Get the U S out of the U N
and the U N out of the U S
Posted on 06/20/2002 2:19:20 AM PDT by kattracks
Iraq is not only part of the Axis of Evil, its diplomats are credit-card deadbeats.U.S. officials say 10 employees of the Iraqi Mission to the UN in New York have run up $70,000 worth of charges on Chase Bank, Macy's and Eddie Bauer credit cards — then bolted to Baghdad without paying the bills.
When the victims complained, the U.S. Mission to the UN entered the fray — diplomatically — on Tuesday.
"We delivered to the Iraqi Mission a diplomatic note, which said these bills have come to our attention from Chase, and we expect the mission to pay these bills," one U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said yesterday.
Officials said the Iraqis appeared to have hit upon a scam in which they obtain credit cards in New York, and then, in the last week of their U.S. rotation, spend like fiends.
Safe at home in Iraq, they simply refuse to pay up, officials say.
The Chase credit-card bills ranged from Nawaf Shathel Jassim's mere $63.80, to Gesim Al-Mulgawi's bone-crushing $32,364.06, officials said.
JP Morgan Chase spokeswoman Charlotte Gilbert-Biro declined to comment on the debtors, saying only, "We do not comment on any specific inquiry or investigation."
The Iraqis — who happen to owe the city $162,000 for 1,400 parking tickets — responded to the U.S. Mission yesterday by saying they would look into the matter, the feds said.
Representatives of Saddam Hussein's government did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.
With Austin Fenner
Get the U S out of the U N
and the U N out of the U S
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