Alps Murder Victim Had Saddam Hussein's Money

The British engineer killed in the French Alps may have been murdered for holding some of Saddam Hussein's private fortune, the Telegraph reports. German secret police have given French authorities evidence to that effect to help in their investigation of Iraqi-born Saad Al-Hilli, who was killed on September 5 with his wife, his mother-in-law, and a French cyclist. Al-Hilli's two daughters survived the attack, but were left deeply traumatized.

Hussein withdrew nearly $1 billion from an Iraqi bank in 2003 and started hiding it around the world in the bank accounts of Iraqi emigrants. But it's not clear whether Al-Hilli's father, Kadhim, received any money, because he had a falling out with Hussein's Ba'ath Party before leaving in the 1970s. French police have rejected the theory, the Guardian reports, but a French newspaper reports that Al-Hilli's struggle with his brother over their father's inheritance was really about money that came from Hussein. (More Saad al-Hilli stories.)