CIA releases who's who of Saddam's alleged bribes

NEW YORK - The CIA yesterday released a list of firms and people from dozens of countries allegedly given oil vouchers by Saddam Hussein's Government that could be turned into cash.

The charts, compiled from 13 secret lists by Iraq's former Vice-President and Oil Minister, detail legitimate contracts to oil companies.

But it is also a who's who of companies, political groups and individuals from whom the former Iraqi Government wanted favours in its effort to subvert United Nations trade sanctions.

The list was issued as part of a report on Iraq's unconventional weapons by CIA adviser Charles Duelfer, a former UN inspector in Iraq.

But Duelfer did not say whether anyone had verified the names.

All names of Americans and British companies and individuals, whether suspected of wrongdoing or not, were deleted from the list, part of which had been published by an Iraqi newspaper in Baghdad after the war in March 2003.

The only UN official on the list is Benon Sevan, the head of the humanitarian programme for Iraq, who has been accused previously of receiving an oil voucher and has denied it several times.

The UN has given all its documents to Paul Volcker, former head of the Federal Reserve, for an independent probe.

Among the alleged recipients of oil vouchers were Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, Russian ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his Liberal Democratic Party, the Russian presidential office, the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Ukraine Community Party, the Ukraine Socialist Party, the son of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and the People's Liberation Front of Palestine.

There are many others.

Diplomats said the list also included George Galloway, one of Britain's most outspoken anti-war campaigners, who has denied earlier allegations of payments.

His name was removed by US officials before the list was published.

Iraq was under a sweeping UN trade embargo in August 1990 after it invaded Kuwait.

The sanctions were tightened after the 1991 Gulf War and not lifted until last year.


- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq