Posted on 07/29/2005 3:40:02 PM PDT by Brian Mosely
NEW YORK — As investigations proliferate into the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal, one of the more intriguing mysteries involves a former French diplomat with a direct link to the U.N.’s executive suite: Jean-Bernard Merimee (search).
The 68-year-old Merimee, one of several individuals now under investigation in France for alleged involvement in Saddam Hussein’s Oil-for-Food scams, is well known for his role in the early 1990s as French ambassador to the United Nations. What investigators have not so far highlighted is that during the period Merimee is alleged to have come into commercial contact with Saddam’s regime, starting in December 2001, he was working not for the French government, but as a special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (search).
Merimee’s name first surfaced in relation to Oil-for-Food (search) early last year, with the publication in Baghdad’s Al-Mada newspaper of a long list of politicians and businessmen worldwide alleged to have received lucrative oil allocations from Saddam, which could be resold to commercial dealers for an easy profit.
His name turned up again last fall, with the release of a report by the CIA’s Iraq Survey Group, in an annex containing what senior U.S. arms inspector Charles Duelfer (search) described as “secret lists” maintained in Baghdad by senior officials of Saddam’s regime.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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Nah.
Merimee
Merimee is being investigated in France by judge Courraye, who is reputed to be a pit-bull. Not included in the Fox report was Merimee's tie to Fenar Petroleum.
Serving in the UN Security Council, Merimee was named as Ambassador to Rome in 1995 and served until 1998 before returning to the UN. I have a hunch the assignment had more to it than just a change in scenery.
WHEN will these people be going to jail? Will we live to see Kofi in prison? Investigators retire on the same investigation they were hired to investigate.
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