WEASEL ALERT - UN "OIL-FOR-FOOLS" SCAM - Audits show rampant Bilking

[CADsortaGUY]

Better details on the InfoBank laundering

CsG

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Jordan returns frozen assets to Iraq

CsG

 

[burnedout]

:thumbsup: good stuff, CAD

You know, since Roger L. Simon and the rest of the "new" media began discussing this topic last year, we've seen quite a few interesting (and damning) revelations surface.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Oil -for-whiskey?

:beer::beer:

CsG

 

[burnedout]

US Congressmen are now in Iraq looking into "Oil for fools" program.

Stay tuned.

 

[burnedout]

Iraqi People Suffered under Oil for Food Scam

BAGHDAD, Iraq ? From the looks of it now, it's hard to believe Iraq once had a first-class health care system.

"It was one of the best in all of the Middle East," said Dr. Haqqi Razouki, director of Baghdad's Al-Yarmouk Hospital (search). "But following the first Gulf War the things started to go downhill."

The declining health care system turned up the pressure at the United Nations (search) to dump the sanctions. The United States and the United Kingdom balked but agreed to ease the sanctions with the Oil-for-Food program, created in late 1996 to allow Iraq to sell oil under strict conditions.

Possible Saddam-Al Qaeda Link Seen in U.N. Oil-for-Food Program

LUGANO, Switzerland ? Did Saddam Hussein use any of his ill-gotten billions filched from the United Nations Oil-for-Food program to help fund Al Qaeda?

Investigations have shown that the former Iraqi dictator grafted and smuggled more than $10 billion from the program that for seven years prior to Saddam's overthrow was meant to bring humanitarian aid to ordinary Iraqis. And the Sept. 11 Commission has shown a tracery of contacts between Saddam and Al Qaeda (search) that continued after billions of Oil-for-Food dollars began pouring into Saddam's coffers and Usama bin Laden (search) declared his infamous war on the U.S.

Now, buried in some of the United Nation's own confidential documents, clues can be seen that underscore the possibility of just such a Saddam-Al Qaeda link ? clues leading to a locked door in this Swiss lakeside resort. (To review a series of documents, audits and other stories related to Oil-for-Food, click here.)

Next to that door, a festive sign spells out in gold letters under a green flag that this is the office of MIGA, the Malaysian Swiss Gulf and African Chamber (search). Registered here 20 years ago as a society to promote business between the Gulf States and Asia, Europe and Africa, MIGA is a company that the United Nations and the U.S. government says has served as a hub of Al Qaeda finance: A terrorist chamber of commerce. . . . .

[Note: Material from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (Fox News/NY Post/Weekly Standard/TV Guide) is now viewed as credible by conjur, Terry McAuliffe and Markos "Screw Them" Zuniga. All comments, threats, sniveling, etc. should be directed to one of these three individuals. Thank you.]

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: burnedout
Iraqi People Suffered under Oil for Food Scam

BAGHDAD, Iraq ? From the looks of it now, it's hard to believe Iraq once had a first-class health care system.

"It was one of the best in all of the Middle East," said Dr. Haqqi Razouki, director of Baghdad's Al-Yarmouk Hospital (search). "But following the first Gulf War the things started to go downhill."

The declining health care system turned up the pressure at the United Nations (search) to dump the sanctions. The United States and the United Kingdom balked but agreed to ease the sanctions with the Oil-for-Food program, created in late 1996 to allow Iraq to sell oil under strict conditions.

Possible Saddam-Al Qaeda Link Seen in U.N. Oil-for-Food Program

LUGANO, Switzerland ? Did Saddam Hussein use any of his ill-gotten billions filched from the United Nations Oil-for-Food program to help fund Al Qaeda?

Investigations have shown that the former Iraqi dictator grafted and smuggled more than $10 billion from the program that for seven years prior to Saddam's overthrow was meant to bring humanitarian aid to ordinary Iraqis. And the Sept. 11 Commission has shown a tracery of contacts between Saddam and Al Qaeda (search) that continued after billions of Oil-for-Food dollars began pouring into Saddam's coffers and Usama bin Laden (search) declared his infamous war on the U.S.

Now, buried in some of the United Nation's own confidential documents, clues can be seen that underscore the possibility of just such a Saddam-Al Qaeda link ? clues leading to a locked door in this Swiss lakeside resort. (To review a series of documents, audits and other stories related to Oil-for-Food, click here.)

