U.S. report links Russians to oil-for-food scandal
The Associated Press
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2005
WASHINGTON Russian leaders received millions of dollars in Iraqi oil allocations from top representatives in Saddam Hussein's former government, which hoped to end United Nations penalties against Iraq, U.S. Senate investigators were told.
Saddam's vice president, Taha Yasin Ramadan, told investigators that the allocations had been "compensation for support," according to a report released Monday by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Investigations Subcommittee.
Russia's Foreign Ministry declined comment on the report. It said it would be "unethical to make any statements" until a UN-appointed commission investigating the oil-for-food program released its third, and probably final, report this summer.
The Senate investigators said their interviews and documents from the former Iraqi government, were additions to evidence from previous inquiries linking Russian officials to abuses in the $64 billion UN program. It was intended to permit Saddam to sell some oil and use the proceeds to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian items.
Among the officials implicated are Alexander Voloshin, former chief of staff to President Vladimir Putin, and a nationalist Russian lawmaker, Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Mikhail Troyansky, deputy chief of the Foreign Ministry's information department, said Russia had cooperated with the UN commission's investigation, which is led by the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker.
The release of the Senate panel's findings precedes a hearing on Tuesday on Saddam's use of oil vouchers to reward supporters. The vouchers allowed a bearer to buy Iraqi oil at cut-rate prices, which reportedly could be sold for a profit. Saddam also allegedly demanded kickbacks from the oil transactions.
"This is the way Saddam used oil-for-food - to line his own pocket and to curry political favor," said the Senate subcommittee chairman, Norm Coleman, a Republican from Minnesota.
Documents released by the panel last week claimed that the former French interior minister, Charles Pasqua, and a British member of Parliament, George Galloway, also had accepted allocations. Both men deny the charges.
Galloway has said he would appear at the hearing on Tuesday to defend himself; but Coleman said he had yet to be in contact the panel.
Coleman said he had not reached any conclusion about whether the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, should have been aware of the abuses of vouchers; but the senator renewed his call for Annan to resign.
"It's a matter of accountability," Coleman said.
The latest report by the subcommittee deals with allocations given to Zhirinovsky, Voloshin and Sergey Issakov, an aide to Voloshin.
Investigators said they had interviewed 16 former Iraqi officials, but they identified only Ramadan and Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister.
The report said the Russian Presidential Council, led by Voloshin, received allocations worth more than $16 million, according to Iraq's Oil Ministry.
The subcommittee said Zhirinovsky received allocations worth $8.7 million. On six occasions, investigators said, he sold allotments to the Texas-based oil company, Bayoil, whose owner, David Chalmers, has been indicted on charges related to the oil-for-food scandal.
The panel's report said that about 30 percent of the oil sold in the oil-for-food program had been allocated to Russia, even though Russia is an oil-exporting country.
WASHINGTON Russian leaders received millions of dollars in Iraqi oil allocations from top representatives in Saddam Hussein's former government, which hoped to end United Nations penalties against Iraq, U.S. Senate investigators were told.
Saddam's vice president, Taha Yasin Ramadan, told investigators that the allocations had been "compensation for support," according to a report released Monday by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Investigations Subcommittee.
Russia's Foreign Ministry declined comment on the report. It said it would be "unethical to make any statements" until a UN-appointed commission investigating the oil-for-food program released its third, and probably final, report this summer.
The Senate investigators said their interviews and documents from the former Iraqi government, were additions to evidence from previous inquiries linking Russian officials to abuses in the $64 billion UN program. It was intended to permit Saddam to sell some oil and use the proceeds to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian items.
Among the officials implicated are Alexander Voloshin, former chief of staff to President Vladimir Putin, and a nationalist Russian lawmaker, Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Mikhail Troyansky, deputy chief of the Foreign Ministry's information department, said Russia had cooperated with the UN commission's investigation, which is led by the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker.
The release of the Senate panel's findings precedes a hearing on Tuesday on Saddam's use of oil vouchers to reward supporters. The vouchers allowed a bearer to buy Iraqi oil at cut-rate prices, which reportedly could be sold for a profit. Saddam also allegedly demanded kickbacks from the oil transactions.
"This is the way Saddam used oil-for-food - to line his own pocket and to curry political favor," said the Senate subcommittee chairman, Norm Coleman, a Republican from Minnesota.
Documents released by the panel last week claimed that the former French interior minister, Charles Pasqua, and a British member of Parliament, George Galloway, also had accepted allocations. Both men deny the charges.
Galloway has said he would appear at the hearing on Tuesday to defend himself; but Coleman said he had yet to be in contact the panel.
Coleman said he had not reached any conclusion about whether the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, should have been aware of the abuses of vouchers; but the senator renewed his call for Annan to resign.
"It's a matter of accountability," Coleman said.
The latest report by the subcommittee deals with allocations given to Zhirinovsky, Voloshin and Sergey Issakov, an aide to Voloshin.
