T

he United Nations-appointed investigators'€™ findings that former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh allegedly stockpiled up to US$60 billion in wealth during his 34-year dictatorship was indeed shocking, especially because the country is one of most impoverished Arab nations.

It was very interesting to note that the UN Security Council appointed a panel of experts on Yemen to trace Saleh'€™s fraudulent acts to enrich himself, while a big proportion of the population, still today, remains living below the poverty line. The experts presented their 54-page findings to the council Tuesday.

'€œ[Saleh] is alleged to have amassed assets between $32 billion and $60 billion [...] partly from his corrupt practices as president of Yemen, particularly relating to gas and oil contracts [...],'€ The Jakarta Post reported in its Thursday edition.

Saleh'€™s abusive and corrupt practices explain why poverty, security disturbances, riots and terrorism have been rampant there, despite its significant energy reserves. He has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Saleh lost his seat during the 2011 Arab Spring, but his influence and power remained intact to destabilize Yemen, as evidenced by his ability to '€œorchestrate'€ the ousting of his successor, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, by a Shiite rebel group in September last year.

The UN panel directly pointed its finger at Saleh for his role in forcing Hadi'€™s resignation.

The next question for many people, especially those in developing countries, and even more so for those who once endured or are still living under corrupt governments, is whether the mechanism for Yemen is applicable to their current or former leaders? Was it easy for the UN to launch an investigation into the former dictator because Yemen is relatively small and his crimes did not involve giant corporations? Will the UN dare to act against leaders of bigger and richer countries?

For Indonesians, Saleh'€™s alleged corruption and power abuse remind them of Soeharto, who ruled the country for 32 years until his fall in May 1998. A US magazine reported that Soeharto and his family were suspected of amassing billions of dollars to enrich themselves. Until his death in 2008, the courts failed to bring him to justice, let alone convict him, because of his poor health.

We only hope that the UN-sanctioned investigation into Saleh'€™s alleged acts of corruption will set a precedent and standard procedure to help countries that want their leaders or elite to return their ill-gotten wealth to their peoples. Dictatorship, for sure, tends to corrupt.