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Charles Pasqua, a former French minister of interior, has emerged as one of the highest-ranking targets of the widening investigations into the Iraq oil-for-food scandal. United Nations, US and French investigators are examining Iraqi documents that show officials in Baghdad were instructed to transfer his lucrative oil allocations to an offshore company, to shield him from criticism. Mr Pasqua's alleged role has emerged as inquiries turn to the role of foreign governments in the corruption within the humanitarian aid programme. France and Russia, which opposed the 2003 invasion, have long been accused in the US of being too close to...

Hillary Clinton currently has four of her financiers and fund-raisers undergoing investigation, being indicted or doing time.  Shouldn't  she be treated like Tom DeLay?  The mainstream media doesn't seem to think so.  Ray Reggie, Ted Kennedy's brother-in-law, who organized fund-raisers for President and Mrs. Clinton, pleaded guilty to two felony charges, bank fraud and conspiracy at a federal court hearing on April 21, 2005.  Prosecutors described check-kiting and loan fraud schemes he operated involving three Louisiana banks David Rosen, the finance director for Hillary Clinton's 2000 U.S. Senate campaign, was indicted January 7, 2005, on federal charges of filing...

NEW YORK — A Texas businessman is one of three people who were being indicted Thursday as part of the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food (search) program, FOX News has confirmed. David Chalmers (search), head of Texas-based Bayoil (Hussein's regime in Iraq as part of Oil-for-Food program, federal prosecutors said Thursday. U.S. Attorney David N. Kelley scheduled a 10:30 a.m. EDT news conference Thursday with an FBI official to announce the unsealing of the indictment, which his office said also named two companies operated by the formally unidentified Texan. The kickbacks involved funds otherwise intended for humanitarian relief, Kelley with conspiracy to act...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Iraq called Friday for a widening of the investigation of the U.N. oil-for-food program and demanded the immediate return of money in the U.N. account that paid for administration of the humanitarian relief effort. Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie also reiterated the government's demand that the United Nations stop using oil-for-food money to pay for the independent investigation into the program led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. "It is outrageous that Iraqi funds were mismanaged and then we have to pay for finding out about the mismanagement," he told a news conference a...

Notwithstanding former President Jimmy Carter's recent statement to the contrary, Undersecretary of State John Bolton's remarks about Cuba's biological weapons capabilities underscore lingering concerns with the rogue island only 90 miles from the United States. Bolton, on May 6, told an audience at the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation that the U.S. is suspicious about Cuban biomedical laboratories and their ability to transfer biological weapons technology to Iraq, Syria and Libya, all countries that Cuban President Fidel Castro visited last year. Bolton also made remarks, which may be interpreted as a clear signal of hardening State Department policy toward Cuba, faulting...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations is adopting new steps in its global tsunami-relief campaign to guard against improprieties like those alleged in the oil-for-food program for Iraq, U.N. officials said Monday

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Kevin Shelley bent rules, missed deadlines and failed to do proper paperwork as he spent millions of dollars in federal election money, state Auditor Elaine Howle told a legislative committee conducting its first hearing Monday to investigate the embattled state elections official. Howle meticulously told the Joint Legislative Audit Committee that Shelley's management failures, which also included the questionable use of federal money, added up to "disregard for proper controls and poor oversight" of money given California to modernize its voting systems. But a representative of Shelley's office testified under oath that much of the...

The son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan used his father's worldwide connections to wheel and deal with heads of state -- at U.N. gatherings -- on behalf of a controversial Swiss company that won a lucrative oil-for-food program contract......

There is quite a lot to be thankful for this year. On the home front, everyone is as healthy as they were last year at this time and doing well. Governments in our metropolitan area are seeing shortfalls, as usual. But, we just consider who is running them. Overall, the economy looks good here. Unemployment, even here in the center of the so called rust belt, is way down now. Of course, we're thankful that the Republicans kept the executive and legislative branches in Washington. Not because we like them all and everything they do, understand. But, consider the socialist...

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 that continued after billions of oil-for-food dollars began pouring into Saddam’s coffers and Usama bin Laden declared his famous war on the U.S. Now, buried in some of...

WASHINGTON — The United Nations was rocked by a new scandal yesterday when reports surfaced that the diplomat in charge of rooting out corruption in the world body is himself facing allegiations about unethical conduct. Fox News reported yesterday that Dileep Nair, the undersecretary general in charge of the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight, has been accused of demanding kickbacks and sexual favors in return for promotions inside his office. Nair, a native of Singapore, also has been accused of attempting to thwart the probe into the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, although his role in that probe remains unclear Sources told...

Many U.N. employees fear reprisals from their bosses if they step forward with information on the Iraq oil-for-food scandal or report other allegations of corruption, according to a shocking internal survey released yesterday. A recent poll of 6,086 employees and managers released on the U.N. Web site revealed that the staff has little faith in the world body leadership's commitment to ethics and integrity and that most believe that when allegations of wrongdoing surface, they are not properly handled. ... U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is also facing questions after revelations that his son was hired by a Swiss company that...

