« BACK TO FORUM
 Author |
 Post
|
 |
|
Ray Ovac
Joined: May 12, 2004
Posts: 255 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Blabbermouth
User is
Offline
|
Who REALLY has their hands in the Iraqi people's cookie jar?
July 25, 2004 - 11:44 AM
|
|
Link:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/Investigation/saddam_oil_vouchers_040129.html
Not a new story, but one that definitely warrants re - visitation right about now.
Saddam’s Gifts
Document: Saddam Supporters Received Lucrative Oil Contracts
By Brian Ross
ABCNEWS.com
Jan. 29— ABCNEWS has obtained an extraordinary list that contains the names of prominent people around the world who supported Saddam Hussein's regime and were given oil contracts as a result.
All of the contracts were awarded from late 1997 until the U.S.-led war in March 2003. They were conducted under the aegis of the United Nations' oil-for-food program, which was designed to allow Iraq to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian goods.
The document was discovered several weeks ago in the files of the Iraqi Oil Ministry in Baghdad.
According to a copy obtained by ABCNEWS, some 270 prominent individuals, political parties or corporations in 47 countries were on a list of those given Iraq oil contracts instantly worth millions of dollars.
Today, the U.S.Treasury Department said that any American citizens found to be illegally involved could face prosecution.
"You are looking at a political slush fund that was buying political support for the regime of Saddam Hussein for the last six or seven years," said financial investigator John Fawcett.
Investigators say none of the people involved would have actually taken possession of oil, but rather just the right to buy the oil at a discounted price, which could be resold to a legitimate broker or oil company, at an average profit of about 50 cents a barrel.
List Includes Prominent Names
Among those named: Indonesia President Megawati Sukarnoputri, an outspoken opponent of U.S.-Iraq policy, who received a contract for 10 million barrels of oil — about a $5 million profit.
The son of the Syrian defense minister received 6 million barrels, according to the document, worth about $3 million.
(Continued)
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
Ray Ovac
Joined: May 12, 2004
Posts: 255 (view all)
Poster Rank:
Blabbermouth
User is
Offline
Country: United States
|
(Continued)
July 25, 2004 - 12:18 PM
|
|
The son of the Syrian defense minister received 6 million barrels, according to the document, worth about $3 million.
George Galloway, a British member of Parliament, was also on the list to receive 19 million barrels of oil, a $9.5 million profit. A vocal critic of the Iraq war, Galloway denied any involvement to ABCNEWS earlier this year.
"I've never seen a bottle of oil, owned one or bought one," Galloway said in a previous interview with ABCNEWS.
According to the document, France was the second-largest beneficiary, with tens of millions of barrels awarded to Patrick Maugein, a close political associate and financial backer of French President Jacques Chirac.
Maugein, individually and through companies connected to him, received contracts for some 36 million barrels. Chirac's office said it was unaware of Maugein's deals, which Maugein told ABCNEWS are perfectly legal.
The single biggest set of contracts were given to the Russian government and Russian political figures, more than 1.3 billion barrels in all — including 92 million barrels to individual officials in the office of President Vladimir Putin.
Another 1 million barrels were contracted to the Russian ambassador to Baghdad, 137 million barrels of oil were given to the Russian Communist Party, and 5 million barrels were contracted to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Also on the list are the names of prominent journalists, two Iraqi-Americans, and a French priest who organized a meeting between the pope and Tariq Aziz, Saddam's deputy prime minister.
