Saddam 'details stolen billions'

Saddam: Long suspected of siphoning off billions

Iraq's ousted leader Saddam Hussein has given his captors information about billions of dollars he stashed abroad while in power, an Iraqi official says.

Iyad Allawi of the Iraqi Governing Council told two Arabic newspapers that Saddam Hussein had also named people who knew where the money was deposited.

Mr Allawi's comments have so far not been confirmed by other IGC members.

Saddam Hussein has been held at an undisclosed location since his capture by US forces on 14 December.

Fictitious names

Mr Allawi told London-based newspapers Al-Hayat and Asharq al-Awsat that Saddam Hussein had acknowledged sending money to foreign bank accounts before he was deposed.

"Saddam has started to give information on money that has been looted from Iraq and deposited abroad," Mr Allawi said, adding that the amount stolen was put at $40bn.

"We have asked international legal and specialised companies to follow up the money (Saddam Hussein) deposited in Switzerland, Germany and Japan and other countries under fictitious company names," Mr Allawi told Al-Hayat.

Mr Allawi said that interrogators were now focusing on what links Saddam Hussein may have with the militant groups attacking coalition forces and what funds were being paid to "elements outside Iraq".

The former president has also revealed information about weapons being used by insurgents, according to Mr Allawi.

"He gave names of those who have information on equipment and weapons warehouses."

Another member of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council said he had information that Saddam Hussein had begun to give the names of people inside Iraq who were attacking coalition forces.

But he had not revealed anything about funds, Ahmed al-Bayak told the Associated Press.

Attacks and arrests

Before Saddam Hussein's capture, US officials said that money the former president withdrew from the Iraqi Central Bank may be funding attacks on coaltion forces.

US forces are as much on alert for attacks as ever

Iraq's deposed leader is said to have authorised the removal of about $1bn in US dollar notes on three trucks just hours before the US began its bombarmenbt of Baghdad in March.

It is not clear whether or to what extent Saddam Hussein was involved in the attacks on coalition forces.

Guerrilla activity has not stopped in Iraq since his capture.

The US military says several hundred militants have been arrested as a result of information gleaned following Saddam Hussein's arrest.

Speaking in a US television interview on 21 December, General Richard Myers, head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "We've put our best interrogators on him.

But he added: "The only word I have is that he is not being co-operative."