Saudi Arabia hosts a conference for fighting terrorism next month
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050124/2005012417.html
Iraqi-Born U.S. Citizen Charged in Investigation of U.N.'s Oil-for-Food Program (1/18/05)
By Larry Neumeister Associated Press Writer Published: Jan 18, 2005
NEW YORK (AP) - An Iraqi-American conspired to act as an agent for Saddam Hussein by accepting millions of dollars in compensation and negotiating with United Nations officials to let Iraq sell oil, authorities said Tuesday.
The charges were the first to be publicly revealed in the probe of allegations that administrators in the United Nations oil-for-food program took bribes and let Hussein skim money from the program.
Samir A. Vincent was charged in a criminal information in U.S. District Court, where a grand jury has been looking into the United Nations program.
The $60 billion oil-for-food effort was created as a humanitarian exemption to sanctions imposed on Iraq after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which led to the 1991 Gulf War. Beginning in 1996, it let Hussein's government sell oil and use the proceeds to buy food, medicine and other items. ...