Panel: 248 Companies Received Iraqi Oil

NEW YORK - The independent panel investigating alleged corruption in the multibillion-dollar U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq released the names of 248 companies on Thursday that received Iraqi oil and 3,545 companies that exported goods to Saddam Hussein's government.

Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who was appointed in April by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to lead the inquiry, also said his probe had met some resistance in France and in Iraq.

Volcker told a news conference that some of the names on the list might be dummy or front corporations but that being on the list doesn't necessarily imply guilt.

He cited friction at the French bank BNP Paribas, where the oil-for-food program had its account, saying "they have been cooperative up to a point" with information.

"We're entitled to have the information, and I think we're going to get it, but it hasn't been volunteered quite as rapidly as we might have wished," Volcker said.

The committee has also "run into a little trouble in Baghdad" with the American accounting firm Ernst & Young, which was hired by the Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit to review more than 20,000 files from Saddam's regime related to the oil-for-food program, he said.

Lisa Miller, spokeswoman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said that its chairman, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Tex., will send a letter Friday to French President Jacques Chirac asking for "his country's full cooperation with the committee's oil-for-food investigation."

The panel on Thursday said it would investigate how the oil-for-food program was designed, administered and monitored.

It made clear the panel would examine not only the corruption at the U.N. agency, which ran the oil-for-food program, but also the supervision of the program by the Security Council and the Iraq sanctions committee.

Annan on Thursday said the scandal has hurt the U.N.'s reputation. "And that's why we want to get to the bottom of it and clear it as quickly as possible," he said.

Volker stressed that being on the list doesn't imply that a company is guilty of illicit, unethical or corrupt behavior. But he said it also doesn't mean "that some of those companies are not corrupt."

"We know some of them are essentially temporary companies. They may be front companies. They may (have) existed only for this purpose," Volcker said. "We don't know everything about every company on this list, and if there is information ... we would welcome it."

Among the companies listed that received Iraqi oil were four American companies: Texaco and Chevron, now ChevronTexaco Corp.; Mobil, now Exxon Mobil Corp.; and a third company listed as Phoenix International.

ChevronTexaco and Exxon Mobil have been subpoenaed by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office for a grand jury investigation into the oil-for-food program.

Among the thousands of companies listed as exporting goods to Iraq were a handful of American ones. They included Baker Atlas, an oil service company owned by Baker Hughes Inc.; Cargill Inc.; and Continental Grain, now owned by Cargill.

Volcker said he hoped to issue a final report in the middle of next year and possibly an interim report early in 2005.

The oil-for-food program, which began in December 1996 and ended in November 2003, was launched to help Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Under the program, the former Iraqi regime could sell unlimited quantities of oil provided the money went primarily to buy humanitarian goods and pay reparations to victims of the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites). Saddam's government decided on the goods it wanted, who should provide them and who could buy Iraqi oil — but the U.N. committee overseeing sanctions monitored the contracts.

An accounting by the Independent Inquiry Committee showed that the 248 companies — which span the globe — paid Iraq the equivalent of $64.2 billion for oil, and that the 3,545 companies that exported goods to south and central Iraq received payments totaling the equivalent of $32.9 billion.

The committee also named a further 941 companies that had contracts to supply goods to then Kurdish-ruled northern Iraq under a separate arrangement administered by U.N.-related agencies.

Volcker repeatedly refused to discuss any allegations against individuals or companies.

Two weeks ago, the top U.S. investigator in Iraq, Charles Duelfer, made allegations of widespread corruption in the program, accusing the top U.N. official overseeing the program, Benon Sevan, of accepting bribes in the form of vouchers for Iraqi oil sales. Sevan has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Asked when he expected to complete the investigation of Sevan, he said called the accusation of corruption within the U.N. "a priority."

Reminded that early on he said the investigation of Sevan would take about three months, Volcker replied: "You begin turning over the leaves and you find more and more complications."

The committee said it will also investigate allegations concerning potential corruption in Iraq's former government.

CORRECTED: UN Food, Oil Inquiry Releases 4,500 Names of Firms

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. inquiry into allegations of corruption in the now-defunct Iraqi oil-for-food program on Thursday released the names of some 4,500 firms that did business with Baghdad but did not rule on their guilt or innocence.

Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, made the list public. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed him last April to probe the $69 billion U.N. program set up in late 1996.

It was aimed at allowing civilian goods into Iraq in an effort to ease the impact of sanctions.

"This is not a report of what went wrong," Volcker told a news conference. "It is not a report of what went right."

He said 3,545 companies sold supplies to Iraq and 250 companies bought oil. Another 941 firms exported goods to northern Iraq, which was under a separate program administered by U.N. humanitarian agencies.

Volcker said he was publishing the list in the interest of transparency. But he said it did not mean "that some of those companies are not corrupt."

Volcker said he had had good cooperation from the Bush administration as well as Iraqi leaders when some of his 65 investigators went to Baghdad.

But he said that BNP Paribas, the French bank that handled most of the program's revenues, had cooperated "up to a point, up to a point."

"They are clients of the U.N. We are entitled to have information that they have relative to their account. There may be some interpretation as to exactly what that means," Volcker said.

Volcker also indicated some difficulties in dealing with the accounting firm Ernst & Young, which the Iraqi government has engaged. But he said much depended on how agreements were interpreted and "the kind of thing likely to arise from an investigation of this sort."

MID-2005 COMPLETION

He said he expected his work to be completed in mid-2005 but would release at least one interim report before then.

Two weeks ago, Charles Duelfer, the top U.S. investigator for the CIA, also released a list of companies and individuals as well as alleged kickbacks or oil surcharges.

One name on the list of accepting oil allocations that could be traded for cash was Benon Sevan, head of the U.N. program. He has denied the charges.

Duelfer, who will meet with Volcker shortly, said Saddam Hussein's government earned $2 billion illegally associated with the U.N. program and another $8 billion in smuggling or direct agreements with governments breaking U.N. sanctions that were imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Much of this was possible because the oil-for-food program devised by the U.N. Security Council allowed Iraq to choose its own contractors. Saddam used this power to hand out oil vouchers that could be sold for cash to those who might help him get rid of the sanctions.

Annan acknowledged on Thursday that the allegations have hurt the world body.

"It has done damage, yes. And that's why we want to get to the bottom of it and clear it as quickly as possible," he said.

Many U.N. documents have been handed over to the U.S. mission at the United Nations, an arm of the State Department, in addition to those the United States had received as a member of the Security Council's Iraqi sanctions committee.

Volcker said he had not had contact with the U.S. Justice Department or the five U.S. congressional committees seeking their own probe.

"We are not prepared to release material of investigative value," he said.

Other U.N. officials said the world body was an international institution and thus not under U.S. jurisdiction.

Annan encouraged that independent Oil-for-Food probe is pressing forward

21 October 2004 – After meeting with the head of the independent inquiry examining allegations of corruption surrounding the United Nations Oil-for-Food programme, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today hailed the thorough work done so far in seeking to determine the truth.

“The Secretary-General is encouraged that the Committee is working diligently on the inquiry and looks forward to receiving its final report,” a UN spokesperson said in a statement following the meeting between Mr. Annan and Paul Volcker, the Chairman of the Independent Inquiry Committee and former head of the United States Federal Reserve Board.

On entering the UN prior to the meeting, the Secretary-General was asked by reporters about the scandal’s impact on the world body. “There is no doubt that the constant campaign has, and the discussions have, hurt the UN,” he said. “That’s why we want to get to the bottom of it and clear it as quickly as possible.”

The Volcker inquiry today released comprehensive tables of companies participating in purchases of Iraqi oil and the sale of goods under the Oil-for-Food programme. According to the Inquiry, 248 companies received and paid for contracts totalling $64.2 billion, while 3,545 companies exported goods to south and central Iraq, receiving payment totalling $32.9 billion. Another 941 companies are identified by name only for exports to northern Iraq.

In a briefing paper accompanying the release of the data, the Inquiry said the investigation has made “substantial progress,” organizing its 65 staff members into specific investigative teams. Scores of witness interviews have been conducted in Europe, the US, Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. Committee staff members are continuing to review UN records as well as transactions related to the programme.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=12302&Cr=iraq&Cr1=

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