Reply #4: Oil-for-Food report will name companies that bribed Saddam [View All]

[emad]

By Times Online and agencies

More than 2,200 companies helped to enrich Saddam Hussein's regime by paying a total of $1.5 billion in illegal bribes as they scrambled to profit from the United Nations Oil-for-Food programme, an inquiry is expected to report today.

The Independent Inquiry Committee led by Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, will say that the bribes were paid in the form of "fees" for transporting goods to the interior of Iraq, or "after-sales-service".

The UN asked Mr Volcker to investigate claims of wrongdoing in the $64 billion programme, which was supposed to be a method for Iraq to raise money to buy food and medicines abroad.

Despite international sanctions, the scheme turned into a corrupt free-for-all with 4,500 companies jostling for a slice of the business, the report is expected to say.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1845432,00.html