Your picking on the UN.
The Democ
Party.
Posted on 04/15/2004 6:41:54 PM PDT by RickGolden
Probe to blow lid off massive U.N. scandal Documents prove oil-for-food corruption involving world leaders
Editor's note: WorldNetDaily is pleased to have a content-sharing agreement with Insight magazine, the bold Washington publication not afraid to ruffle establishment feathers. Subscribe to Insight at WorldNetDaily's online store and save 71 percent off the cover price. By Kenneth R. Timmerman © 2004 Insight/News World Communications Inc.
A team of international forensic investigators is preparing to blow the lid off the much-disputed U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq and will present new evidence of corruption at an upcoming congressional hearing that directly will implicate world leaders and top U.N. officials, Insight has learned.
Investigators, led by Claude Hankes-Drielsma and the KPMG accounting firm, currently are in Baghdad sifting through mountains of Saddam Hussein-era records seized from his Oil Ministry and the State Oil Marketing Organization that detail payments by Saddam to his legions of foreign friends and political supporters.
An Iraqi newspaper, Al-Mada, published the list of 270 recipients of special "allocations" [also known as vouchers] in January. But as Insight goes to press, the testimony of Hankes-Drielsma on April 22 before the House International Relations Committee is expected to provide new evidence of widespread international corruption.
In a scathing letter sent to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on March 3, which he made available to Insight, Hankes-Drielsma called the U.N. program "one of the world's most disgraceful scams," and said that "based on the facts as I know them at the present time, the U.N. failed in its responsibility to the Iraqi people and the international community at large."
In an earlier letter to Annan, to which he received no reply, Hankes-Drielsma noted that allocations of "very significant supplies of crude oil [were] made to ... individuals with political influence in many countries, including France and Jordan," both of which supported Saddam and his regime to the bitter end.
Under the U.N. program, the Dutch company Saybolt International BV was paid hefty fees to inspect oil tankers loading Iraqi crude in Basra, to make sure no cheating took place.
"Now it turns out that the inspecting company was paid off," one investigator said, "while on the ground, individual inspectors were getting cash bribes."
Saybolt denies it received an oil allocation, although the Iraqi documents show it was down for 3 million barrels.
Saybolt spokesman Peter Box tells Insight that the company's own investigation of two known incidents of "topping off" involving the oil tanker Essex in 2001 "found no involvement of our staff at that particular time."
Saybolt continues to operate in Iraq today, although it now has an "entirely new group of people," Box adds.
Among the revelations at the April 22 hearings, Insight has learned from investigators directly working on the case, will be new details of oil vouchers allegedly granted to Patrick Maugein, a prominent crony of French President Jacques Chirac, said to total 72.2 million barrels.
Maugein's involvement in the U.N.-approved oil deals is significant, investigators say, because he is believed to be a conduit for backdoor payments to Chirac and his family. It was Chirac who spearheaded a worldwide coalition last year that opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and tried desperately to keep Saddam in power.
When the allegations of backdoor payments first surfaced in a Paris courtroom in 1998, Maugein swept them aside as "pure fantasy." And in a statement provided to Insight, he denies having raised funds for Chirac, his family or his political campaigns. But as more evidence begins to leak from the archives of Saddam's former oil ministry, such denials may become harder to sustain.
The vouchers were assigned to two trading companies, identified in the Iraqi documents as Trafigura and Ibex, both of which were involved in the Essex incident. Investigators say they believe both companies are tied to Maugein, either through beneficial ownership or contractual arrangement. Vouchers for an additional 11 million barrels were granted to Maugein business partner Cabecadas Rul de Soussa, according to the original Al-Mada list. The ties between de Soussa and Maugein were first revealed by Therese Raphael of the Wall Street Journal Europe.
Asked about the allegations by Insight, Maugein denied he was involved with either company, although he did acknowledge knowing their principals, with whom he had worked as an oil trader with Marc Rich in Switzerland.
He insisted that all his dealings with Iraq were legal and conducted through the oil-for-food program.
"Patrick Maugein bought oil for his refinery in Mantua, Italy," a spokesman said. "All the oil deals were run by the U.N. They were paid through the U.N. and monitored by the U.N."
