ILLEGAL OIL-FOR-FOOD CONTRACTS (PART2)

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156840,00.html

WASHINGTON — The following is a transcript of testimony by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Permanent Investigations Subcommittee Minority Counsel Mark Greenblatt.

DAN BERKOVITZ: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Levin.

My name is Dan Berkovitz. I'm minority staff counsel to the subcommittee.

The minority staff report complements the other subcommittee reports discussed today. Whereas those reports focus on allocation holders and purchasers of Iraqi oil, the minority staff report examines what eventually happened to that oil, how so much of that oil got into the United States and what the United States did to attempt to put an end to the illegal surcharge payments.

Additionally, the minority staff report examines the largest single incident of oil being exported from Iraq by ship in violation of the U.N. sanctions, what is sometimes referred to as the Khor al- Amaya shipments, in reference to the Iraqi port where these shipments originated.

From September 2000 until late September 2002, the Iraqi government demanded that purchasers of Iraqi oil under the oil- for-food program pay a per-barrel surcharge to the Iraqi regime. These surcharges were above the official sales price for Iraqi oil approved by the United Nations, and were to be paid into accounts outside the control of the United Nations.

Countries in the rest of the world, including Europe, Asia and Africa, imported about 475 million barrels for which about 48 percent of the illegal surcharges were paid, totaling about $110 million. Ultimately, all of the surcharge payments went into the coffers of the Iraqi government, then under the control of Saddam Hussein.

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