Fhami Shabana Provides Details About Scandal of the Abbas Secretary, Rafiq Al-Hussaini

Dr. Husseini On TV To Talk About “Scandal Report” Targeting Him

Friday February 12, 2010 11:46 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Head of the Palestinian President’s Office in Jerusalem, Dr. Rafiq Husseini (incorrectly spelled in the media as Al-Husseini), will be participating in the “All In The Open” program at the Palestinian TV to talk about the details of “corruption and scandal” issue invoked against him at a report by the Israeli TV.

Nimr Hammad, the political advisor to the acting Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas (whose legal term of office has expired), told the Palestine Radio that Al-Hussaini will present details on the issue and the accusations made by Fahmi Shabana, an official at the Palestinian General Intelligence Service.

Hammad said that this issue is a campaign targeting the credibility of President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority (P.A).

He added that Al-Hussaini will participate in this program to talk about “the personal issue of Shabana, and how the later was used by the Israeli media to defame Al-Hussaini and the P.A.".

Hammad further stated that Israel wants to place more pressure on President Abbas as he remains steadfast and rejects to abandon the legitimate Palestinian rights while Israel rejects to stop its settlement activities and rejects to recognize previously signed peace deals.

He also stated that the financial reports prepared by the European Union prove that President Mahmoud Abbas and his government are transparent and straightforward, and added that Israel tries to defame Abbas and his authority by faking corruption reports or by violence.

Some of the reports, he said are against Abbas, his sons, or the senior P.A. officials close to him.

Maher Shalabi, the anchor of the TV show, said that this program will be broadcast by the Palestinian TV on Friday.

Shalabi added that his show discusses political issues and presents them in a bold way by asking the right questions.

Rafiq Al-Hussaini agreed to participate in the program to present his side of the story and to respond to the allegations.

P.A Plans To Investigate Corruption Tape Scandal

Friday February 12, 2010 02:37 by IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli Ynet news reported Thursday that acting Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, is planning to investigate a video tape showing the Palestinian Authority’s head of bureau trying to solicit sexual relations, the report includes corruption and financial scandals.

Yet, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank still believes that the whole issue was fabricated by Israel.

The scandal was first reported by the Israeli Jerusalem Post newspaper and then was reported by Israel’s Channel 10 TV, as the TV station broadcast the tape that was recorded in 2008, and an interview with Shabana.

The tape reportedly shows Rafiq Hussaini (incorrectly spelled in the media as Al-Husseini), head of Abbas’ office, in an intimate situation with his secretary. It is believed that Husseini tried to entice a woman who asked to work at his office into being sexually active with him.

The Israeli report also showed Fahmi Shabana, an official at the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, accusing figures close to President Mahmoud Abbas and the late president, Yasser Arafat, of corruption that is estimated by millions of US Dollars.

In the tape, Al-Hussaini (incorrectly spelled in the media as Al-Husseini) reportedly says that Arafat was corrupt, and that he was “the biggest liar, who did not love his people, and his people never loved him”.

According to the report, he said that the sons of Mahmoud Abbas, Tareq and Yasser, are also corrupt doing their business on the expense of the Palestinians and their cause.

President Abbas is likely to call for an investigation into the issue upon his return from his visit to Japan.

The Ynet News said that some sources at the Palestinian Authority are stating that Shabanah is enjoying Israel’s support.

Shabanah told the Ynet that he wants to expose what he described as “huge corruption issues” and that he is trying to transfer documents he is in position off to an Arab state to verify their authenticity.

He added that the claims of obtaining Israel’s protection are false and that he was personally appointed by Abbas as the head of the security division of the General Intelligence, and was promised by Abbas to be appointed as the deputy governor of Jerusalem.

Mohmoud Al-Habash, the Palestinian Minister of Religious Affairs, confirmed reports about forming a commission of inquiry, and added that Al-Husseini agreed to the committee after the tape was released.

Al-Husseini said that is a political issue fabricated by Israel as the country is trying to provoke the Palestinian Authority into returning to the negotiations table without freezing settlement activities.

Shabana, who was interviewed by Channel 10, was briefly arrested and interrogated by the Israeli occupation government police in Jerusalem.

Shabana added that he was approached by a Palestinian woman, who told him that a senior Palestinian Authority official tried to convince her to have a sexual encounter with him.

The issue was presented before the head of the Palestinian Intelligence who said that it would be difficult to present this issue to Abbas as he won’t believe the allegations. That’s when the idea of filming the official in an indecent situation came along.

After arranging the date, and after Al-Husseini went to the bedroom of the woman, he took his clothes off and entered the bed of the woman who was cooperating with Shabana. At that moment Shabana entered the room instead of the women to find him waiting for the woman.

Al-Husseini then started to apologize and said “thank God it was you who caught me, instead of the Israeli intelligence”.

Al-Husseini then tried to bribe Shabana who rejected the bribe and said that he is not one of those officials who sell their concussions.

Shabana also said that Al-Husseini is offering 3-5 thousand dollars as monthly salaries for his female secretaries, and questioned the motive behind such offers and why nobody asks him about such huge salaries.

He added that he was surprised by the Israeli police breaking into his home and then filing four charges against him.

“They wanted to intimidate me”, Shabana said, “They accused me of spying on Israel, threatening Rafiq Al-Husseini, forming illegal organizations in Jerusalem, and being a member of the Palestinian security forces”.

Shabana stated that Israel did a favor to Al-Husseini and to all corrupt officials, adding that should he have been allowed to remain in his post, he would have been able to send all corrupt officials to court.

He further stated that if acting president, Mahmoud Abbas, does not do the right thing, and does not apprehend those corrupt officials, then he (Shabana) will be very close to the grave.

“Israel did a favor to Rafeeq Husseini and corrupt officials, as should I have been able to remain in my post, I would have been able to send all those officials to justice”, he concluded.

He called on Abbas to remove all those corrupt officials from his office and from their senior posts.

Reaction from Abbas:

Fatah Gate shakes the PA; Abbas threatens to resign if more scandals exposed

[11/02/2010 - 09:39 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

A high-ranking official in the office of former PA chief Mahmoud Abbas revealed Thursday that Abbas sent a message to Israeli premier (Netanyahu) that he will resign if more scandals of his associates are revealed to the public.

Abbas's threats came after a report aired by Israeli TV channel 10 showing Rafiq Al-Hussaini, the director of Abbas' office, sexually harassing two women who applied for job at his office.

The channel also revealed, with genuine documents, that millions of dollars were embezzled from the PA budget by high-ranking PA officials in Ramallah city who withdrew those money sums from the PA accounts in Cairo and Amman.

The source also added that Mohammed Dahlan, the information officer in Fat'h faction, held an emergency meeting with members of the faction's central committee to mull the suitable reply to the scandalous report but no information were made about the decisions taken in the meeting.

The Israeli channel has reportedly obtained the documents from PA intelligence officer Fahmi Shabana Al-Tamimi who had been collecting this information for nearly six years.

Shabana said that he has informed Abbas about the corruption of his close associates and others in Fat'h, but no action was taken by Abbas regarding those serious matters, prompting him to go to the Israeli channel.

"I have prepared my grave, and I told my family that I might be killed for the serious information and the secrets of the PA official I would reveal", Tamimi was quoted as saying in an interview with the Jerusalem Post last week.

According to Tamimi's revelation, millions of dollars were stolen by PA officials from the money donated by Arab and European countries for the Palestinian people.

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