Texas oilman and two Swiss executives charged in oil-for-food probe [View All]

[maddezmom]

By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press Writer

October 21, 2005, 2:23 PM EDT


NEW YORK -- A Texas oilman and two Swiss business executives were charged Friday with directing the payment of millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime to benefit from the United Nations oil-for-food program.

Oscar S. Wyatt Jr., former chairman of Coastal Corp., was arrested Friday morning at his home in Houston while the U.S. government was seeking the extradition of Catalina del Socorro Miguel Fuentes and Mohammed Saidji from Switzerland.


The men were named in a superseding indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. An earlier version of the indictment in April had charged two Houston oilmen and a British citizen with participating in the corruption of the oil-for-food program.

The program broke down after the United Nations let Hussein choose who could purchase Iraqi oil. By 2000, authorities said, Hussein had begun insisting that those he dealt with be willing to pay kickbacks.

more:http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--oil-for-food1021oct21,0,4799262.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

edited to add newsday story

US charges 3 people, 3 firms in Iraq oil program


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors in New York have charged three more people in connection with secret kickbacks in the U.N. oil-for-food program, the U.S. Attorney's office said on Friday.

They were Oscar S. Wyatt Jr., a Texas business executive and the former chairman of Coastal Corp.; Catalina del Socorro Miguel Fuentes, a Swiss business executive; and Mohammed Saidji, a Swiss business executive, prosecutors said in a statement.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051021/wl_nm/iraq_un_dc_2