Next to that door, a festive sign spells out in gold letters under a green flag that this is the office of MIGA, the Malaysian Swiss Gulf and African Chamber (search). Registered here 20 years ago as a society to promote business between the Gulf States and Asia, Europe and Africa, MIGA is a company that the United Nations and the U.S. government says has served as a hub of Al Qaeda finance: A terrorist chamber of commerce. . . . .

[Note: Material from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (Fox News/NY Post/Weekly Standard/TV Guide) is now viewed as credible by conjur, Terry McAuliffe and Markos "Screw Them" Zuniga. All comments, threats, sniveling, etc. should be directed to one of these three individuals. Thank you.]

Thanks for the update. :beer:

CsG

 

[CADsortaGUY]

More news.

Iraq Oil For Food Questions/Answers (09/22/2004)

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, D-Texas, said Tuesday he and other members had visited a repository in Baghdad containing thousands of documents related to the U.N. Oil for Food program that could answer questions about the high prices the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein paid for Australian wheat.

Barton said he believes his committee will gain access to the documents for an investigation after the State Department signs a memo of understanding with the Iraqi government to get copies. U.S. Wheat Associates has said the high price that Iraq paid for Australian wheat may mean there was corruption involved in Iraq's business relationship with AWB, the Australian Wheat Board. AWB and Australian government officials have vigorously denied the charge.

Barton and Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and George Radanovich, R-Calif., had a press conference two hours after they returned from a one-day visit to Baghdad on a trip that also included stops in Kuwait and Germany.

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein skimmed $5 to $10 billion from the Oil for Food program, which allowed his government to use its oil income to buy food when it was otherwise under economic sanctions, Barton said.

The U.N. was supposed to certify the money was spent only on approved items, but the Iraqi government handled the contract arrangements, leading to the charges that Iraqi officials skimmed money and that bankers and business owners in other countries also made money illegally off the deals, he said.

CsG

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Congress probes link of Iraq deals, oil-for-food plan

Congressional investigators examining ?a semitrailer truck load? of subpoenaed documents are trying to determine whether lax monitoring at a French bank that held more than $60 billion for the U.N. oil-for-food program facilitated illicit business deals by the former Iraqi government, officials told The Associated Press.

Although BNP Paribas isn?t the target of the probe involving companies and people in 50 countries, the documents could provide a road map to alleged corruption at the United Nations and by politicians from France, Russia, Britain, Indonesia and Persian Gulf states who have been implicated.

The three congressional panels that subpoenaed BNP Paribas documents are looking into whether the bank met minimum standards that require financial institutions to identify customers, partly to prevent money laundering. The committees are among at least five in Congress investigating allegations of U.N. corruption and reports that Iraqis skimmed billions of dollars in kickbacks through deals administered by the United Nations.

Investigators also are pressing for information from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which is responsible for regulating foreign banks operating in the United States.

?From our perspective this is a scandal of overwhelming proportions. There are so many pieces. We want to follow the money wherever it leads,? said Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., chairman of the Senate Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

The United Nations? largest humanitarian aid program from 1996 to 2003, when it ended, oil-for-food was designed to allow the former Iraqi government to sell limited amounts of oil in exchange for humanitarian goods as an exemption from sanctions in place since 1991.

The BNP bank, which held the escrow account through which all of the U.N. program?s oil money flowed, maintains investigators sought its documents as evidence targeting other companies and people. But several congressional panels say the bank also is under scrutiny.

?The subpoena for BNP Paribas stems from concerns expressed about the bank?s compliance with existing know-your-customer rules and similar laws enacted as part of the Patriot Act,? said a spokesman for Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who chairs the House International Relations Committee.

The spokesman, Sam Stratman, said that BNP, which has offices in New York, was being cooperative and that the investigation had not yet drawn any conclusions.

U.S. know-your-customer rules require banks to collect information about their clients? businesses with an eye toward detecting illegal activities such as money laundering. The USA Patriot act strengthened the regulations after Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Coleman?s panel is investigating similar questions and allegations the bank may have overcharged the United Nations for its services. Coleman said BNP is ?not our primary target,? however, and the bank is cooperating. Coleman and others stressed the probes are at an early stage.

In a statement, the bank said, ?BNP Paribas is fully cooperating with all inquiries. We are not the target of any investigation.?

Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., who chairs the House Government Affairs committee, has set new hearings for Oct. 5. The panel hopes to hear testimony from BNP and two European contractors facing allegations in the scandal, Swiss-based Cotecna Inspection SA, and Saybolt International BV of the Netherlands. Hyde?s committee also plans fresh hearings in the near future, a spokesman said.

News.

