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Saddam regime made $21b illegally: probe
Saddam Hussein's regime made more than $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting the UN oil-for-food programme through surcharges, kickbacks and smuggling oil — more than double of previous estimates, according to Congressional investigators. The figures are based on troves of new documents obtained by a panel of the Senate Committee on Government Affairs, which presented them at a hearing in Washington today. The documents illustrate how Iraqi officials, foreign companies and sometimes politicians allegedly contrived to funnel vast illicit gains to the Iraqi government. The findings also reflect a growing understanding by investigators of the schemes Saddam used to buy support abroad for a move to lift UN sanctions. In one document, a letter obtained by investigators, Russian ultra-nationalist politician Mr Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who campaigned for the lifting of sanctions on Iraq, invites an oil company to negotiate a price for an oil allocation the Iraqi government awarded him. "Saddam Hussein attempted to manipulate the typical oil allocation process in order to gain influence throughout the world,'' Mr Mark L Greenblatt, a counsel for the Senate panel's permanent subcommittee on investigations, said in a prepared testimony. I can't wait till they get to the part about Kofi Jr. Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-11-15 |
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