| Follow-up. And they should be hung for treason. |
That leaves Houston oil tycoon Oscar Wyatt as the lone defendant still slated to go to trial in September on charges he made millions of dollars in illicit payments to Saddam's government for the privilege of buying Iraqi crude. Wyatt attorney Carl Parker said today that his client is not guilty and intends to proceed to trial. Parker said he does not believe today's guilty pleas will affect Wyatt's prospects. "I don't think it will mean anything to Wyatt," Parker said. "I think the government made a stretch trying to tie them together in the first place. They're not partners. They haven't acted together."
The charges stemmed from oil sales conducted under the United Nations' scandal-plagued oil-for-food humanitarian program for Iraq. That program was designed to allow Baghdad to export crude to help the Iraqi people while keeping the proceeds out of Saddam's hands.
But the Iraqi government began demanding that purchasers pay a secret surcharge to lift Iraqi crude. All three men were accused of funneling payments to Saddam's government from mid-2000 to March 2003.
Chalmers and Wyatt also were accused of trying to persuade U.N. oil overseers to lower the official selling price of Iraqi crude, so they could pay kickbacks to Baghdad and still turn a profit when reselling the oil, as well as engaging in prohibited financial transactions with Saddam's regime and violating U.S. sanctions rules.