Oil, food probe ready to hand over prosecutors reports<\/p>\n
Agencies, New York\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The independent panel investigating the United Nation (UN) oil-
\nfor-food program for Iraq has issued a report that prosecutors in
\n66 countries can use against 2,200 companies accused of diverting
\nUS$1.8 billion to Saddam Hussein's government.<\/p>\n
The 623-page survey on Thursday exposed how more than half the
\ncompanies doing business with Iraq wittingly or unwittingly fed
\nSaddam's need for cash through straight bribes or surcharges on
\noil sales.<\/p>\n
\"The (UN) secretariat, the Security Council and UN contractors
\nfailed most grievously in their responsibilities,\" said Paul
\nVolcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, who headed the
\nprobe, which issued the last of five reports.<\/p>\n
The list included firms from Vietnam to the United States as
\nwell as European giants DaimlerChrysler, three subsidiaries of
\nSiemens and Volvo. All companies and traders contacted by the
\npanel denied the allegations except for one oil firm and 26
\nsuppliers of goods, the report said.<\/p>\n
And the document castigated French bank BNP-Paribas, which
\nmanaged funds for the $64 billion program, for a host of
\nirregularities, from its fees to its failure to expose
\nwrongdoing. The bank denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
The humanitarian program, which began in 1996 and ended in
\n2003, was designed to ease the impact on ordinary Iraqis of UN
\nsanctions, imposed when Baghdad's troops invaded Kuwait in 1990.
\nIraq was allowed to sell oil in order to buy food, medicine and
\nmany other goods.<\/p>\n
South African Judge Richard Goldstone, another commissioner of
\nthe UN-established Independent Inquiry Committee, said archives
\nwould be turned over to the United Nations but also shared with
\nlaw enforcement authorities.<\/p>\n
\"Anything that we are able legally and morally to share with a
\nprosecutor or authority of any country, we will be more than
\nwilling to do that,\" Goldstone told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Some nations, including the United States, Britain, France and
\nSwitzerland have initiated prosecutions. Texas oil tycoon Oscar
\nWyatt, former chairman of founder of Coastal Corp., pleaded not
\nguilty on Thursday in New York to charges that he conspired to
\npay several million dollars in kickbacks.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's publicly listed oil and gas company PT Medco
\nEnergi International -- whose trading subsidiary PT Medco Duta
\nIndonesia was on the list -- denied accusations that its
\nsubsidiary had bribed Saddam's administration for securing oil
\ncontracts during the program.<\/p>\n
Medco president director Hilmi Panigoro told The Jakarta Post
\nby phone on Friday that the accusation was misleading because the
\nIraqi administration at that time had required all companies to
\npay a surcharge for every barrel of oil secured from the country.<\/p>\n
\"The extra money was not a bribe. It was an official surcharge
\nimposed by the administration to all companies around the world
\nthat wanted to get oil from Iraq. The accusation is absurd and
\nmisleading,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Hilmi added that Medco had secured some one million barrels
\nper quarter during the program.<\/p>\n
Besides Medco Duta, another Indonesian company is also on the
\nlist of the 2,200 companies.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/oil-food-probe-ready-to-hand-over-prosecutors-reports-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}