Palestinian President suspends aide in sex scandal
By ANIMonday, February 15, 2010
JERUSALEM - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has suspended his chief of staff, Rafiq Husseini, who is embroiled in a sex scandal that has rocked the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
The scandal erupted after a former Palestinian intelligence official revealed secret footage and alleged that Husseini tried to trade his influence for sex.
The footage has sent shock waves through the conservative Palestinian society since it was broadcast on Israeli TV last week.
It shows the chief of staff waiting naked in bed for a Palestinian woman who was said to have come to the president’s office seeking government help.
Abbas had established a committee on Sunday to investigate the accusations and suspended Husseini pending the results of the inquiry, expected within three weeks, The New York Times reports.
Meanwhile, Husseini has asserted his innocence, saying that the tape had been doctored.
The accusations, which date to 2008, were made public by Fahmi Shabaneh, a former intelligence official who said he was frustrated by corruption within the Palestinian Authority and the authority’s lack of action in the face of evidence of financial and sexual misdoings, the latter involving Husseini. (ANI)
