Indictions in Iraq oil-for-food scandal

14/04/2005 - 14:37:55
A British citizen, a Texas businessman and a Bulgarian have been indicted for an alleged scheme to pay millions of dollars in secret kickbacks to Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq as part of the United Nations’ oil-for-food programme, US prosecutors said today.

US Attorney David Kelley announced the unsealing of the indictment, which his office said also named two companies operated by the unidentified Texan.

The kickbacks involved funds otherwise intended for humanitarian relief, Kelley said in a statement.

In addition, Kelley was to unseal a criminal complaint that charges a South Korean citizen with conspiracy to act in the US as an unregistered government agent for the Iraqi government’s effort to create the oil-for-food programme, the statement said.

Further details were not immediately available.