Did Austrian far-right leader receive hidden £40m fortune thanks to funding from Sadd

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The £40million fortune of far-right Austrian politician Joerg Haider has been linked to alleged payments from Colonel Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein

Haider, who died while drink driving in October 2008, was a regional governor with a £125,000-a-year salary but had as many as 12 secret accounts in Liechtenstein.

Police have discovered a diary containing details of alleged cash transactions between Haider, the late Iraqi dictator and Libya's Gaddafi.

The former head of the Freedom Party visited Saddam on the eve of the Iraq war and was received in Tripoli by Gaddafi when the Libyan leader was still shunned over Lockerbie.


He also counted Gaddafi's son a close friend.

The diary, by former Freedom Party politician Walter Meischberger, mentions a £37.3million transfer from Gaddafi and states that more than £8.3million was brought back from Iraq.

It also mentions a Haider confidant who supposedly brought £4.2million from Switzerland to Germany for 'investment purposes'. The diary says this came from an account belonging to Saddam's dead sons.

Meischberger cites Haider's former protocol chief Franz Koloini as his source.

Claudia Haider, the politician's widow, has denied any knowledge of the hidden funds.

Extracts from the confiscated black booklet - handwritten by former Freedom Party politician Walter Meischberger - are to be published in Wednesday's issue of Falter, a respected Vienna weekly.


A weekend report in the magazine Profil said Haider had secretly stashed up to 45 million euro in a complex network of trust accounts in Liechtenstein.

The principality's prosecutor's office said it had no confiscated material confirming the existence of such accounts.

According to an advance copy of the Falter article, the diary mentions a 45 million euro transfer from Gadhafi, as well as more than 10 million euro that unidentified individuals brought home from Iraq.



More...Riddle of Haider's secret £40m: Cash found in European principality of Liechtenstein

It also references an anonymous Haider confidant who supposedly brought a suitcase filled with 5 million euro from Switzerland to the German city of Munich for investment purposes.


According to the diary, the money came from a Swiss account belonging to the dead sons of Saddam Hussein.

Meischberger cites Haider's former protocol chief Franz Koloini as his source, referring to him at times as ‘Franzi.’
Koloini, who could not independently be reached for comment, was quoted by Austrian broadcaster ORF as saying he met with Meischberger but told him only about rumors, not facts, and that he didn't know if there had been payments by Saddam or Gadhafi.
Meischberger's lawyer also could not be reached for comment.

A spokesman for the Vienna public prosecutor's office, Thomas Vecsey, confirmed the existence of the diary but declined to comment on its contents, saying it was under investigation.

A lawyer for Saddam Hussein and his family, who requested to remain anonymous, said he had no knowledge of any purported transfer of 5 million euro.

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