Theft in A Nutshell

The Gay Secretary

A top member of Iraq's security forces claims that the United States seized the assets of former dictator Saddam Hussein held in various western European countries and kept them 'in its coffers'.

"The United States was able to locate personal property and real estate belonging to the former dictator, his family, and his collaborators, with a total value of more than five billion dollars, and take possession of this treasure," said Ali al-Baghdadi in an interview with official Iranian news agency Fars.

"They ended up in Washington's coffers," al-Baghdadi claimed.

During the interview, al-Baghdadi claims that several bank accounts belonging to 11 people, collaborators and family members of the former dictator were seized, as well as stocks in a Dutch pharmaceutical company.

He says that Saddam's 'treasure' had been deposited in foreign banks and financial institutions where he claims his accounts totalled over 100 billion dollars.

"(It's) A treasure that the Americans, as well as the government in Baghdad, prefer not to talk about," he said.

"Part of this treasure deposited in western European countries and Yemen ended in the hands of former Baath party members (Saddam Hussein's party) that were able to escape capture and resettle in other Arab countries," concluded al-Baghdadi.

Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on 5 November after a year-long trial over the killings of 148 Shias from the town of Dujail in the 1980s.

He was executed by hanging for crimes against humanity in northern Baghdad in December 2006.