By Mustafa Caglayan
NEW YORK
Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is alleged to have amassed as much as $60 billion during his 33-year rule that ended in 2012, a team of UN experts said in a report circulated Wednesday.
The experts, who monitor the implementation of UN-imposed sanctions and asset freezes on Saleh and two allied commanders, say the former president is alleged to have amassed assets worth between $32 billion and $60 billion in the form of property, cash, shares, gold and other valuable commodities.
Most of these assets are believed to "have been transferred abroad under false names or the names of others holding the assets on his behalf," the report said.
Yemen's annual gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic output and growth, was $58.2 billion in 2012, according to the International Monetary Fund.
The report said Saleh's suspected assets were believed to be located in at least 20 countries.
"Former President Saleh has had many years to hide these assets, and in particular, nearly a year to believe that he may soon be subject to sanctions in the form of an asset freeze," read the report.
The UN Security Council slapped a visa ban and assets freeze sanctions on Saleh and two Houthi leaders in November 2014 for threatening peace in the impoverished country.
The 15-member Council on Tuesday renewed the sanctions.
