http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2006/05/19/ap2760079.html
Senate Panel Probes Ex-Senator in U.N. Case
Excerpt:
The Independent Inquiry Committee found that Saddam exploited oil-for-food by awarding contracts and taking kickbacks from hundreds of companies and individuals.
The investigation into Torricelli was first reported by The Financial Times.
The newspaper, citing Iraqi diplomatic cables and other documents obtained by the Times and Il Sole 24 Ore, an Italian business daily, reported that in the 1990s, Torricelli met several times with Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations at the time, Nizar Hamdoun.
At those meetings, according to the newspaper, Torricelli, then a House member, allegedly urged Iraq to help his campaign donor, David Chang, and Chang's company, Bright & Bright Corp., get oil-for-food contracts.
In 2002, the Senate Ethics Committee "severely admonished" Torricelli for accepting improper gifts from Chang, and the senator decided not to seek re-election. Two years earlier, Chang pleaded guilty to obstructing justice and funneling $53,700 in illegal donations to Torricelli's 1996 Senate campaign. Chang told investigators that he gave Torricelli cash and gifts in exchange for assistance in his business ventures; Torricelli called the allegations lies.
Torricelli spokesman Sean Jackson confirmed that Torricelli had conversations with the Iraq ambassador, but said the purpose was to argue that U.S.-Iraq relations would improve if American companies participated in the oil-for-food program.
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http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/051006/spread.html
‘Congress has so little relevance to daily life’
Excerpt:
But having left Washington the ultimate insider — jettisoned out — Torricelli is now the outsider who is invited in. He plays a role in the shadows of national politics, having raised money for John Kerry in his 2004 presidential race and advised his friend New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine — someone he helped guide into politics — with a leap from the Senate to the Statehouse and is eager to help the presidential campaign of his friend Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who he is convinced will occupy the White House for two terms starting in 2009.