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Dear List, I read an article over the weekend which said that the US has confiscated Iraqi (frozen) assets and is going to use the money to pay Iraqis (or others?) for services rendered. But I can't recall details and can't find the article now. If anyone knows more about this, please post it. My questions are: how can the US confiscate these assets? Are they not linked to the UN and the sanctions? And how can banks worldwide just hand over this money to the US? And please note that these arrangements were made as early as March 24!! Background: On March 24 or thereabouts, CBS reported that the US government has moved to seize over a billion dollars in Iraqi financial (frozen) assets and have them transferred to the Fed. Res. of NY. --- At the same time Treasury Secretary John Snow announced that the US is 1-- confiscating non-diplomatic Iraqi government assets in the United States and use the funds for the benefit and welfare of the Iraqi people, (True philanthropists - forgive me for being cynical.) 2-- calling upon the world to identify and freeze all assets of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi regime, and their agents... 3-- directing a worldwide hunt for the blood money that Hussein and his cronies have stolen from the Iraqi people. (What "blood money"? An odd tone to strike for a Treasury Secretary.) "Snow announces global effort to hunt for Hussein's assets and use regime's assets for the benefit and welfare of the Iraqi people." See at: http://www.ustreas.gov/news/index1.html#content --- On March 24, a Swiss (UBS) bank announced that it will transfer frozen Iraqi-held deposits in the United States to US authorities. UBS said "the funds, blocked in 1990 under United Nations sanctions, had been confiscated by the US Treasury and would be transferred to the US government soon." Well, apparently, this has now happened. It seems outrageous, and reminds me of pronouncements made by a US senator several months ago that Iraq should be made to pay for this war. --Elga Here is the full article by Swiss Info: <START FWD> http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=161&sid=1715459 Monday 24.03.2003, CET 20:42 UBS to hand over frozen Iraqi money swissinfo March 24, 2003 1:55 PM UBS says it holds millions of dollars of Iraqi assets in the US UBS says it holds millions of dollars of Iraqi assets in the US (Keystone Archive) Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, has said it will transfer frozen Iraqi-held deposits in the United States to US authorities. UBS said the funds, blocked in 1990 under United Nations sanctions, had been confiscated by the US Treasury and would be transferred to the US government soon. The confiscation is part of an order last week from the Treasury Department to 17 banks in the US. The total money involved, said to be about $1.74 billion (SFr2.41 billion) without interest, comes from transactions between US oil firms and the Iraqi state oil company, the UBS spokesman added. He declined to reveal how much cash was involved in UBS's case but confirmed it was likely to be in the millions of dollars. Reconstruction The US has pledged to use most of the money for a fund earmarked for rebuilding and providing humanitarian aid to the Iraqi population. The Swiss foreign ministry on Friday reported that Washington had asked Switzerland to freeze any bank accounts held by Iraq's President Saddam Hussein and his associates. There has been no official reply, but the Swiss finance minister said earlier this month that there were no signs that Saddam Hussein had accounts in the country. "That statement is still valid. We have no indications that he had money in Switzerland," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Livio Zanolari. "But you can never rule anything out," he added. <END> _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk