As his country burns around him, the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, has stashed away tens of billions of dollars in cash in United States dollars, Libyan dinars and possibly other currencies in banks and in Bab Al Azizia, his Tripoli compound.
A rainy day fund of such dimensions helps Colonel Qaddafi withstand economic sanctions and a freeze on Libyan government assets abroad. And, of course, if he runs away, the hard cash is easier to carry than other assets like cars or houses.
In fact, history offers a long list of dictators and kings stockpiling cash in times of trouble.
In Haiti, President Jean-Claude Duvalier and his wife, Michele, withdrew at least $33 million from the country’s central bank, transferring it to foreign accounts, and stored money and jewelry in a safe-deposit box at a Citibank branch on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, according to court papers filed by the Haitian government after he was forced from power in 1986.
The Panamanian dictator, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, stashed $5.8 million in denominations of 10s, 20s, 50s and 100s in a file cabinet behind a desk at his home. United States authorities seized the money during the invasion of Panama in 1989.
In 2003, in the hours before American bombs began falling on Baghdad, one of President Saddam Hussein’s sons, Qusay Saddam Hussein, carried off nearly $1 billion in cash from the vaults of the country’s Central Bank. The volume of cash was so great — some $900 million in American $100 bills and as much as $100 million worth of euros — that a team of workers took two hours to load the money on three tractor-trailers.
According to the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing, all dollar notes have the same dimensions: 2.61 inches by 6.14 inches by 0.0043 inches. Each note weighs approximately one gram.
That is true for all notes in circulation — $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. Notes worth more than this value — 500, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 — were taken out of official circulation in 1969, though some still circulate, and Colonel Qaddafi might have some of those.
Ten billion dollars in 100-dollar notes, stacked one on top of the other would weigh about 110 tons.
What does a mountain of cash worth tens of billions of dollars actually look like?
adapted from The NYTimes
