$700 Million Missing From Palestinian Accounts

Now, here's a situation where money turns up missing in a kleptocracy. Not unusual. In all candor, I would have been falling-down astonished if the books had even come close to balancing with all funds accounted for.

From ArabNews.com:

At least $700 million of funds from the Palestinian Authority's coffers have been misused or stolen by officials over the past few years. Citing an internal investigation, Palestinian Attorney-General Ahmed Al-Moghani told reporters yesterday that 50 cases of "financial and administrative corruption" had been discovered and 25 officials arrested so far.

He said 10 officials had fled abroad but that the Palestinian Authority was seeking their extradition.

"The amount of money that was squandered and stolen is more than $700 million," Moghani said. "Some of these millions were transferred into personal accounts here and abroad."

Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri said it will be a top priority for the new government to go after the corrupt officials who stole the money and bring them to justice. Good luck with getting the money back. I expect Hamas will begin complaining and whining about the sorry state of finances, blaming it all on the corrupt previous administration. Then, fresh corrupt officials will go to work in the Hamas government and it will be business as usual.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.