IRAQ: Saddam Hussein has started "co-operating" with his American interrogators and has admitted hiding millions of dollars in secret international bank accounts, a senior member of Iraq's governing council said last night.
After more than two weeks in US custody, the former dictator has told investigators the names of people who know where the money is, according to Iyad Alawi, the head of the Iraqi National Accord, one of the country's political parties.
"Saddam has started to give information on money that has been looted from Iraq and deposited abroad," Mr Alawi told the London-based Arab newspapers al-Hayat and Asharq al-Awsat. "Investigation is now concentrated on his relationship with terrorist organisations and on the money paid to elements outside Iraq."
The US-appointed council believes the former president accumulated as much as $40 billion during his years in power, which he hid in accounts in Switzerland, Japan, Germany and other countries. According to Mr Alawi, Saddam has also given information on the whereabouts of arms and ammunition depots supplying the resistance.
The ex-president had so far refused to talk about weapons of mass destruction.
The claim came after Japan agreed yesterday to forgive the "vast majority" of Iraqi debt following a visit to Tokyo by the US special envoy, Mr James Baker. Mr Baker completed the final leg of an unexpectedly successful tour to persuade creditor countries to waive Iraq's huge debts.
Japan is owed $4.1 billion, making it the biggest creditor. In the past it suggested it would insist on Iraq repaying in full with earnings from oil revenues.
No figures were mentioned yesterday, but the country said it was willing to offer substantial debt relief as part of an agreement among members of the Paris Club, an informal group of 19 creditor states that are owed $40 billion. Iraq also owes $80 billion to other countries and individuals.
Mr Baker yesterday flew to Beijing for talks with the Chinese premier, Mr Wen Jiabao. According to the Xinhua news agency, Mr Wen told the envoy that China would consider reducing the debts owed to it by Iraq "out of humanitarian concern".
This month Mr Baker reached agreements on debt relief with several European countries, including France and Germany. - (Guardian Service)
US forces said they killed three suspected members of a group linked to al-Qaeda in a gunbattle in Iraq. US military officers said the men were killed during a raid on a house in Mosul on Sunday night, and were "suspected members of the Ansar al-Islam terrorist group". - (Reuters)