Free Republic

Even the French have finally discovered the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal. With the arrest in Paris this week of a former French ambassador to the U.N., Jean-Bernard Merimee, alleged to have received illicit and lucrative contracts to buy oil from Saddam Hussein's U.N.-sanctioned regime, the French newspapers are now aflutter over "petrole contre nourriture." The funny thing is, while France had plenty to do with Oil-for-Food, Merimee's main trail leads not to the Quai d'Orsay, but to the doorstep of the U.N. secretary general. Authorities at the French foreign ministry have said the allegations against Merimee concern his activities after...

Press Release Source: Newsweek NEWSWEEK: Two Related Companies In The Oil-for-Food Business are Believed to Have Handled as Much as $4 Billion in Deals, Reselling Some Crude to Big U.S. Refiners Like Exxonmobil, Says Investigator Sunday January 16, 10:22 am ET # NEW YORK, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Investigative officials in New York and Europe are looking closely at the dealings of numerous companies and individuals involved in the Oil-for-Food business in an attempt to learn who may have helped Saddam Hussein's regime beat U.N. sanctions. Newsweek reports in the January 24 issue (on newsstands Monday, January 17) that one...