At least $700 million of funds from the Palestinian Authority's coffers have been squandered or stolen by officials over the past few years, an internal investigation has revealed. The news comes as Israeli officials agreed on Sunday to make an overdue payment of about $45 million owed to the Palestinians, but say future transfers will be halted once Hamas forms the next Palestinian government. Commenting on the PA squandering issue, Ahmed al-Moghani, Palestinian attorney-general, said: "There are 50 cases of financial and administrative corruption. The amount of money that was squandered and stolen is more than $700 million." Moghani said 25 officials had been arrested so far and 10 had fled abroad. He said the Palestinian Authority was seeking their extradition. Among the cases under investigation involved a fictitious pipe factory funded by $4 million of Palestinian Authority cash and $2 million of Italian aid money, he said. "The factory existed only on paper and the investigation is under way to find out where the money went," Moghani said.
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