CsG

 

[burnedout]

From the New York Times:

Congressional investigators say that France, Russia and China systematically sabotaged the former United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq by preventing the United States and Britain from investigating whether Saddam Hussein was diverting billions of dollars.

In a briefing paper given yesterday to members of the House subcommittee investigating the program, the investigators said their review of the minutes of a United Nations Security Council subcommittee meeting showed that the three nations "continually refused to support the U.S. and U.K. efforts to maintain the integrity" of the program.

[...]

The paper suggests that France, Russia and China blocked inquiries into Iraq's manipulation of the program because their companies "had much to gain from maintaining'' the status quo. "Their businesses made billions of dollars through their involvement with the Hussein regime and O.F.F.P.," the document states, using the initials for the program. No officials of the three governments could be reached for comment.

The paper also accuses the United Nations office charged with overseeing the program of having "pressed" contractors not to rigorously inspect Iraqi oil being sold and the foreign goods being bought. The program office, headed by Benan Sevan, who is also under investigation by a committee appointed by the United Nations, turned a blind eye to corruption charges, the paper says, because it apparently saw oil-for-food "strictly as a humanitarian program."

Nice seeing "The Old Grey Lady" report on this fraud.

 

[1EZduzit]

This whole mess is why we should have finished off Saddam during the first Gulf war. Then, we weren't the agressors, Saddam was. We had the moral high ground then. Instead, we encouraged the people to revolt and then abandoned them.

 

[CycloWizard]

Originally posted by: CycloWizard
Looks like Congress is about to release their findings in the Oil-for-Food investigation. Memo

On January 25, 2004, Al-Mada, an independent Iraqi newspaper, released a list of 269 individuals who allegedly participated in the voucher scheme. Among those listed were individuals, political parties, and groups from over 50 countries, the bulk of whom were Russian. French, Malaysians, Chinese, Syrians, Egyptians, Swiss, Jordanians, Turks, Italians, Yugoslavians, and agents of the United Arab Emirates also figured prominently on the list. Also of particular note were prominent current and former government officials from France, Russia, Jordan, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom and the UN head of OFFP, Benon Sevan. (Web Resources 7 and 8) Russia, France, and China are permanent members of the UN Security Council, and in the period leading up to the Iraq war in late 2002 and early 2003, Syria served as a rotating member of the Security Council. (Web Resource 9)

Concerns have also been raised in the media about potential nepotism involving UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Kojo Annan, the son of the Secretary General, at one time worked for the Switzerland-based company, Cotecna. In December 1998, while Kojo Annan was still affiliated with Cotecna, the company was hired by the UN to monitor goods entering Iraq under OFFP. In 1999, the UN responded to initial questions about the relationship by stating Cotecna tendered the lowest bid and the UN was unaware of any affiliation between Kojo Annan and Cotecna.

I was surprised at some of the nations listed (Italy and UK especially), and not so surprised by the French, Russians, and Chinese.

 

[RabidMongoose]

The paper suggests that France, Russia and China blocked inquiries into Iraq's manipulation of the program because their companies "had much to gain from maintaining'' the status quo. "Their businesses made billions of dollars through their involvement with the Hussein regime and O.F.F.P.," the document states, using the initials for the program. No officials of the three governments could be reached for comment.

Interesting, but not very surprising.

 

[burnedout]

Saddam 'bought UN allies' with oil - The Times of London

Robert Winnett
A LEAKED report has exposed the extent of alleged corruption in the United Nations? oil-for-food scheme in Iraq, identifying up to 200 individuals and companies that made profits running into hundreds of millions of pounds from it.

The report largely implicates France and Russia, whom Saddam Hussein targeted as he sought support on the UN Security Council before the Iraq war. Both countries were influential voices against UN-backed action.

A senior UN official responsible for the scheme is identified as a major beneficiary. The report, marked ?highly confidential?, also finds that the private office of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, profited from the cheap oil. Saddam?s regime awarded this oil during the run-up to the war when military action was being discussed at the UN.

The report was drawn up on behalf of the interim Iraqi government in preparation for a possible legal action against those who may have illicitly profited under Saddam. The Iraqis hired the London-based accountants KPMG and lawyers Freshfields to advise on future action.. . . . .

 

[CADsortaGUY]

TNK denies 'oil for food' trading in Iraq and Cuba

CsG

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: burnedout
Saddam 'bought UN allies' with oil - The Times of London

Robert Winnett
A LEAKED report has exposed the extent of alleged corruption in the United Nations? oil-for-food scheme in Iraq, identifying up to 200 individuals and companies that made profits running into hundreds of millions of pounds from it.

