Volcker 5.0 [Oil-for-Saddam]

The Wall Street Journal ^ | October 28, 2005

[TopQuark]

Many of these companies are little known, and some are probably fronts. But others are giants: The construction equipment division of Sweden's Volvo is alleged to have "knowingly" paid $535,000 in kickbacks to push $11.8 million in construction equipment, while various subsidiaries of Germany's Siemens paid a total of $1.6 million out of $124.3 million in sales of electrical equipment. (For the record, Volvo denies the allegation and Siemens "cannot confirm" it.) Other major companies named in the report for paying kickbacks include Daewoo, Australian food exporter AWB and Scottish engineering giant Weir.

The report also provides a list, which runs to 60 pages, of influential individuals or groups awarded lucrative oil allocations by Iraq because they "espoused pro-Iraq views or organized anti-sanctions activities." Here again, the range is astonishing. In addition to Messrs. Galloway and Pasqua (each of whom was given oil allocations of 11 million barrels), one finds the names of a pro-Iraq Vatican priest (2.5 million), the Palestinian Liberation Front (nine million), the French-Iraqi Amity society (11.8 million), Burma's forestry minister (27 million), the Orthodox Church of Russia (two million), and the Presidential Office of Russia (21.3 million).

Among the handful of Americans named by Mr. Volcker is Shakir Al-Khafaji (12 million barrels), a well-connected Detroit-area businessman who led a delegation of anti-war Congressional Democrats to Baghdad in September 2002 and who funded an anti-sanctions documentary produced by former weapons inspector Scott Ritter. Mr. Al-Khafaji's financial involvement with Saddam was first documented in these pages by our Robert Pollock in March 2004.

[FairOpinion]

And don't forget Marc Rich:

Oil-Food Report: $1.8bn Diverted to Hussein Regime (Marc Rich implicated)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1510653/posts


The report also said Marc Rich & Co. financed 4 million barrels of oil under a 9.5-million-barrel contract awarded to the European Oil and Trading Co. (EOTC), a French-based shell company.

AND flashback:

The news comes as a federal grand jury in New York continues to probe the Clinton pardon. Rich's ex-wife, Denise, also gave more than $400,000 to the Clinton presidential library and prosecutors have continued to investigate if that was a payoff; Clinton and Denise Rich (search) both deny those allegations."

March 03, 2005

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,149345,00.html

[saganite]

I don't see Haliburton on this list. That must be a mistake.

[liberallarry]

...and don't forget that our allies, Turkey and Jordan, benefitted from huge amounts of smuggled oil for years before the Oil-for-food program began. I don't know the significance of this and I haven't seen much discussion about it...but I'd like to.

[USNBandit]

Among the handful of Americans named by Mr. Volcker is Shakir Al-Khafaji (12 million barrels), a well-connected Detroit-area businessman who led a delegation of anti-war Congressional Democrats to Baghdad in September 2002 and who funded an anti-sanctions documentary produced by former weapons inspector Scott Ritter.

Sleeping with the enemy alert.

[RicocheT]

US law prohibits US companies from paying bribes or kickbacks when doing business abroad. That puts US companies at a disadvantage in winning foreign contracts as bribes and kickbacks are expected in many other countries.

If our companies have to follow our law, companies like Volvo, Siemens, Daewoo, etc. who are found to have made such bribes/kickbacks abroad should be placed on a sanction list and penalized before allowed to do business in the US.

[highlander_UW]

In addition to the paperwork trails that link all these companies to Saddam they all have one additional thing in common...they all deny the facts. Wouldn't it be refreshing for at least one individual or company to say "oops..ya caught me, so sorry".

[Valin]

Shameless Plug
U.N. oil-for-food probe accuses 2,200 companies of making illicit payments to Iraq
Asharq Al-Awsat / AP ^ | 10/28/05
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1510907/posts
/Shameless Plug

[massgopguy]

Hmmm. Marc Rich gets kickbacks from Saddam. Marc Rich sends the money to his wife Denise. Denise sends the money to the DNC and Clinton Library. Isn't "money laundering" a crime?

[tubebender]

Among the handful of Americans named by Mr. Volcker is Shakir Al-Khafaji (12 million barrels), a well-connected Detroit-area businessman who led a delegation of anti-war Congressional Democrats to Baghdad in September 2002 and who funded an anti-sanctions documentary produced by former weapons inspector Scott Ritter.

It looks like 99% of us FReepers will be vindicated when we said Ratter was on the take of Saddam...