But those denials might not withstand the onslaught of the documents about to be released, investigators say.
"Already we've got details of all the accounts held in the names of individuals," one investigator tells Insight in an exclusive interview. "On these records are exact details of which accounts were held by whom," including the foreign proxies and their ultimate beneficiaries – in Iraq and overseas.
The Iraqi documents specifically tie Maugein to the 25 million barrels allocated to Trafigura Beheer BV, a company Maugein claims was a competitor of his own London-based SOCO International. Investigators say other information they have developed shows that Maugein could be a "beneficial owner" of Ibex Energy, a holding company registered in Bermuda that was awarded vouchers for 47.2 million barrels.
"That is a very high allocation," an investigator tells this magazine. "If a Cabinet minister gets 12 million barrels, why would Ibex get 47 million barrels unless something much bigger was at stake?"
Other French recipients named in the Iraqi documents include former Interior minister Charles Pasqua (12 million barrels), former French U.N. ambassador Jean-Bernard Merimee (8 million barrels) and Lebanese-French middleman Elias Firzli (14.6 million barrels).
Firzli acknowledged in a lengthy interview with Insight in Paris that the Iraqis were desperate to meet with Chirac and were willing to pay a high price for access. Shortly before the war broke out in March 2003, Firzli says he introduced Iraqi diplomat Nizar Hamdoon – sent as an emissary from Saddam – to senior French government officials in Paris. But Firzli scoffed at the oil vouchers, calling them "small stuff compared to the billions of dollars people made in the 1980s."
Published reports to date have focused on oil vouchers granted to the head of the United Nation's oil-for-food program, Benan Sevan, who has been on an extended vacation since the allegations first surfaced at the end of January. He denied the charges through a U.N. spokesman. And Insight has learned that as investigators pursue the document trail, they believe they are getting closer to world leaders, including Chirac.
But can it be proved?
"The Iraqi civil service, even under Saddam, was quite excellent. They kept meticulous records. Every order was cross-referenced, initialed and counterinitialed, so nobody could be accused of taking anything for himself," an investigator who recently returned from Baghdad tells Insight.
Scandal 'without precedent'
Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the House International Relations Committee, sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Annan on April 1, which committee staffers tell this magazine was intended to "lay down a marker."
It called the scandal "without precedent in U.N. history" and urged Annan to make his response "equally unprecedented." Annan has announced that he will name an independent panel to investigate.
Fears of a U.N. whitewash run high on Capitol Hill. Hyde urged Annan to take steps to ensure that all documents relating to the oil-for-food program "be preserved and secured," and asked that special measures be taken to protect potential whistle-blowers who could provide testimony on the illicit deals.
The United States General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, told Hyde's committee recently that $10.1 billion of the estimated $60 billion handled by the United Nations under the program was paid in kickbacks, bribes and set-asides to Saddam and his cronies.
The KPMG forensic-accounting investigators were brought to Baghdad by the Iraqi Governing Council to get to the bottom of the scandal. But Insight has learned that the Coalition Provisional Authority, or CPA, led by J. Paul Bremer, recently took over the investigation, just as the accountants were stumbling over evidence of corruption by Americans working for the CPA.
"We were hearing stories of contractors passing envelopes with huge amounts of cash to CPA officials," an investigator says. "As much as $300,000 in cash passed hands."
Speaking from Baghdad, an Iraqi official confirmed to this magazine that the CPA was now in charge of these matters, although the Iraqi Governing Council was footing the bill.
"We no longer have control over the documents or the investigation," the official said.
In Washington, the State Department's Bureau of International Organizations is in charge of relations with the United Nations. In preparation for the April 22 hearing, Chairman Hyde has sent two letters to Assistant Secretary of State Kim Holmes requesting that State provide full documentation of the oil-for-food program, including commercial contracts.
Since the United States is a permanent member of the Security Council and a leading member of the U.N. Sanctions Committee, State has access to the full United Nations record but has been unwilling to make incriminating information public until now for fear of angering U.S. allies. France accounted for approximately 25 percent of all U.N.-approved trade with Iraq, according to an estimate by the CIA.
