PA Still Stealing “Hundreds of Millions” in Financial Aid

It is well known that the Palestinian Authority has been a kleptocracy from the very beginning. And Hamas is no different; see, for example, Hamas Stealing Aid Supplies to Sell to Gazans. But still it helps to keep bringing to light the ongoing examples, as columnist and commentator Khaled Abu Toameh does when reporting that the PA is still stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid:

Donor countries have yet to respond to revelations by former Palestinian intelligence official Fahmi Shabaneh that some of Mahmoud Abbas’ close aides had siphoned off to private bank accounts hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for financial aid to the Palestinians.

Shabaneh expressed frustration over the way the international media has been handling his exposures: “Don’t the Americans, Europeans and Arabs care about their money that is being stolen?”

A former PA minister convinced Abbas and Arafat to give him about $5 million of international aid so that he could purchase land in Jerusalem “before Jews lay their hands on them.” Shabaneh’s investigations showed that the minister deposited most of the money in his private bank account and built a huge, luxurious villa on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Shabaneh also discovered that a former PA finance minister had deposited $8 million in his private bank account.

These are only a few… of the hundreds of cases Shabaneh dealt with when he was in his job, according to the former Palestinian intelligence official, who is now “wanted” by the Palestinian Authority on charges of “collaboration with the Israeli enemy.”

Shabaneh says that since Abbas appointed him as the chief corruption-buster in the Palestinian Authority six years ago, he has collected incriminating evidence against dozens of senior officials, in addition to the president’s two sons, Yasser and Tarek.

Abbas, meanwhile, has cut off Shabaneh’s salary to punish him for speaking out against corruption…

Actually, there is a bit of cosmic justice here. Many nations who helped foist the PA on Israel, all in the name of a very dubious peace. It therefore gives some pleasure to see those nations’ billions in financial aid to the PA being flushed down the drain.