Where's Arafat's Money?

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In August 2002, international donors forced Arafat to sign over his investments to the Palestine Investment Fund, which was audited by U.S. accountants and managed by Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, a former International Monetary Fund official. After scouring corporations throughout the Arab world and bank accounts in the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg, the auditors identified $800 million, which has been made a part of the Palestinian Authority's official budget. "It's the most successful financial reform in the Arab world," says Jim Prince, president of the Los Angeles — based Democracy Council and head of the audit team.

People close to Fayyad's investigation tell TIME that last year the auditors discovered that Arafat was guilty of skimming $2 million a month from the gasoline trade in the territories. Breaking the gasoline smuggling and corruption boosted the Palestinian Authority's official treasury by $10 million a month and cut gas prices for ordinary Palestinians. But Arafat's death means his followers may never know just how much more they may be owed.