<p>Los Angeles, , May. 22 (UPI) -- A grand jury and congressional investigators are probing real estate purchases by U.S. oil companies that may have constituted bribes to an African dictator.</p> <p>The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday the two separate investigations involve high-priced land purchases made by the oil companies through a holding company beleived controlled by the president of Equatorial Guinea.</p>

UK firm accused over Saddam 'kickbacks' David Pallister Wednesday May 26, 2004 The Guardian A leading British engineering company, which now boasts a BBC governor and the former Nato secretary general, Lord Robertson, on its board, has been identified by US investigators as one of hundreds of firms alleged to have agreed to pay illicit kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime. The allegations about the Glasgow-based Weir Group appear in an internal Pentagon report seen by the Guardian. They have emerged as the United Nations faces a growing barrage of criticism over its $47bn (£26.2bn) humanitarian oil for food programme with...

<p>The United Nations credibility as an honest broker in world affairs is on the line as a special investigative panel begins to examine allegations of massive corruption related to the U.N. Oil for Food program in Iraq.</p> <p>The stakes couldn't be higher for the United Nations, as disclosures emerge that high-level U.N. officials may have received kickbacks from Saddam Hussein's regime -- just as the White House is again looking for a greater U.N. involvement in the troubled transition in Iraq.</p>

SIMULTANEOUS investigations of the now-defunct United Nations Oil-for-Food programme aim to expose how Saddam Hussein used Iraq’s vast oil wealth to buy political influence around the world. The Iraqi Governing Council, the US Congress and an independent panel established by the UN have started to investigate allegations that Saddam’s regime used oil to bribe politicians, political parties, journalists and a leading UN official. The inquiries are also examining Saddam’s system of kickbacks, which he used to break sanctions, fund his military and sustain his regime. The scale of the alleged corruption is staggering. The investigative arm of the US Congress...

WASHINGTON — How fares the multination cover-up of the richest rip-off in world history? Obstruction of justice has never had it so good. Last month, after some badgering in this space and elsewhere, the House International Relations Committee announced it would look into the $5 billion kickback scandal in the United Nations' six-year Iraqi oil-for-food program, the largest humanitarian aid effort ever undertaken. Our State Department, eager for U.N. help in Iraq, wants no revelations of U.N. ineptitude and corruption. It waltzed the committee staff around. Senate Foreign Relations, however, not wanting to be upstaged by its House counterpart, called...

As the United Nations struggles to defend itself against allegations of corruption in the multi-billion dollar oil-for-food programme for Iraq, UN officials have revealed internal documents showing they knew of the problem as early as 2000. The documents refer to illegal commissions levied by the Iraqi government on oil-for-food supply contracts given to foreign companies. The UN investigated, but was unable to find sufficient evidence at the time, and efforts to address the issue among Security Council governments simply fell off the agenda. US conservatives have long alleged that the oil-for-food programme - started by the UN in 1996 to...

<p>NEW YORK — The United Nations has begun an internal investigation into accusations that a prominent U.N. official took kickbacks from the multibillion-dollar Iraqi oil-for-food program that ended last year.</p> <p>The accusations have also prompted U.S. congressional concern. The General Accounting Office, which has been examining Iraq's finances since May, is preparing to brief staffers of the House International Relations Committee tomorrow afternoon.</p>

Angry members of CBC meet at the UN on Haiti By Saeed Shabazz Staff Writer Updated Mar 6, 2004, 11:12 am UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) - Eight angry members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) traveled to the United Nations on the afternoon of March 1 to meet with Secretary-General Kofi Annan to seek help in dealing with the crisis in Haiti. "This is a terrorist take-over," claimed Brooklyn Democratic Congressman Major Owens, in his characterization of the departure of deposed Haitian President Jean Bertrand-Aristide. "What makes this a coup?" asked Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY). "He was dictated a resignation, which...

[Park Jun (left), Millennium Democratic Party administrative chief, submits a motion to National Assembly counsel director Roh Jae-suk to impeach South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday.] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************Text: Millenium Democratic Party, Grand National Party Forward Motion to Impeach (South Korean) President Roh For the first time in Korean constitutional history, a bill to impeach the president has been introduced at the National Assembly. The bill was signed by 108 members of the Grand National Party (GNP) and 51 members of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) and submitted at 3:49 p.m. The GNP and MDP have 144 and 62 members...

Hussein's Regime Skimmed Billions From Aid Program By SUSAN SACHS AGHDAD, Iraq — In its final years in power, Saddam Hussein's government systematically extracted billions of dollars in kickbacks from companies doing business with Iraq, funneling most of the illicit funds through a network of foreign bank accounts in violation of United Nations sanctions. Millions of Iraqis were struggling to survive on rations of food and medicine. Yet the government's hidden slush funds were being fed by suppliers and oil traders from around the world who sometimes lugged suitcases full of cash to ministry offices, said Iraqi officials who supervised...

