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 French court freezes sale of Saddam's £17m yacht
The Guardian, Friday February 8 2008
... what was indicated in the Guardian is considered as a part of the
scandals series of the graved SADDAM regime .
The Ocean Breeze comes in a modest 34th in the league table of super-yachts. For the paranoid billionaire, however, this 82-metre vessel offers some must-have features: storage space for surface-to-air missiles, bulletproof glass and, in case things get too hot, a secret passage leading to a mini-submarine escape pod.
Moored at Nice since 2003, the yacht was put up for sale for £17m by the UK brokers Burgess London in December. But the sale is now frozen under French law while the true owners are established. The chief contender is the government of Iraq.
The vessel was one of Saddam Hussein's little secrets. Built by Danish shipbuilders in 1981 at the start of the first Iraq-Iran war, the floating palace, with a hospital and a helicopter pad, was decorated with gold, silver, fine mahogany and marble. It was, said the builders, "lavish in every detail and very Arabic in style".
Originally called Qadissiyat Saddam, after a battle won by the Arabs over the Persians, it never made it to Iraq. For 10 years it was moored in Saudi waters with 35 crew on permanent standby. For reasons not entirely clear, but possibly linked to the invasion of Kuwait, it was taken over by the Saudi royal family and renamed al-Yamamah.
Last spring the Saudis offered it to King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Iraqi authorities said the yacht should be handed over. "We believe the yacht belongs to the government of Iraq, and we have the documents to prove that the government ordered the yacht to be built," Ardavan Amir Aslani, a lawyer for the government, told France Info radio.
The sale is still going ahead, Burgess's marketing director said yesterday. "There is this disputed question of ownership, this is nothing new. We've referred everything back to the owners," said Alev Karagulle, who refused to name the owners.
This is the latest effort to seize assets of Saddam and his regime in France, including two villas near Cannes. After the 2003 war more than $5bn of Saddam's assets were seized worldwide.
Invitation :
The Commission for the Resolution of Real Property Disputes presents its warm regards and sincere compliments wishing you all progress, and would like to avail the opportunity of the issuance of the New CRRPD's Law No.( 2 ) of the year 2006 which is entered into force on 6/3/ 2006 after its publication the official Gazette.
It is our pleasure to extend an invitation wherewhich we invite Universities Teachers and distinguished Academic personnel of both cultural and legal Medias to contribute on the studying and discussing the CRRPD New Law which tackled the negative gaps found in the previous CRRPD's Law , with the different legal, social , economic and legitimate aspects.
We are honored to receive your participations & contributions regarding the study of the aforesaid Law for instant your opinions & point of views of its provisions and applications together with the mechanism thereof ; taking into consideration that your participation & contribution will be published in the CRRPD interior Magazine which will be issued in the nearest future and definitely will enhance , strengthen and support the legal education .
Availing this occasion once again to extend our thankfulness for your contribution & looking forward to receive your positive participation and response which will be highly appreciated .
Mr.Ahmed S.Al-Barrak Head of the CRRPD had returned to Baghdad from Geneva after heading the CRRPD’s official delegation that had participated in the sessions and discussions of the Research and Studies branch of the CRRPD held in both Geneve and Amman .
The delegation included Seniors Staff of the CRRPD’s Headquarter. In addition to that ,the discussions included also pursing the joint matters between both IOM and UNHCR International Organizations which are closely related to the CRRPD’s working process. |
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