The report largely implicates France and Russia, whom Saddam Hussein targeted as he sought support on the UN Security Council before the Iraq war. Both countries were influential voices against UN-backed action.

A senior UN official responsible for the scheme is identified as a major beneficiary. The report, marked ?highly confidential?, also finds that the private office of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, profited from the cheap oil. Saddam?s regime awarded this oil during the run-up to the war when military action was being discussed at the UN.

The report was drawn up on behalf of the interim Iraqi government in preparation for a possible legal action against those who may have illicitly profited under Saddam. The Iraqis hired the London-based accountants KPMG and lawyers Freshfields to advise on future action.. . . . .

Related to:? Paper: Putin Aide Took Iraqi Oil Cash

CsG

 

[xxxxxJohnGaltxxxxx]

Originally posted by: burnedout
Saddam 'bought UN allies' with oil - The Times of London

...bringing new meaning to the stupid little liberal "no war for oil" slogan, if you know what I mean.

 

[burnedout]

Originally posted by: xxxxxJohnGaltxxxxx

Originally posted by: burnedout
Saddam 'bought UN allies' with oil - The Times of London

...bringing new meaning to the stupid little liberal "no war for oil" slogan, if you know what I mean.

But ... but ... but ... we Americans are 'teh eval'.

 

[burnedout]

Total Oil (located in France, where else.) was also involved in oil-related bribes back in the 90s. Unsure whether or not this ties in with "Oil-for-Fools". Anyway:

The Moscow Times

Executives at French oil major Total have been detained for questioning as part of an investigation into transfers of millions of dollars in suspected bribes to win oil development rights in Russia and Iraq.

A spokeswoman for Total, the world's fourth-largest publicly traded oil company by market value, confirmed by telephone from Paris on Monday that French investigators had raided the company's headquarters and questioned several employees last week. But she said the probe targeted the activities of officials and not the company itself, and declined to comment further.

A spokeswoman for the French Justice Ministry refused to comment Monday.

The French daily Le Monde, which first broke news of the probe last week, cited Total's former head of operations Jean-Michel Tournier as saying that the company had used a Geneva-based firm, Teliac SA, to funnel bribes to "certain beneficiaries" in return for gaining access to reserves in Russia and Iraq.

"Behind these beneficiaries, there was Russia and Iraq. If we had not paid, we would not have had any crude oil," Le Monde cited Tournier as saying.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that French investigators are looking into whether Total transferred as much as $20 million in bribes through Teliac to gain oil exploration permits in Russia and Iraq from 1996 to 2001. Investigators have questioned three former Total employees over the last few months in a probe headed by French magistrate Phillippe Courroye, the newspaper reported. Investigators have not disclosed into which particular deals they are looking. . . .

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: burnedout
Total Oil (located in France, where else.) was also involved in oil-related bribes back in the 90s. Unsure whether or not this ties in with "Oil-for-Fools". Anyway:

The Moscow Times

Executives at French oil major Total have been detained for questioning as part of an investigation into transfers of millions of dollars in suspected bribes to win oil development rights in Russia and Iraq.

A spokeswoman for Total, the world's fourth-largest publicly traded oil company by market value, confirmed by telephone from Paris on Monday that French investigators had raided the company's headquarters and questioned several employees last week. But she said the probe targeted the activities of officials and not the company itself, and declined to comment further.

A spokeswoman for the French Justice Ministry refused to comment Monday.

The French daily Le Monde, which first broke news of the probe last week, cited Total's former head of operations Jean-Michel Tournier as saying that the company had used a Geneva-based firm, Teliac SA, to funnel bribes to "certain beneficiaries" in return for gaining access to reserves in Russia and Iraq.

"Behind these beneficiaries, there was Russia and Iraq. If we had not paid, we would not have had any crude oil," Le Monde cited Tournier as saying.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that French investigators are looking into whether Total transferred as much as $20 million in bribes through Teliac to gain oil exploration permits in Russia and Iraq from 1996 to 2001. Investigators have questioned three former Total employees over the last few months in a probe headed by French magistrate Phillippe Courroye, the newspaper reported. Investigators have not disclosed into which particular deals they are looking. . . .

Would this be part of the oil futures portion of the scam?

CsG

 

[Infohawk]

Aren't bribes a part of the culture in some 3rd world countries that all Western nations play into? I mean is there any reason to think this is not just a part of the regular bribing that goes on in the 3rd world?

 

[burnedout]

UN inspector 'took £60,000 Iraq bribes' - WSJ through the London Telegraph

Iraqi oil officials have accused a United Nations inspector of taking almost £60,000 in bribes from Saddam Hussein's regime as his henchmen and foreign business partners siphoned millions from the UN's oil-for-food programme, it was reported yesterday.

