The 'Palestinian' Bernie Madoff
His name is Ihab al-Kurd and he is the largest tunnel operator in Gaza. He and some 200 others have been arrested over the disappearance of some $500 million invested in smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. Investment opportunities are rare in the Gaza Strip. So when Nabila Ghabin saw one last year, she pawned her car and jewelry and put $12,000 into a network of tunnels that brought in supplies smuggled from Egypt.Heh.
She was one of about 4,000 Gazans who gave cash to middlemen and tunnel operators in 2008 as Israel blocked the overland passage of goods. Then Israeli warplanes bombed the tunnels before and during the Dec. 27 to Jan. 18 Gaza offensive and the investments collapsed.
Now investors, who lost as much as $500 million, want their money back from Hamas, which runs Gaza. Hamas Economics Minister Ziad Zaza says about 200 people were taken into custody in connection with the tunnel investments; most have been released. Hamas is offering a partial repayment of 16.5 cents on the dollar using money recovered from Ihab al-Kurd, the biggest tunnel operator.
The imbroglio over the 800 to 1,000 tunnels has deepened Hamas’s decline in public opinion in Gaza and highlights the Wild West nature of the underground economy that supports this jammed enclave of 1.4 million people.
“When you compare the U.S. economy with ours and see how dependent we have become on the tunnels, I assure you that our scandal is much worse than Madoff,” said Omar Shaban, director of Pal-Think, an economic research institute in Gaza City, speaking of New York financier Bernard Madoff’s $65-billion Ponzi scheme.
...
“There is no transparency, no public records, no regulators, none of the mechanisms that would let you trace what happened to all the money that people invested in the tunnels,” said Samir Abdullah, the Palestinian Authority’s former planning minister. “The smugglers provide essential revenue for Hamas.”
For those of you wondering how these 'poor Palestinians' could have so much money to invest, where did you think your 'aid money' was going?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:21 PM
3 Comments:
If they're so poor, where did they find $500 million to invest?
Heh
I just think this story is such a hoot. the fact that these "investors" are demanding redress for being hoodwinked to invest in obvious IDF targets is just classic. what did they expect? idiots.
7 wounded in Gaza shootout
Published: 10.10.09, 16:58 / Israel News
Seven people were wounded during the clashes in Gaza city's Sabra neighborhood between Army of Islam gunmen and members of the Salafi al-Qaeda-affiliated faction. Both sides are part of the Doghmush clan.
Among the wounded is Zacharia Doghmush's brother, one of the clan's and the Popular Resistance Committees' leaders. (Ali Waked)
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