Posted on 12/22/2006 6:00:58 PM PST by jdm
NEW YORK (AP) -- Iraqi citizens filed a $200 million lawsuit Friday against a prominent European bank and an Australian wheat exporter, saying they were cheated out of humanitarian goods when the companies permitted the U.N. oil-for-food program to be corrupted.
The lawsuit, which sought class-action status on behalf of northern Iraqis, said the bank, BNP Paribas, and AWB Limited, the largest humanitarian goods provider under the oil-for-food program, cheated the citizens of Iraq from June 10, 1999, to June 3, 2003.
<-snip->
The lawsuit said the companies stole from the Iraqis ''by engaging in a brazen kickback scheme'' in which money earmarked for the benefit of Iraqis was instead improperly transferred ''into the coffers of Saddam Hussein's corrupt Iraqi regime or used to indemnify goods suppliers, including AWB, for the bribes they had paid Iraq.''
The lawsuit said the companies disguised and misrepresented the kickbacks to make them appear to be legitimate costs. It also accused them of knowing or recklessly disregarding that money was being paid illegally to the government of Saddam Hussein.
BNP paid as much as $1.5 billion in kickbacks to Hussein's government while AWB paid more than $200 million, the lawsuit claims.
BNP is headquartered in Paris, France, but has offices in the United States, including New York. Edwina Frawley, a BNP spokeswoman, said she had no immediate comment Friday.
<-snip->
Under the oil-for-food program, AWB, which had sold wheat to Iraq since 1948, sold 6.8 million tons to the nation, receiving more than $2.3 billion in payments, the lawsuit said.
<-snip->
AWB did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment Friday, and no one answered a phone call at its Australian headquarters.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
ping.
Nice. Too bad this didn't get rolling about a year ago.
Just one small part of Earth's biggest scandal in it's history!!!
They need to name the United Nations and specifically Kofi Anan in this suit.
BNP Paribas is the largest bank in the Eurozone by total assets and second largest by market capitalization according to The Banker magazine. It employs 109,780 people, of which 80,000 work in Europe, and maintains a presence in 87 countries. The bank is active in the finance, investment and asset management markets.
In France, BNP Paribas is active in retail banking with 2,200 branches and over 3,200 ATM machines. BNP Paribas serves over 6 million French households and 60,000 corporate customers.
My thoughts exactly.
BNP PARIBAS EUR2 (BNP)
5,485.00
 0.00 (0.00%) as of 03:17 AM EST on 12/15/2006 (London Delay: 15 mins.)
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Ping. Shocked to see the MSM covering this.
BTTT
Yeah, I agree. Maybe because it's the Friday before Christmas? LOL. AP/NY Times is playing its "Nifong" card!
The Iraqis should get every cent made by anyone on the illegally obtained oil.
And the Iraqis should then pay back to the USA all the money we have spent helping them getting their country back.
And with the leftover billions, they can fix their little corner of the world real nice!
That's my plan...
Translation: 'Yes, the French corporation is at fault here, but, but, but, don't forget they also have an office in NYC...and you know, NYC is in America.'
They should be suing Kofi Annan and the UN, not the aid providers.
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