40 Russian Firms Accused of Hussein Ties
Friday, Jan. 30, 2004.
themoscowtimes.com
The Moscow Times More than 40 Russian companies, including entities linked to the Russian Orthodox Church, the Communist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, allegedly took part in an illegal kickback scheme for trading Iraqi oil under Saddam Hussein's regime, according to documents obtained by Baghdad-based newspaper al-Mada.
"Almost all Russian companies that worked in Iraq [were involved in this]," said Fakhri Karim, the editor of the recently created newspaper, in an interview with Vremya Novostei published Thursday.
"There are Russian diplomats of a very high level, too," he said.
Vremya Novostei published last weekend a list of more than 270 people and organizations from 46 countries including Russia, France, China, Italy, Austria, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, who allegedly took part in a scheme to trade contraband Iraqi oil in breach of the United Nations regulated oil-for-food deal.
The newspaper says it based its list on documents obtained from the Iraqi Oil Ministry.
Iraq's Governing Council on Wednesday ordered an investigation into al-Mada's allegations.
On Thursday, the Orthodox Church called its inclusion in the list "nonsense."
"This is some kind of nonsense. I have no other word for this," Metropolitan Kirill, the head of the Orthodox Church's external relations department told reporters Thursday, Interfax reported.
"Nothing of the sort happened and could not have happened."
LDPR chief Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who was a vocal supporter of the Hussein regime, has also denied having taken part in the scheme.
"The Communist Party took part. I was told this by several representatives of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry," he said, Interfax reported.
"But I did not get one dinar, one dollar from Hussein."
A spokesperson from the Communist Party has also denied the allegations.
An al-Mada employee told Vedomosti that the list of entities taking part in the scheme also included representatives of the Chechen administration, Yabloko and Emercom.
Emercom, a trading company affiliated with the Emergency Situations Ministry, was accused by Western diplomats back in the summer of 2002 as having taken part in a kickback scheme for Iraqi oil.
At the time, the ministry denied any wrongdoing and said Emercom had not violated UN regulations in its dealings with Iraq.
A spokeswoman for Yabloko denied the allegations in an interview with Vedomosti.
Karim told Vremya Novostei that the affair was casting a pall over Russia's relations with the current Iraqi administration. |
