said the report. Additional reporting: Chris White and Matthew Kalman -- http://www.imagemuse.com "[Another] factor would be willful, reckless behavior in office; just totally incompetent conduct of the office..."-Bill Clinton, Feb. 1974 commenting on what constitutes "high crimes and misdemeanors". ========== Democratic contributor Chung gets 5 years probation for contributions 5.35 p.m. ET (2235 GMT) December 14, 1998 By Linda Deutsch, Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Johnny Chung, a fund-raiser who made nearly $30,000 in illegal contributions to Democratic causes, was sentenced Monday to five years probation by a federal judge. Chung was also ordered to do 3,000 hours of community service during the five-year period and to report to his probation officer every 180 days. Chung pleaded with U.S. District Judge Manuel Real for a "second chance to be a good citizen.'' A government prosecutor supported leniency for Chung, who has been cooperating with the government as part of his plea agreement. He admitted in March that he made an illegal $20,000 contribution to the 1996 Clinton-Gore re-election campaign. Chung, a Taiwanese-born U.S. citizen, said he used "straw donors'' to funnel the money and then reimburse them. Real, who had previously postponed the sentencing after receiving a letter from the Democratic National Committee, again expressed his surprise at the committee's claim that it was victimized by Chung. Real said that if the officials who wrote to him "didn't know what was going on, they are the dumbest politicians I've ever seen.'' Chung had also pleaded guilty to charges involving an $8,000 donation to the campaign of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., tax evasion and fraudulently obtaining a $157,500 loan for his Artesia, Calif., home. Chung could have faced 37 years in prison and $1.45 million in fines. Real delayed sentencing last month after reading an unsolicited letter from the DNC about Chung's improper contributions to the organization. The letter appeared in a presentencing probation report to the judge. Chung's lawyer and the judge agreed that the DNC letter portrayed the committee as a victim. The lawyer called it an attempt to portray his client negatively for sentencing and asserted that the DNC had aggressively solicited Chung. The judge decided to look at grand jury transcripts before sentencing Chung. The Los Angeles Times reported at the time that the letter claimed Chung deceived the Democrats about the questionable donations. It was also critical of Chung's role as a witness in the federal government's investigation. The letter reportedly flatly denied the organization knew any contributions were improper and instead insisted Chung took advantage of the DNC and caused its officials to file false campaign finance records. Chung donated nearly $400,000 to Democratic candidates and causes between 1994 and 1996. The money was returned after questions arose about its legality. In recent years Chung was a frequent visitor to the White House, once escorting Chinese businessmen who wanted to watch President Clinton deliver a radio address. He has said that in 1995 he was solicited for money by a White House staffer and delivered a $50,000 check to first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's office. © 1998, News America Digital Publishing, Inc. d/b/a Fox News Online. © 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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