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PA SMUGGLES DONOR FUNDING ABROAD

LONDON [MENL] -- The European Union said a significant portion of the more than $1 billion in aid to the Palestinian Authority has been pocketed by Palestinian leaders.

The EU fraud squad, known as Olaf, issued a report that said the PA sent hundreds of millions of dollars to bank accounts in Switzerland and Tunisia. Olaf, concluding a two-year investigation, said other donor funding was probably pocketed by PA officials.

"There are consistent indications to support the hypothesis that it cannot be excluded that some of the assets of the PA may have been used by some individuals for other than the intended purposes," the report said.

Olaf said the PA leadership transferred $238 million to Swiss bank accounts between 1997 and 2000 without informing its international donors. The report said this did not involve European Commission funds transferred directly to the PA starting in November 2000, following the outbreak of the Palestinian war against Israel.

NOTE: The above is not the full item.

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