Posted on 07/08/2004 8:57:21 AM PDT by quidnunc
Transcripts of secret U.N. Security Council sessions show that U.S. and British diplomats were constantly thwarted by their French, Russian and Chinese counterparts while investigating Saddam Hussein's dirty deals under the oil-for-food program.
Minutes of meetings of the so-called 661 Committee — the U.N. Security Council panel that oversaw Iraq sanctions and the oil-for-food program — have been recently turned over to U.S. congressional committees investigating the $10 billion bribery kickback scandal, officials said.
According to a top congressional investigator who has read the highly sensitive documents, the minutes confirm that there was widespread knowledge inside the United Nations years before the war that Saddam's regime was ripping off the $100 billion program by demanding kickbacks from oil traders and suppliers of humanitarian aid to Iraq.
The investigator said the transcripts reveal that U.S. and British diplomats repeatedly raised questions about suspicious contracts, but efforts to investigate corruption were blocked by Russia, France, China and, at times, Syria.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Surprise! </ sarcasm>
I can't wait for the Iraqis to reveal the results of their investigation of this. And I hope they ban oil exports to the countries involved.
My hope is that some of John Kerry's relatives in France are directly tied to it...
He won't be able to apply for a Purple heart that wound will cause.
Should be the lead story on the evening news, but the lead story will probably be, "Kerry campaign blasts Bush over anti-Edwards comments."
I'm sure you'll be surprised....NOT!
Wouldn't THAT be sweet!
And all the while, every one of these scumbag countries was all over TV, accusing the United States of starving the children in Iraq.
Ping.
Bears repeating...
Posted on 07/03/2004 10:14:28 AM PDT by idkfa
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi official heading the investigation into alleged corruption in the United Nations oil-for-food program was killed in a bomb attack earlier this week, officials familiar with the probe said on Saturday.
Ihsan Karim, head of the Board of Supreme Audit, died in hospital after a bomb placed under one of the cars in his convoy exploded on Thursday, the officials said.
Iraq's former U.S. Governor Paul Bremer gave the board independence from the executive branch of government and appointed Karim as its head in April.
The board appointed international accountants Ernst and Young in May to investigate commissions Iraqi and foreign companies paid to former President Saddam Hussein and his government for securing billions of dollars worth of contracts under the 1996-2003 oil-for-food program.
The investigation undermined a separate probe initiated by the now dissolved Iraqi Governing Council and led to tension with former financier Ahmad Chalabi, who holds documents alleging that some international suppliers paid at least 10 percent of the value of contracts to Saddam. Zaab Sethna, a spokesman for Chalabi, said the audit board was poorly equipped to handle the investigation. "The assassination of Mr Karim is very worrying. Bremer appointed the audit board and left them on their own," Sethna told Reuters.
"The investigation was the highest profile probe the board was handling. It is impossible to speculate who killed Mr Karim, but the oil-for-food corruption involved very powerful people inside and outside Iraq," he added.
The U.S. General Accounting Office has said Saddam and his circle raised $4.4 billion in illegal revenue by imposing oil surcharges and commissions on suppliers of goods to Iraq under the oil-for-food program.
Billions of dollars of goods flowed through the program, which the United Nations administered from New York through French bank Paribas.
Under U.S. pressure, the United Nations is also investigating alleged corruption in the program, which was set up to use Iraqi oil revenue to provide Iraqis with food, medical supplies and essential equipment under U.N. supervision so that U.N. sanctions on Iraq were not violated. .
Pinging for the day we get to read all about the Oil for Food scam.
LOl, cute. I thought something about that was going to be released today?? Maybe I missed it. Heading for bed, see you tomorrow.
Like that's gonna happen. :) The word Iraqis and investigation does not give me the warm fuzzies.
Another winner!
Thanks for the ping!
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