An inquiry by officials in the State Oil Marketing Organisation - a body which, under Saddam, was a key player in schemes that allegedly diverted billions in oil revenues from the UN-run programme - accused an inspector contracted through the Dutch company Saybolt of falsifying documents in return for bribes, the Wall Street Journal reported. . . . . . .

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: burnedout
UN inspector 'took £60,000 Iraq bribes' - WSJ through the London Telegraph

Iraqi oil officials have accused a United Nations inspector of taking almost £60,000 in bribes from Saddam Hussein's regime as his henchmen and foreign business partners siphoned millions from the UN's oil-for-food programme, it was reported yesterday.

An inquiry by officials in the State Oil Marketing Organisation - a body which, under Saddam, was a key player in schemes that allegedly diverted billions in oil revenues from the UN-run programme - accused an inspector contracted through the Dutch company Saybolt of falsifying documents in return for bribes, the Wall Street Journal reported. . . . . . .

DOH! Maybe more time would have solved it.

Good to see a bit more news on this lately. This isn't going away no matter how hard some want to ignore it.

CsG

 

[burnedout]

CIA Discloses Who's Who of Saddam's Alleged Bribes - Reuters

[Hat tip: 3-time Emmy award winner and college professor Hugh Hewitt]

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Central Intelligence Agency on Wednesday released a list of firms and people from dozens of countries allegedly given oil vouchers by Saddam Hussein's government that could be turned into cash.

The charts, compiled from 13 secret lists by Iraq's former vice president and oil minister, enumerates legitimate contracts to oil companies. But it is also a veritable who's who of political groups and individuals from whom the former Iraqi government wanted to buy influence while under U.N. sanctions.

The list was issued as part of a report on Iraq's unconventional weapons by CIA advisor Charles Duelfer, a former U.N. inspector in Iraq. But Duelfer did not say whether anyone had tried to verify the names on the list.

Among the alleged recipients of oil vouchers were Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, Russian ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his Liberal Democratic Party, the Russian presidential office, the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Ukraine Community Party, the Ukraine Socialist Party, the son of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and the Peoples Liberation Front of Palestine. There are also many others.

The only U.N. official on the list is Benon Sevan, the head of the humanitarian program for Iraq, who has been accused previously of receiving an oil voucher and has denied it several times. He is list as a Mr. Sifan, a U.N. official. . . . . . . . . . .

tick........... tick........... tick.......... tick............

 

[burnedout]

The Duelfer Report makes a staggering number of connections in the "Oil-for-Fools" saga according to the Washington Post

[...]

An Iraqi newspaper said earlier this year that Sevan, whose activities are now under investigation for the by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker, received vouchers to purchase millions of barrels of Iraqi crude through several companies. The Duelfer report says that Sevan was allocated 13 million barrels of oil, of which 7.3 million were cashed in.

Sevan has denied the charges and claimed to friends that he is the victim of a smear campaign.

Hussein's multi-pronged strategy also included secret deals with neighboring countries to circumvent U.N. sanctions by smuggling oil, which reaped profits for both sides, and illicit government-to-government trade agreements. The subsequent success in turn "emboldened" Hussein to pursue programs related to weapons of mass destruction as well as conventional arms, the Duelfer report says.

"Despite U.N. sanctions, many countries and companies engaged in prohibited procurement with the Iraqi regime throughout the 1990s, largely because of the profitability of such trade," Duelfer reported. In turn, Hussein sought to make the embargo a "paper tiger," the report says.

Companies in countries closely allied with the United States, including France, Italy, India, Turkey, Jordan and Romania, may have sold Hussein dual-purpose equipment that could be converted for production of unconventional weapons.

Hussein survived the most comprehensive embargo ever imposed by subverting the very U.N. program introduced in 1996 to help the Iraqi people survive it. Hussein's government made an estimated $1.7 billion between 1996 and 2003 by shrewdly but secretly manipulating the U.N. oil-for-food program, the report says.

[...]

The Duelfer report concludes that Baghdad exploited the program "to give individuals and countries an economic stake in ending sanctions." Hussein introduced a system of rewards for illegally dealing with Baghdad, while also playing on international sympathy and "successfully arguing its case that the sanctions were harming the innocent."

The success of Hussein's regime in circumventing the U.N. embargo is "grossly obvious," the report says. "It is also grossly obvious how the sanctions perverted not just the [Iraqi] national system of finance and economics, but to some extent the international markets and organizations."

Read the whole damning report.