"Give France a break," says French ambassador to the United States Jean-David Levitte, writing in the Los Angeles Times.
He said allegations that France condoned kickbacks or took bribes "are completely false and can only have been an effort to discredit France, a longtime friend and ally of the U.S."
Give ME a break.
I'm so glad this committe is in Republican hands, so that it won't be ignored.
< /cynicism>
He sure does
Interesting.
It's funny how the French remember our longtime friendship and alliance when they need something.
LOL .. I hadn't thought of that
Beware of a whole lot of lying going on. KPMG is known to be in the business of selling fraudulent foreign tax shelter schemes at the highest levels and throughout their company. They may have been brought in to cover up for certain individuals. Bremer is smart to take it out of their hands. Then they try a possible offensive flip by alleging:
"We were hearing stories of contractors passing envelopes with huge amounts of cash to CPA officials," an investigator says. "As much as $300,000 in cash passed hands."
Speaking from Baghdad, an Iraqi official confirmed to this magazine that the CPA was now in charge of these matters, although the Iraqi Governing Council was footing the bill.
"We no longer have control over the documents or the investigation," the official said.
Good.
Lessee... we have an International Criminal Court... anybody want to speculate on how long before they press charges against Chirac and his buds?
Not even the mainstream media can ignore such corruption.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Dammit man, don't post humor that funny while I'm drinking beer. It's all over the floor now, and that's alcohol abuse.
The Democ Party.
 |
Omega Letter Christian Intelligence Digest |
Monday, March 08, 2004
Special Report: The Biggest Story that Never Was
Last month, the discovery of documents from Saddam Hussein's oil ministry showed that Saddam Hussein was making payoffs to some 270 companies, organizations and individuals in fifty different countries.
Because the U.N. allowed Saddam Hussein to decide who received contracts under the "Oil for Food" program, he was able to use it as a personal slush fund to pay off his defenders.
France and Russia were two of the most stubborn supporters of the Hussein regime, and their friendship was rewarded well: Russian interests got the biggest cut of the loot, while the French came in second.
Since 1996, Russia has ranked first among nations doing business with Iraq under the oil-for-food program with sales exceeding $4 billion, and Russia still hopes to collect the $12 billion in cold-war-era debt owed by Iraq.
In 2002, under the oil-for-food program, France sold $1.5 billion worth of goods to Iraq, the most of any nation. Major French companies like communications giant Alcatel and automakers Peugeot and Renault all had business ties to Saddam.
France's Total Fina Elf had exclusive rights to develop the Majnoon and Bin Umar oil fields which are believed to be the largest in the world and estimated to hold 35 billion barrels of oil; more than three times Total Fina Elf's current reserves.
On December 8, 2002, Saddam sent both Russia and France a message when it cancelled the $4 billion contract with Russia's Lukoil to develop the West Qurna oil field.
French oil firms, fearing they were next, began pressuring the French government to force the UN to resolve the Iraq crisis 'peacefully' and Total Fina Elf demanded assurances its oil contacts in Iraq will be protected.
Documents found in the Iraqi foreign ministry building proved the French gave regular briefings to Saddam Hussein on details of US intentions. The documents, which have been authenticated, showed the French kept Saddam abreast of every development in US planning and may have helped him to prepare for war.
Another, dated September 25, 2001, from Naji Sabri, the Iraqi foreign minister, to Saddam's palace, was based on a briefing from the French ambassador in Baghdad and covered talks between presidents Jacques Chirac and President Bush.
And last October, when 40 rockets were fired at an American government office in Baghdad, at least half of them were determined to have been made by France AFTER the U.N. weapons embargo went into effect in the wake of the first Gulf War.
Assessment:
Nary a day goes by without some news story about poor US intelligence, or complaints from the UN, or France, or Germany -- or Democrats -- that the US unseated Saddam based on flawed intelligence or deliberate manipulation of known facts.
Or stories about US failures in Iraq, or US troops being 'bogged down' by terrorist activity or a lack of cooperation from local Iraqis, etc., etc.
