BO better watch his back:
More from the Free Press:
The UK Guardian, in an article still posted on their site, directly contradicts Auchi’s claim to have left Baath, writing:
Nadhmi Shakir Auchi was born in Baghdad on 11 June 1937. As a student he was involved in the campaign which culminated in the uprising of 1958 against British rule. After the Baathist coup in 1963, Auchi came into the open as a supporter of the pan-Arab party and built a career in the procurement department of the Iraqi Oil Ministry. Over a decade he built up a vast network of contacts within Europe and the Far East. In the mid-1970s this allowed him to set up his own business, working as an intermediary for Western companies wanting a piece of Iraq’s lucrative oil action.
In Republic of Fear, Kanan Makiya points out that there were only 830 “active” members of Iraq’s Arab Baath Socialist Party in 1963. In The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movement of Iraq Hannah Batatu points out participants in the Qassim assassination were privileged within the 1960s Baathist hierarchy. Moreover there were two Baathist coups in 1963. February 8, 1963 against Qasim—and November 18, 1963 by Baathist Army officers against the Baathist militia. Saddam’s rise to power began in 1964. After insinuating his control throughout the security apparatus of the Party and State he would finally take full control 15 years later in 1979.
There are claims that a brother, a cousin, or two brothers of Auchi were killed by Saddam. This story is difficult to pin down but may refer to Saddam’s final 1979 coup which was accompanied with the videotaped purge and execution of 66 top Baathists in order to ensure the loyalty of the remainder. Auchi left Iraq about 1979.
Forty-three years after his conviction in the Qassim assassination attempt, Auchi was convicted of a different type of crime. A French court in 2003 convicted Auchi of taking kickbacks in the Elf-Aquitane bribery scandal. The Guardian –in an article Auchi’s lawyers take credit for forcing off the web under threat of litigation — called the scandal: “the biggest fraud inquiry in Europe since the Second World War... Elf became a private bank for executives who spent £200 million on political favours, mistresses, jewelry, fine art, villas and apartments.” BBC described the case as exposing “a moral vacuum…at the heart of France.”
lot’s more at website including:
A February 28, 2008 Sun-Times article describes another part of Auchi’s 2004 Chicago visit:
On a spring day in 2004, Nadhmi Auchi, one of the world’s richest men, flew in to Midway Airport on a private jet. Met by a welcoming party that included Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (there at the request of the Blagojevich administration) and businessman Tony Rezko, Auchi was brought to a downtown hotel where he was the guest of honor at a reception hosted by Blagojevich.
The Iraqi-born billionaire — who lives in London — had come to Chicago on business. He would go on to invest nearly $170 million in a prime piece of vacant land in the South Loop — 62 acres along the Chicago River that Rezko wanted to develop….
Auchi has sought to distance himself from Rezko — but still plans to develop the 62 acres at Roosevelt and Clark. Asked about the project, Pepper referred questions to a Feb. 12 story posted on the Web site Newsmax.com.
“As negative information about Rezko came to light last year, GMH moved to buy out Rezko’s interest” in the project, Newsmax reported. “In July 2007, Rezko sold the majority of his interest.”
That is how Newsmax reports on Auchi since Ruddy’s 2005-2006 “conversion.” But the office of US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald sees it differently. In their Motion for Issuance for an Arrest Warrant against Rezko, prosecutors argue:
“(a)ccording to Northern Trust bank records, on April 4, 2007, a bank account, (the ‘MMDA account’) held at Northern trust by the law firm of Freeborn and Peters (Freeborn) received an incoming wire transfer of approximately $3,499,471 from a bank in Beirut, Lebanon. The originator of the wire transfer was identified as General Mediterranean Holdings.…”
Prosecutors consume the next 10 pages detailing the various persons, many with criminal ties, to whom Rezko transferred the money. They then write:
“Of the remaining money from the $3.5 million wire from Beirut, Lebanon, nearly all of it went to Rezko-related lawyers.”
Prosecutors also detail another GMH wire transfer for $200,000 on July 25, 2007 which they indicate “was also apparently for Rezko’s legal fees….”
Newsmax somehow missed all of this.
6) Carter-Ruck asserts: “Our client flatly and categorically denies any wrong doing in relation to matters that led to his conviction in France. Our client has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights for a ruling that the trial resulting in his conviction breached his fundamental right to a fair trial. He is also suing Elf Oil for dragging him unwittingly into the scandal.”
C-R thus confirms Auchi is a convicted criminal in the eyes of French law. The astute reader will note that challenging the fairness of a trial is different than proclaiming innocence. The challenge to Elf also implies an admission that Auchi was dragged “into the scandal” albeit “unwittingly”.
Here’s how the UK Independent May 4, 2008 describes it:
A legal battle between the two erupted after Auchi, an Iraqi-born British citizen, received a 15-month suspended sentence and a £1.5m fine after being convicted of corruption. French investigators found that he had received $2m (£1m) in illegal commissions in the Elf Aquitaine oil scandal.
Several senior executives of the company were jailed over their part in the affair. The investigators claimed that Auchi had paid bribes to Elf. As a result of the ruling, Total took legal action against him in France.
Then C-R closes by reiterating several of the points it has already made:
7) Carter-Ruck asserts: “With regard to the article by Nick Cohen of the Guardian, following legal action taken by our client against Guardian News and Media Limited also agreed to pay a substantial sum in relation to our client’s costs. In particular:
(a) Carter-Ruck asserts: “as stated above, it is untrue that our client had any involvement with Saddam Hussein.”
If so, then Auchi’s lawyers would logically have to claim:
· The 1960 US Embassy report: “untrue.”
· Numerous reports that Auchi was involved in the purchase of Italian frigates for the Iraqi Navy during the Iran-Iraq war: “untrue.”
· Money laundering: “untrue.”
Who is to be believed? A twice-convicted criminal and ex-con whose lawyers shout “untrue” and attempt to silence those who say otherwise— or the dozens of investigative journalists, European and American government officials, and UN investigators who have dug into aspects of Auchi’s story.
(b) Carter-Ruck asserts: “it is untrue that our client was involved in bribing ‘fabulously corrupt leaders of postwar Italy.’”
In 2003, in one of the articles forced off the Internet by Carter-Ruck’s threats, Nick Cohen of the UK Guardian wrote:
“Allow me to introduce you to Nadhmi Auchi. He was charged in the 1950s with being an accomplice of Saddam Hussein, when the future tyrant was acquiring his taste for blood. He was investigated in the 1980s for his part in alleged bribes to the fabulously corrupt leaders of post-war Italy.”
Under threat of litigation, the Guardian admitted to “inaccuracies” in the articles. But is it an “inaccuracy” to acknowledge that the twice-convicted criminal and ex-con Auchi was indeed “investigated in the 1980s”?
Lucy Komisar details the contents of “a confidential 2001 report by Kroll, the international investigative agency…commissioned by Kuwait after the Gulf War in an attempt to locate Iraqi assets it could claim as compensation.”
Komisar explains: