Saddam's secret 'Satan' slush fund: Financial adviser reveals dictator's Euro cash stash

A financial adviser to Saddam Hussein has revealed how the Iraqi dictator channeled hundreds of millions of dollars into secretive offshore companies – including one account codenamed "Satan."

For more than 10 years, Elio Borradori, a company trustee in the Swiss and Lichtenstein tax havens, managed the huge "commissions" and "consultancy fees" from the Iraqi dictator's arms deals and development contracts, reports the London Sunday Times.

The money was funneled into companies controlled by Hussein's appointees operating through Panama, the Bahamas and Switzerland. It is thought to have partly funded the dictator's palaces and lavish lifestyle.

Many of the millions moved in and out of an account codenamed "Satan," which was originally overseen by a relative of the Iraqi leader. But Saad al-Mahdi made the mistake of falling out with Saddam and was executed, possibly for pilfering from the Satan account, reports the Times. A Swiss lawyer took over some of the companies, while others went into the hands of Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother.

The network of offshore companies remained active long after United Nations sanctions were imposed on Iraq at the end of the war.

The Sunday Times has uncovered more than 1,000 documents, some of which confirm Borradori's role. They also provide indications of export deals relating to Dassault and Thomson-CSF, two French arms companies (then state owned), and to Russian firms.

Borradori, who said he met Hussein in person several times, retired some years ago to live quietly in Switzerland. But a Lugano court case brought by the al-Mahdi family, and the mysterious death of one of the lawyers involved, revealed documents relating to Saddam’s secret network of companies. Now 75 and living on the southern shores of Lake Lugano, Borradori admitted he was Hussein's banking adviser.

Through a business associate in Italy he was introduced to al-Tikriti, the then head of Iraqi intelligence. Oil prices were soaring and Iraq was on a buying spree. Saddam, then a rising power in the government before becoming president in 1979, was keen to get a share of the contracts negotiated by the state. Borradori was hired to set up companies as havens for the money.

"Is it worse to work as a trustee of Saddam Hussein than to work for a mafia godfather or a drug trader, or for Albanian serial killers, for people trading radioactive waste?" he asked the Times. "If the answer is yes, everyone in Switzerland should destroy their passports."

Saddam constructed at least 50 palaces, with expensive if tasteless fittings. His son Uday bought scores of luxury cars, including a red Rolls-Royce Corniche. Millions more went to cronies.

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2 posted on 04/15/2003 12:03:48 AM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)

Borradori is unapologetic about his work with Hussein.
"Is it worse to work as a trustee of Saddam Hussein than to work for a mafia godfather or a drug trader, or for Albanian serial killers, for people trading radioactive waste?" he asked the Times. "If the answer is yes, everyone in Switzerland should destroy their passports."

Sounds good to me. Actually, this sounds like a good argument for putting Switzerland on the axis of evil list.

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