Investigators said they had interviewed 16 former Iraqi officials, but they identified only Ramadan and Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister.
The report said the Russian Presidential Council, led by Voloshin, received allocations worth more than $16 million, according to Iraq's Oil Ministry.
The subcommittee said Zhirinovsky received allocations worth $8.7 million. On six occasions, investigators said, he sold allotments to the Texas-based oil company, Bayoil, whose owner, David Chalmers, has been indicted on charges related to the oil-for-food scandal.
The panel's report said that about 30 percent of the oil sold in the oil-for-food program had been allocated to Russia, even though Russia is an oil-exporting country.
WASHINGTON Russian leaders received millions of dollars in Iraqi oil allocations from top representatives in Saddam Hussein's former government, which hoped to end United Nations penalties against Iraq, U.S. Senate investigators were told.
Saddam's vice president, Taha Yasin Ramadan, told investigators that the allocations had been "compensation for support," according to a report released Monday by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Investigations Subcommittee.
Russia's Foreign Ministry declined comment on the report. It said it would be "unethical to make any statements" until a UN-appointed commission investigating the oil-for-food program released its third, and probably final, report this summer.
The Senate investigators said their interviews and documents from the former Iraqi government, were additions to evidence from previous inquiries linking Russian officials to abuses in the $64 billion UN program. It was intended to permit Saddam to sell some oil and use the proceeds to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian items.
Among the officials implicated are Alexander Voloshin, former chief of staff to President Vladimir Putin, and a nationalist Russian lawmaker, Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Mikhail Troyansky, deputy chief of the Foreign Ministry's information department, said Russia had cooperated with the UN commission's investigation, which is led by the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker.
The release of the Senate panel's findings precedes a hearing on Tuesday on Saddam's use of oil vouchers to reward supporters. The vouchers allowed a bearer to buy Iraqi oil at cut-rate prices, which reportedly could be sold for a profit. Saddam also allegedly demanded kickbacks from the oil transactions.
"This is the way Saddam used oil-for-food - to line his own pocket and to curry political favor," said the Senate subcommittee chairman, Norm Coleman, a Republican from Minnesota.
Documents released by the panel last week claimed that the former French interior minister, Charles Pasqua, and a British member of Parliament, George Galloway, also had accepted allocations. Both men deny the charges.
Galloway has said he would appear at the hearing on Tuesday to defend himself; but Coleman said he had yet to be in contact the panel.
Coleman said he had not reached any conclusion about whether the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, should have been aware of the abuses of vouchers; but the senator renewed his call for Annan to resign.
"It's a matter of accountability," Coleman said.
The latest report by the subcommittee deals with allocations given to Zhirinovsky, Voloshin and Sergey Issakov, an aide to Voloshin.
Investigators said they had interviewed 16 former Iraqi officials, but they identified only Ramadan and Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister.
The report said the Russian Presidential Council, led by Voloshin, received allocations worth more than $16 million, according to Iraq's Oil Ministry.
The subcommittee said Zhirinovsky received allocations worth $8.7 million. On six occasions, investigators said, he sold allotments to the Texas-based oil company, Bayoil, whose owner, David Chalmers, has been indicted on charges related to the oil-for-food scandal.
The panel's report said that about 30 percent of the oil sold in the oil-for-food program had been allocated to Russia, even though Russia is an oil-exporting country.
WASHINGTON Russian leaders received millions of dollars in Iraqi oil allocations from top representatives in Saddam Hussein's former government, which hoped to end United Nations penalties against Iraq, U.S. Senate investigators were told.
Saddam's vice president, Taha Yasin Ramadan, told investigators that the allocations had been "compensation for support," according to a report released Monday by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Investigations Subcommittee.
Russia's Foreign Ministry declined comment on the report. It said it would be "unethical to make any statements" until a UN-appointed commission investigating the oil-for-food program released its third, and probably final, report this summer.
The Senate investigators said their interviews and documents from the former Iraqi government, were additions to evidence from previous inquiries linking Russian officials to abuses in the $64 billion UN program. It was intended to permit Saddam to sell some oil and use the proceeds to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian items.
Among the officials implicated are Alexander Voloshin, former chief of staff to President Vladimir Putin, and a nationalist Russian lawmaker, Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Mikhail Troyansky, deputy chief of the Foreign Ministry's information department, said Russia had cooperated with the UN commission's investigation, which is led by the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker.
The release of the Senate panel's findings precedes a hearing on Tuesday on Saddam's use of oil vouchers to reward supporters. The vouchers allowed a bearer to buy Iraqi oil at cut-rate prices, which reportedly could be sold for a profit. Saddam also allegedly demanded kickbacks from the oil transactions.
U.S. report links Russians to oil-for-food scandal
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Louis VI the Fat
I wonder if George Galloway will use it when he faces the commitee today , after all it did conclude that it had absolutely no evidence that he benefitted financially from the program (though most of the media chose to ignore that part of the findings) .
Bookmarks