When the news isn't running stories about the president being a crook, or innuendo pieces about Haliburton contracts (Dick Cheney's former company. Did you know?), there are stories about how homeland security is too restrictive, too lax, too intrusive, or too weak.
But NOBODY is talking about when our alleged allies sold us out to Saddam Hussein. Nobody is talking about the improprieties surrounding the UN's administration of Iraq's Oil-For-Food program that bought Saddam computers, new Mercedes', weapons components, but very little food.
Nobody is investigating the secret slush-funds Saddam used to pay off politicians like British MP George Galloway. (Galloway personally pulled in nearly $10 million while defending Saddam.)
Why is the fact Saddam's allies profited by pocketing the difference between the price of oil under the U.N.'s "Oil for Food" program and the price of oil on the open market not news?
Especially since some of these allies included "a close political associate and financial backer of French President Jacques Chirac", "Russian political figures" including "the Russian ambassador to Baghdad" and "officials in the office of President Vladimir Putin", according to the documents?
In the April 11, 2003 issue of the Omega Letter Daily Intelligence Digest, we outlined most of this information, although at that time, the documents confirming them had not yet been discovered inside Iraq.
This is what we reported. . ."with the U.N. skimming enormous administrative fees off the top and then diverting another chunk to 'war reparations' despite the fact the UN now says the cost of the war should be borne by the coalition.
Perhaps this accounts, in some small measure, for these entities’ lenient stance toward Saddam's Iraq. It also explains Kofi Annan's bizarre claim the other day that allowing the UN to head the rebuilding Iraq would give the war 'international legitimacy.'
If allowing the UN to profit from a war it opposed would make it 'legitimate' then the reasons for conducting the war in the first place are also legitimate. The only thing that is different is how big a cut the UN gets of the pie, no?
The UN's stake in Iraq is exceeded only by that of France or Russia. Iraqi trade continued growing, even through last year. France has become Iraq’s top European trading partner, displacing Russia.
Nearly 60 percent of French companies have business ties with Iraq, pulling in $1.5 billion annually. France ranks as Iraq’s third largest trading partner under the UN’s Oil-for-Food program, raking in $3.1 billion since 1996.
(Russia is number one, incidentally, with a cool $4.3 billion.)"
So, if we knew this last year, why hasn't any of this ever made the nightly news? Why isn't the 'watchdog American media' screaming for an investigation of how the United Nations and our European allies sold America down the river for money?
Shouldn't somebody among the liberal media be at least curious about Jacques Chirac giving Saddam Hussein briefings on secret discussions with American officials, including the President of the United States, on the eve of war?
All of the available evidence points toward a massive bribery scandal on a global scale, and makes clear that our alleged allies helped to prop up Saddam's regime for a decade -- in exchange for MONEY!
The reason the mainstream won't touch what is potentially the biggest global scandal in history, dwarfing Watergate, is because they are complicit in it.
Desperate to discredit what they believe is an illegitimate Bush administration, the mainstream press joined the conspiracy, which is why it is now reluctant to discuss it.
We referred to them at the time as the 'useful idiots' of Saddam Hussein and his puppetmasters in Europe and the UN -- the only news they saw fit to report was news that made George Bush (and, by extension, America) look bad.
Thanks to the useful idiots, the United States' global reputation has never been worse, while the UN, Russia, France and Germany are looked up to as the heroes who dared challenge an arrogant US administration.
The truth is that the media sold America out, too. They wanted to believe the French, Germans and UN about Iraq because they wanted to believe they were right about George Bush.
And any investigation that looked at what was really taking place in the lead-up to the war with Saddam's Iraq would expose them for the treasonous, but useful, idiots that they are.
"trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. . ." (2 Timothy 3:3-5)
© http://www.omegaletter.com
How reassuring!
A "whitewash" is exactly what will happen.
The whole U.N. is a festering cesspool of corruption and anti-Americanism and everybody knows it and we still keep sending in our billions every year to support it. I just can't see anyone doing anything to change it, but I'd be glad to be proven wrong.
Annan has announced that he will name an independent panel to investigate.
And it will take 3 or more years to make a conclusion and then everybody will have forgotten about it, just like they planned it. Pathetic.
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