A secret report from the Swedish foreign ministry claims that Norwegian officials were aware of the bribes and kickbacks around the UN's now defunct "Oil for Food" program in Iraq, but kept quiet for fear of being blacklisted by Iraq. Ole Peter Kolby was Norway's ambassador to the UN and led the sanctions committee, but didn't blow the whistle on bribes and kickbacks in the UN's "Oil for Food" program. The report was obtained by Sweden's national radio (Sveriges Radio) and revealed on Tuesday.
Norway led the UN sanctions committee in 2001, and was responsible for making sure that Iraq – still under Saddam Hussein at the time – and the companies dealing with Iraq didn't violate the sanctions. But the Swedish foreign ministry report claims the Norwegians didn't blow the whistle on illegal fees charged by Iraq as part of the UN's "Oil for Food" program. An official UN inquiry into the scandal last year claimed that more than 2,000 companies that did business with the UN's "oil-for-food" program were involved in bribes and kickbacks that allowed Saddam Hussein's sanctions-bound regime to divert nearly $2 billion. Many of the companies were Swedish. Blom wrote that "the Norwegian delegation was well aware of the Iraqi demands, but was in doubt about taking up the issue in the committee." Blom claimed the Norwegians believed that would result in certain "Iraq-friendly countries" immediately wanting to know which country or company was blowing the whistle. "If that were revealed, it probably would have resulted in an Iraqi blacklisting of the country or company," he wrote.
The sanctions committee was headed by Norwegian diplomat Ole Peter Kolby, now Norway's ambassador to Denmark. Kolby reportedly conceded at the time that there were rumours of kickbacks, but no proof of them. As long as no companies complained about them, Kolby said, he couldn't go further in probing them. "We had no concrete evidence," Kolby told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Tuesday, when questioned about the Swedish report. "There were no firms that came forth and said they were being charged (illegal fees). But there were strong rumors that such fees were being demanded." Kolby noted that "it was Iraq who decided who should get the contract, it wasn't the UN or the sanctions committee. Iraq wanted to place the contracts with those countries that were the friendliest towards Iraq." |