Swedish financial scandal-support of Arafat

How Mr Pierre Schori-former swedish ambassador to UN- secured almost 300 000 000 krowns every year since 1994, to Arafat and his PLO. Pierre Schori did it despite
critical report of the expert, prof Sune Persson.
In this way,our country ,in fact,paid and still pay,palestinian
propaganda offensive , all over the world,and in Sweden.
Published here without permission of Ms Ewa Björling or Wall Street Journal

Aiding the Palestinians ---- By Ewa Bjorling The Wall Street Journal Europe via Dow Jones 25 November 2004
Yasser Arafat is no longer among us. President George W. Bush described his passing as a significant moment in Palestinian history and expressed the hope that the future would bring an independent, democratic Palestine at peace with its neighbors. British Prime Minister Blair called for a fair and durable settlement. In line with this approach, it is high time we revised our attitude towards aid to Palestine.
Given my role on the Swedish parliament's foreign affairs committee, I have spent considerable time investigating my own country's aid policy toward the Palestinian Authority. Sweden's example is symptomatic of a general problem in the EU: For too long, Europe has turned a blind eye to corruption, terror and human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories in a misguided effort to secure access and influence. The results have been disastrous. If Arafat's demise has opened an opportunity for peace, Europe's policy must be dramatically changed to seize it.
Along with a number of other countries in Europe and the Arab world, Sweden has long provided funding to the Palestinian Negotiation Support Unit (NSU). That's despite the fact that since the collapse of the peace talks this body has developed into a propaganda center for the PLO. It's astounding that several governments continue to support an outfit that's directly opposed to what it claims to uphold: democratic development, respect for human rights and the rule of law.
In 1997, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) commissioned Sune Persson of Goteborg University, an internationally known expert on Middle Eastern affairs, to provide a status report on the Palestinian Authority and its relationship with the citizens under its jurisdiction. His conclusions were unequivocal: "To continue to support Arafat and his corrupt regime is indefensible. As regards support for the peace process in the Middle East, Arafat's dictatorial one-man show is becoming an embarrassment."
Prof. Persson's closing recommendations were that "Swedish aid to the West Bank and Gaza should be cut back. Aid to the Palestinian civil society should continue. No Swedish development funding whatsoever should be given directly to the corrupt Palestinian Authority."
A few days before this report was to be presented, it was classified as secret. It has long been unclear who ordered this step or why. The present minister for development cooperation insists that it was Sida's decision. Other sources claim the foreign ministry was responsible. Due to this uncertainty, a colleague in parliament and I took the matter to the Swedish parliament's committee on the constitution for scrutiny. What we have long suspected, however, has now been confirmed by the author of the report: That the decision was taken by "someone" in authority at the foreign affairs ministry.
The decision is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that shortly afterwards, despite the conclusions of the Persson report, Pierre Schori visited Arafat in Ramallah, promised a further 158 million crowns ( 17.6 million) in aid to the Palestinian Authority, and invited him to visit Stockholm. Until recently, Mr. Schori was Sweden's ambassador to the U.N.; at the time, he was the minister responsible for development cooperation.
The need to protect Sweden's relations with a foreign power, or in this case with one of the sides in the Middle East conflict, can scarcely be cited to justify classifying a report written by an independent researcher. The decision did, however, allow the Swedish government to pursue a policy towards the Palestinian Authority that directly contravened the recommendations in the report. Nor can the suspicion be avoided that the report was classified as secret in order to preclude parliamentary scrutiny of the government's policies towards the Palestinian Authority and the Middle East conflict.
Recently, Forbes magazine reported that Arafat was one of the richest politicians in the world, having possessed over $200 million. A former Palestinian minister of finance has told the Associated Press that Arafat's financial empire amounted to between $2-4 billion. The IMF and the EU have both tried to throw light on Arafat's finances, but in vain. Two years ago, Arafat's finance minister went through the Palestinian Authority's coffers and found that approximately $1 billion was missing. The explanation given at the time was that the money had been lost through bad investment. Arafat himself refused to reveal how the money had been used, on security grounds. While he appears to have led a very simple life, it is clear that large sums have been used both to buy unquestioning loyalty and for political purposes, which was not at all what they were intended for.
Sweden is generally considered one of the most transparent societies in the world. Also, we like to describe ourselves as being at the forefront of the fight against corruption. I would like to go a step further and propose that we apply zero tolerance to corruption. Providing aid in corrupt environments is always risky. But that's all the more reason to carefully monitor the situation, and cut off aid to corrupt authorities.
My government should now clarify what steps it intends to take (together with the other countries involved) to guarantee that the taxpayer's money reaches the right destination, not least as this is a question of public assistance in an ongoing international conflict.
How do European governments imagine that they served the cause of peace by lavishly supporting a leader who oppressed his own people and tolerated widespread corruption? Donor countries must realize that they sent the wrong message and served only to paralyze Palestine by cementing the power of Arafat and his cronies. The Palestinians have, as the World Bank notes, "the highest per capita aid transfer in the history of foreign aid anywhere."

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Dr. Bjorling is a conservative member of the Swedish parliament's standing committee on foreign affairs.