In the Iraq “oil-for-friends” scandal that has engulfed the United Nations and the well-connected in 50 countries, many roads lead to South Africa.
But Judge Richard Goldstone, appointed this week to an independent panel to probe the scandal, says there is no special significance in the fact that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan selected him, a South African, alongside former United States Federal Reserve chairperson Paul Volcker and Swiss corporate corruption expert Mark Pieth.
In fact, Goldstone told the Mail & Guardian this week, he didn’t “have the foggiest” why he was asked to join the panel. The inquiry is an attempt by Annan to restore faith in the UN after persistent allegations that under its administration the Iraq Oil-for-Food Programme had become an influence racket that corruptly benefited Saddam Hussein’s regime, political cronies worldwide — and individual UN officials.
Goldstone, the judge who investigated the Third Force in the early 1990s and was later a member of South Africa’s Constitutional Court, said: “It came pretty much out of the blue. I was contacted by the secretary general and asked if I would be part of the intended three-member committee … It was about two weeks ago.”
Goldstone, now a visiting lecturer at New York University, has done international duty before. In the mid-1990s he was chief prosecutor of the UN criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
The Oil-for-Food Programme was a UN-administered effort to mitigate the humanitarian problems caused by international sanctions against Iraq. The UN allowed Iraq to sell crude oil to pay for food, medicine and other civilian necessities.
But since the fall of the Saddam regime more information has emerged about how Iraq defeated the purpose of the programme by bestowing lucrative oil allocations on countries, companies, politicians and political parties in exchange for diplomatic support; and how it squeezed kickbacks from oil and food traders to finance palaces and weapons.
UN structures that were supposed to have overseen the programme stand accused of having turned a blind eye. And Annan’s handpicked head of the programme, UN Undersecretary General Benon Sevan, is alleged to have secretly accepted oil allocations from the regime.
In February the M&G reported on the nexus between Sandi Majali, a relatively unknown South African who got significant oil allocations from Iraq, and the African National Congress.
ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe and treasurer general Mendi Msimang both travelled to Baghdad with Majali around the time he got allocations.
Other well-connected South Africans, most notably Tokyo Sexwale, also got allocations. A list leaked in Baghdad in January names political parties and politicians as among the recipients in about 50 countries.
Goldstone’s appointment may not mean a particular focus on South African aspects of the scandal, but if and when these angles are pursued, the judge may have to confront powerful interests in his home country.
But Goldstone, true to his reputation, appears unperturbed by potential obstacles. The terms of reference seem to focus on wrongdoing by UN officials and contractors more than on outside interests that participated in the programme. Asked if this was not limiting, Goldstone said: “I’ve got no doubt that we’ll not be stopped from following the lines wherever they take us — either within the UN or outside.”
If it became necessary, panel members would ask for amended terms, he said.
Apart from the allegations involving South African recipients of Iraqi oil, there may be other leads to follow locally. Leaked Iraqi documents purport to show that a Panama company called Africa Middle East Petroleum (AMEP) received more than seven million barrels of oil from Iraqi authorities to benefit the UN’s Sevan.
AMEP and its Egyptian principal, Fakhry Abdelnour, were shown in a 1999 report by then public protector Selby Baqwa to have helped apartheid South Africa break the international oil embargo against it.
Abdelnour, a relative of former UN secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali, has denied that he fronted for Sevan to receive Iraqi oil favours. Sevan has denied that he benefited.
Another prickly allegation is that Patrick Maugein, a French businessman close to that country’s President Jacques Chiraq, received 25-million barrels in association with Dutch oil trader Trafigura.
Trafigura has been implicated in a South African oil bribery scandal in which prominent businessman Keith Kunene is facing charges. Maugein has denied an association with Trafigura.
The panel’s formal appointment this week came almost a month after Annan announced it. Delays included objections from Russia, where companies and political interests got more Iraqi oil than any other country.
Russia and France, which also got substantial allocations, were among Iraq’s staunchest supporters when the US and Britain geared up for war against Saddam. But on Wednesday, as the panel was announced, the UN Security Council, including Russia, passed a resolution imploring all UN member states to cooperate with the investigation.
The UN’s is one of a number of parallel investigations. The Iraq Governing Council has appointed auditors KPMG and an international law firm to probe the scam, and the US Congress has started hearings.
Claude Hankes-Drielsma, a consultant coordinating the Iraqi council’s probe, this week testified before a committee of Congress: “The UN Oil-for-Food Programme provided Saddam Hussein … with a convenient vehicle through which he bought support internationally by bribing political parties, companies, journalists and other individuals of influence.”