<p>TRENTON -- A dental company, founded by a gubernatorial fund-raiser who has received a federal document request in a pay-to-play probe in Philadelphia, is pushing for a state-funded dental plan for New Jersey seniors that would be worth hundreds of thousands in state contracts.</p>

WASHINGTON - A Senate colleague was trying to close a loophole that allowed a major insurer to divert millions of federal dollars from the nation's most expensive construction project. John Kerry stepped in and blocked the legislation.

WASHINGTON -- Halliburton Co. has told the Pentagon that two employees took kickbacks valued at up to $6 million in return for awarding a Kuwaiti-based company with lucrative work supplying U.S. troops in Iraq, Friday's Wall Street Journal reported. The disclosure is the first firm indication of corruption involving U.S.- funded projects in Iraq and raises new questions about Halliburton's dealings there. The company's work already is being scrutinized because of accusations that the U.S. government was overcharged for gasoline under another controversial contract. Halliburton has strenuously defended its Iraq work as fairly priced and free of taint. A...

The average state worker now has a $56,800 compensation package, including about $12,700 in benefits -- excluding those in the legislature, judiciary, or university systems. Workers can accrue up to 16 weeks of annual leave -- that can eventually be cashed out, and they get 13 holidays a year, far more than most private-sector workers. And many state workers are paid more than private-sector employees who do similar work. The California Public Employees' Retirement System -- which provides an average $1,594 per month to 388,126 retired state workers -- has been in crisis as the stock market floundered, forcing the...

The judge, the defense lawyer, and even the prosecutor all agreed that Andrea Turner probably never realized how serious her crime was. For a kickback sometimes as small as $50, Turner, a longtime employee of the Social Security Administration, routinely processed fraudulent applications for Social Security cards. She directed many of the cards to the same Elizabeth address, where they were sold to illegal immigrants. But in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, federal investigators stepped up enforcement of such identity fraud cases. And the penalties, Turner discovered, can be harsh: Yesterday the 40-year-old mother from Linden was ordered...

McGreevey's man in Little India Sunday, August 17, 2003 By JEFF PILLETS and CLINT RILEY STAFF WRITERS A private snapshot of fund-raiser Roger Chugh with Governor McGreevey Jim McGreevey sat by as one of his top fund-raisers, a fast-talking ex-cabby named Rajesh "Roger'' Chugh, cut a swath of suspicion and fear in New Jersey's Asian Indian community while raising an estimated $1 million for the future governor.Key Democrats and prominent Indians say they repeatedly warned McGreevey, then the mayor of Woodbridge, that Chugh was a widely reviled manipulator with a long history of preying on his fellow South Asian...

<p>WASHINGTON -- It has been dubbed "Saddam Inc.," a mysterious, multibillion-dollar empire that is said to have allowed Saddam Hussein and his sons to methodically stash away stolen riches in secret bank accounts around the globe.</p> <p>Now, as the American military moves closer to toppling Saddam's regime in Baghdad, U.S. Treasury officials and intelligence agencies say they are scoring new successes in their effort to unravel and seize Saddam's hidden wealth.</p>

FRANKFORT - The Executive Branch Ethics Commission will meet Friday to review allegations that Gov. Paul Patton misused his office to reward and then punish a Western Kentucky business-woman with whom he has admitted having an affair. Jill LeMaster, the commission's executive director, said the five-member panel would have to vote whether to investigate Patton, who remained secluded in his Capitol office yesterday. An investigation probably would take at least a month, she said. Last night Steve Pence, U.S. district attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, said he could not "confirm or deny" whether a federal investigation into the...

From the WHAS Newsroom.... (Frankfort, KY) -- The Executive Branch Ethics Commission will meet Friday morning to consider the accusations against Governor Patton. Meanwhile, a hint today that Tina Conner may have indeed benefited from a special business designation some state workers say they were pressured to grant her. The "Paducah Sun" newspaper reports S-T Construction, owned by Conner and her husband, did some work on the Barkley Regional Airport. It wasn't a state contract, but did hinge on the special designation.

<p>Three state employees arrested and suspended without pay in the investigation of a widespread bribery and kickback scandal at Honolulu International Airport later returned to the state payroll, although one has since retired and another will retire at the end of this month, officials said yesterday.</p>

It appears that the Clintons are not the only ones publicly twisting the truth into unrecognizable shapes. Their flunky, Al the bore Gore, was doing a bit of his own dismantling of the facts in a New York Times op-ed last Sunday.(1) What Gore does not seem to realize is that anyone remembering a little history probably thought this was a parody article. For instance, he opens with: "There has always been a debate over the destiny of this nation between those who believed they were entitled to govern because of their station in life, and those who believed that...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SANTA BARBARA - Gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon today delivered the following remarks to reporters during a media availability in Santa Barbara: "Thank you all for coming. I am traveling in Santa Barbara today on my campaign to unseat Gray Davis, and to restore leadership and integrity to the office of the Chief Executive of California. The needs of working Californians require that the incompetent and possibly corrupt administration of Gray Davis be voted out of office. "The quality of our schools, roads, and cities has not kept pace with the economic boom that occurred in the mid...