Saddam's big scam Oil-for-food cash used for bribery
By AP
Fri, October 8, 2004
NEW YORK -- Suitcases full of cash, secret bank accounts, covert operatives, corrupt politicians on the take. A report detailing alleged illicit UN oil-for-food deals with the former Iraqi government paints involved cloak-and-dagger efforts to hide the alleged graft by dealing in front companies, untraceable accounts, cash sales and smuggling, the report by the top U.S. arms inspector said.
The report, delivered Wednesday by Charles Duelfer, who was charged to investigate the extent of Iraq's weapons programs, relies on internal Iraqi documents and extensive interviews with members of the former regime now imprisoned in Iraq.
Saddam was able to "subvert" the $60-billion US UN oil-for-food program to generate an estimated $1.7 billion in revenue outside UN control from 1997-2003, Duelfer's report said.
In addition to oil-for-food schemes, Iraq brought in over $8 billion in illicit oil deals with Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Egypt during the full period sanctions were in place from 1991-2003, the report said.
RUSSIAN AND FRENCH COMPANIES
Iraq tried to manipulate foreign governments, including members of the UN Security Council by awarding contracts -- and bribes -- to foreign companies and political figures in countries who showed support for ending sanctions, in particular Russia, France and China, the report said.
The former head of the oil-for-food program, Benon Sevan, is also accused of receiving bribes.
Russian and French companies were singled out by the regime for special treatment, said the report, with politicians close to French President Jacques Chirac appearing on list, among them former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and businessman Patrick Maugein, "whom the Iraqis considered a conduit to Chirac," said the report.
The report said this allegation is unproven and the governments and officials deny it. |
