-Caveat Lector-
"Safra's chief of security was Israeli-trained. Since 1985 --[after the
Iran-Contra hearings]-- the banker had been protected by 'former' [Mossad]
agents.".
Banker's Nurse Admits Setting Fire
By IAN PHILLIPS
.c The Associated Press
MONTE CARLO, Monaco (AP) - An American nurse who initially told police that
hooded intruders set the fire that killed billionaire banker Edmond Safra
admitted today that he started the blaze himself, Monaco's chief prosecutor
said.
Ted Maher, 41, told police that he set the fire in an effort to get back at
another member of Safra's staff and had not intended to kill the banker,
Prosecutor Daniel Serdet told a news conference.
Maher confessed this morning. He will be charged with arson leading to two
deaths, a crime punishable by life in prison, Serdet said.
Safra, 67, suffocated Friday along with another American nurse, Viviane
Torrent, in the fire at his luxury seaside apartment in Monaco. The banker,
the founder of the Republic National Bank of New York and one of the world's
wealthiest men, was under medical care for Parkinson's disease.
Safra's wife, Lily, who had taken refuge in another room after a security
alarm sounded shortly before the fire, was unharmed.
Police said that before he died, Safra spoke to his wife twice from the
bathroom using his mobile phone. Officials said the 67-year-old Lebanese-born
businessman was still alive when firefighters arrived at his burning
apartment, but he ignored their pleas to unlock the bathroom door, fearing
that assailants were outside.
However, a source with detailed knowledge of the case said that Safra called
police twice while he was coughing in the smoke-filled bathroom and begged
them to get him out. Reports that Safra had talked to his wife and refused to
open the door were ``totally untrue,'' the source said.
The source said that Maher had told investigators he wanted to be a hero by
saving his boss.
Serdet said Maher told authorities he acted alone. He appeared
psychologically unstable, was on medication and stabbed himself twice to
mislead police, Serdet said.
``It was my own dark ideas which led me to do this,'' Serdet quoted Maher as
saying.
``He wanted to settle an account with another member of the staff and also
bring attention to himself,'' Serdet said.
Police had cast doubt on Maher's previous version of events - that two hooded
men had entered Safra's apartment and set the pre-dawn fire.
Serdet said that detailed knowledge of the high-security apartment building -
and a key - would have been required to break in.
Maher was hospitalized after the fire with a knife wound in his stomach and
one in his thigh. The wounds were not life-threatening, officials said.
``He has confessed that he stabbed himself twice to try to cover up the
affair,'' Serdet said.
A bloodstained, 3-inch switchblade knife was found in the apartment, but it
was not known whether fingerprints had been traced. According to the French
daily Le Monde, the knife belonged to Maher.
The arson was not financially motivated, Serdet said.
Maher earned $600 a day, Serdet said and told police he had ``spoiled the
most beautiful job he had ever had.''
Maher, who is married and has three children, had worked for Safra for five
months, but he had been in Monaco just six weeks. He originally hailed from
Auburn, Maine, and later moved to Stormville, N.Y., officials said.
According to the prosecutor, Maher apparently had a conflict with the head of
Safra's medical team that pushed him to set the fire. It was unclear why he
felt a fire would settle the score.
Maher had been next to Safra's bed from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. Friday morning when
he was replaced by Torrent, Serdet said. He then went to sleep in a small
room with a bed next to Safra's room.
``If he had wanted to kill Safra, he would have had 10,000 chances a day,''
Serdet said.
French and Italian media reported today that Safra's chief of security was
Israeli-trained and the banker had been protected by former Israeli security
agents since 1985.
In Geneva, about 700 mourners gathered today for Safra's funeral and burial.
Safra had long-standing connections with Geneva, where he was a resident for
several years and retained a home.
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