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10/07/2004 11:14:27 EST Jassim Mohammed/AP Photo
Report: U.N. Program Full of Corruption
By DESMOND BUTLER
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - Vivid allegations by the top U.S. arms inspector of widespread corruption at the U.N. oil-for-food program have added credibility to accusations the United Nations looked the other way while Saddam Hussein's government skimmed billions of dollars and offered kickbacks to European and Arab countries and officials.
The inspector's report implicates the top U.N. official overseeing the $60 billion program, accusing him of accepting bribes in the form of vouchers for Iraqi oil sales, and details Iraqi manipulation to illegally enrich Saddam's government and influence Security Council members.
The alleged schemes included an Iraqi system for allocating lucrative oil vouchers, which permitted recipients to purchase certain amounts of oil at a profit, according to the report issued Wednesday by Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group.
He said the Iraqi government manipulated the U.N. program from 1996 to 2003 to acquire billions of dollars in illicit gains and to import illegal goods, including parts for missile systems. The report estimates Saddam generated $10.9 billion in hard currency through illicit means from 1990 to 2003 during the entire U.N. sanctions period after the Gulf War.
The report also said vouchers "provided Saddam with a useful method of rewarding countries, organizations and individuals willing to cooperate with Iraq to subvert U.N. sanctions."
Vice President ****** Cheney jumped on the allegations.
"The suggestion is clearly there by Mr. Duelfer that Saddam had used the program in such a way that he had bought off foreign governments and was building support among them to take the sanctions down," Cheney said Thursday during an appearance in Miami.
Responding to the report, a high-ranking Republican congressman demanded the United Nation's independent inquiry speed up its timetable and release documents to Congressional investigators.
"The world cannot wait years for answers to the growing body of evidence implicating senior U.N. officials in outright corruption," said Rep. Henry Hyde, who chairs the House International Relations Committee.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan in April appointed former Fed chairman Paul Volcker to lead an independent investigation. He has said his committee will not deliver a report before mid-2005. Volcker has refused to share with Congress documents for their probes, including 55 internal audits of the oil-for-food program produced by the United Nations.
The Duelfer report said Benon Sevan, the former chief of the U.N. program, is among dozens of people who allegedly received secret oil vouchers, with Saddam personally approving the list of recipients. The voucher list was dominated by Russian, French and Chinese recipients, in that order, with Saddam spreading the wealth widely to prominent business leaders, politicians, foreign government ministries and political parties, the report said.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard refused comment on "any specific allegation against Mr. Sevan or anyone else."
"This is in the hands of Paul Volcker," he added. "We are cooperating with him fully. Benon Sevan is cooperating with him fully, and we will wait for Volcker's judgment. Benon, meanwhile, stands by his statement that he's done nothing wrong."
The report also names former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri and the Russian radical political figure Vladimir Zhirinovsky as voucher recipients and other foreign governments range from Yemen to Namibia.
Zhirinovsky denied the allegations.
"I never took a drop (of oil), or a single dollar from Iraq or from any other country. I have never dealt with oil," Russia's Interfax news agency cited Zhirinovsky as saying Thursday. "I do not care what (bribes) someone might have received. I personally gained nothing."
Zhirinovsky has visited Iraq frequently and called for increased trade between the two countries. The oil companies mentioned included top Russian producers Yukos and Lukoil. Company officials could not immediately be reached to comment on the allegations.
In France, Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous counseled caution.
"It is important to assure oneself very precisely on the veracity of this information," he said. "We understand that these accusations against companies and individuals were not verified either with the people themselves or with the authorities of the countries concerned."
Marty Natalegawa, a spokesman for the Indonesian foreign ministry said: "There is no credence to these allegations. It's a fact that we took part in the oil for food program, but this notion of vouchers is far fetched. There were no dealings other than the oil for food."
The names of American companies and individuals who may have been involved in oil deals weren't released because of U.S. privacy laws, the report said.
The program was designed to allow limited oil sales to pay for humanitarian goods.
The governments of Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Egypt also did a brisk illicit oil trade with Iraq - more than $8 billion from 1991 until 2003, the report said: "These governments were full parties to all aspects of Iraq's unauthorized oil exports and imports."
