United States senate investigators said on Monday that Saddam Hussein creamed off $21,3-billion from the United Nations oil-for-food programme, twice as much as previously estimated.
Speaking before the start of a Senate hearing on Monday, Senator Norm Coleman said: ”This is like an onion; we just keep uncovering more layers.”
The oil-for-food programme was set up in 1996 after widespread criticism of the fact that the Iraqi population was suffering from punishing UN sanctions. The intention was to allow Iraq to sell some of its oil in return for food and other humanitarian aid.
But the investigators say that the dictator subverted the scheme and that the Iraqi people failed to receive much of what they were entitled to.
Instead, Saddam pocketed profits for his own use or to buy influence round the world, particularly in France and Russia, which were both members of the UN security council and capable of blocking actions against Iraq.
In addition, Saddam was said to have squandered much of the money on palaces while his people suffered from malnutrition and faced a shortage of medicines, for which the money was intended.
The panel said that one scam involved exporters selling rotting fruit to the Iraqis while receiving payment for top-quality food. The Iraqi government then received kickbacks from the exporters.
The senate inquiry is one of three under way into the oil-for-food programme. The interim Iraqi government has one of its own, as does the UN.
Some anti-war campaigners argue that the extent of the corruption has been exaggerated and that many of the deals were, in fact, legitimate. They also claim that many of the allegations originated with the Iraqi National Congress, a group of Iraqi exiles who campaigned in Washington for war against Iraq.
But Senator Coleman said new documents obtained by the investigators showed that Saddam was receiving significantly more in illegal payments than had been previously realised. The documents allege that Iraqi officials, foreign companies and politicians participated.
Coleman said the inquiry was just beginning into ”how this massive fraud was able to thrive for so long”. He expressed anger that the UN had refused to provide documents and access to UN officials.
Mark Greenblatt, a lawyer for the Senate panel’s permanent sub-committee on investigations, said in testimony obtained by the Associated Press: ”Saddam Hussein attempted to manipulate the typical oil allocation process in order to gain influence throughout the world.
”Rather than giving allocations to traditional oil purchasers, Hussein gave oil allocations to foreign officials, journalists, and even terrorist entities, who then sold their allocations to the traditional oil companies in return for a sizeable commission.”
He said the reference to terrorist entities was to organisations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which most Arabs regard as being part of a legitimate resistance struggle, and the Mujahideen e-Khalq, which opposed the Iranian government.
The US-led Iraq Survey Group, which conducted a hunt for weapons of mass destruction, published its findings last month, and listed companies and individuals from around the world allegedly allocated oil contracts. But it was unable to confirm whether all those named had made money.
The French government angrily rejected the claims made against French politicians and companies. Other countries and individuals named also rejected the accusations.
The congressional investigators claim that oil worth $13,7-billion was smuggled out of Iraq, there was $4.6-billion in kickbacks and $2,1-billion was made through the scheme where foreign companies imported flawed goods at inflated prices.
The panel estimated that the sale of sub-standard goods accounted for 5% of all goods imported under the oil-for-food programme, though it admitted this was an estimate ”drawn from anecdotal information”. – Guardian Unlimited Â