The following are the names of some of those who, according to the document, received Iraqi oil contracts (amounts are in millions of barrels of oil):
Russia
The Companies of the Russian Communist Party: 137 million
The Companies of the Liberal Democratic Party: 79.8 million
The Russian Committee for Solidarity with Iraq: 6.5 million and 12.5 million (2 separate contracts)
Head of the Russian Presidential Cabinet: 90 million
The Russian Orthodox Church: 5 million
France
Charles Pasqua, former minister of interior: 12 million
Trafigura (Patrick Maugein), businessman: 25 million
Ibex: 47.2 million
Bernard Merimee, former French ambassador to the United Nations: 3 million
Michel Grimard, founder of the French-Iraqi Export Club: 17.1 million
Syria
Firas Mostafa Tlass, son of Syria's defense minister: 6 million
Turkey
Zeynel Abidin Erdem: more than 27 million
Lotfy Doghan: more than 11 million
Indonesia
Megawati Sukarnoputri: 11 million
Spain
Ali Ballout, Lebanese journalist: 8.8 million
Yugoslavia
The Socialist Party: 22 million
Kostunica's Party: 6 million
Canada
Arthur Millholland, president and CEO of Oilexco: 9.5 million
Italy
Father Benjamin, a French Catholic priest who arranged a meeting between the pope and Tariq Aziz: 4.5 million
Roberto Frimigoni: 24.5 million
United States
Samir Vincent: 7 million
Shakir Alkhalaji: 10.5 million
United Kingdom
George Galloway, member of Parliament: 19 million
Mujaheddin Khalq: 36.5 million
South Africa
Tokyo Saxwale: 4 million
Jordan
Shaker bin Zaid: 6.5 million
The Jordanian Ministry of Energy: 5 million
Fawaz Zureikat: 6 million
Toujan Al Faisal, former member of Parliament: 3 million
Lebanon
The son of President Lahoud: 5.5 million
Egypt
Khaled Abdel Nasser: 16.5 million
Emad Al Galda, businessman and Parliament member: 14 million
Palestinian Territories
The Palestinian Liberation Organization: 4 million
Abu Al Abbas: 11.5 million
Qatar
Hamad bin Ali Al Thany: 14 million
Libya
Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem: 1 million
Chad
Foreign minister of Chad: 3 million
Brazil
The October 8th Movement: 4.5 million
Myanmar (Burma)
The minister of the Forests of Myanmar: 5 million
Ukraine
The Social Democratic Party: 8.5 million
The Communist Party: 6 million
The Socialist Party: 2 million
The FTD oil company: 2 million "
Hmmm, as someone in another posting said, "This makes the 'Haliburton' conspiracy theory seem like an open book compared to the real corruption going on."
Now, why would countries like France
(According to the document, France was the second-largest beneficiary, with tens of millions of barrels awarded to Patrick Maugein, a close political associate and financial backer of French President Jacques Chirac. )
or Russia
(Russia
The Companies of the Russian Communist Party: 137 million
The Companies of the Liberal Democratic Party: 79.8 million
The Russian Committee for Solidarity with Iraq: 6.5 million and 12.5 million (2 separate contracts)
Head of the Russian Presidential Cabinet: 90 million
The Russian Orthodox Church: 5 million)
or Palestine
(Palestinian Territories
The Palestinian Liberation Organization: 4 million
Abu Al Abbas: 11.5 million )
or certain members of the British Parlament
(United Kingdom
George Galloway, member of Parliament: 19 million
Mujaheddin Khalq: 36.5 million )
or certain members of the "unbiased" media
(Also on the list are the names of prominent journalists, two Iraqi-Americans, and a French priest who organized a meeting between the pope and Tariq Aziz, Saddam's deputy prime minister. )
all oppose the Liberation of Iraq and the ousting of Saddam? I can't imagine why.
Also as an FYI, the two US recipients are private Iraqi - American citizens...not anyone connected with the US government.
France alone got $50,000,000 worth in bribes.
What ever happened to that spirit of European "Socialism"? I don't see any of that value going back to the people.
Anyway, I know that this is still ongoing and that there are many in the UN who are going to be held accountable for this. Here is a link to further developments related to the UN crooks:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/Investigation/oil_for_food_ripoff_040420-1.html
Does anyone wonder why the "sanctions" caused so much pain for the Iraqi people? Is it any wonder why needed medical and food products were not provided?
Even more interresting is the recent killing of Ehsan Karim, head of the Finance Ministry's audit board. He was in charge of the Iraqi probe into the oil for food scandal.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,124658,00.html
Today, the US is spending Billions of dollars to help to rebuild Iraq and improve the quality of life for her people...and in spite of all of the "conspiracy theories" not a *single* court or investigation or credible journalist has uncovered one shred of evidence that today *any* of Iraq's oil is being used for the benefit of anyone but the people of Iraq. Oh sure, there are a lot of claims and finger pointing...could this be people who are angry at their loss of a paycheck? Could their strategy be to point the finger and make accusations at Haliburton and George Bush to deflect attention from the criminal acts that are *known* to have gone on? Further, these were criminal acts that literally took the food and medicine from Iraqi civilians when they needed it most (to put into their pockets). How many people died under these sanctions? Yet, there are those in France and Russia who say that the US are murderers.
I'm interrested to hear other's thoughts on this...perhaps Michael Moore (  ). Once again, I could not be happier that the people of Iraq are now free...the fact that criminals who padded their pockets with blood money all while working for the UN and pointing their French - wine stained fingers at the US have now lost their employer (Saddam) and the cash flow that he provided and now will hopefully face justice is just an extra bonus that I could not have hoped for.
My wife is going to accompany me on a business trip next week to Europe where we are going to visit a number of cities...Paris was going to be on our itinerary.
I took it off this morning.
God Bless
|
|
back to top |
link to this post
|
|
|
Display posts from:
|
|
