THE Iraqi government plans to sell a luxury yacht, moored off the French resort of Nice, that was one of many opulent treasures belonging to the former dictator Saddam Hussein.
The Ocean Breeze, a 270ft vessel with gold-tap bathrooms, an operating theatre, helicopter landing pad and secret escape passageway, is expected to be sold within weeks. It is expected to fetch £18.5 million.
A government spokesman said a dispute
over ownership of the yacht had concluded in a French court. "The ruling was in favour of Iraq," he said.
Saddam, whose decades-long regime came to an abrupt end after the 2003 invasion and who was hanged in 2006 for crimes against humanity, was known for a lavish lifestyle. His many palaces were replete with marble, gold-trimmed furniture and sumptuous gardens, even as ordinary Iraqis suffered under severe economic sanctions.
Shortly after the invasion in 2003, United States officials estimated Saddam and his family may had amassed £25 billion in ill-gotten funds.
While grand when it was built in 1981, the Ocean Breeze is puny compared with the mega-yachts commissioned by the new wave of super-rich, such as a 115-metre, £185 million yacht owned by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
US missiles destroyed another Saddam yacht, the Al Mansur, in southern Iraq in 2003.
The full article contains 232 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
