Russian leaders snared in Iraq oil-for-food scandal
Former top officials from Saddam Hussein’s government told US congressional investigators they provided millions of dollars worth of oil allocations as a form of pay-off to Russian leaders in hopes of ending UN sanctions against Iraq, a congressional panel said.
Hussein’s vice president, Taha Yasin Ramadan, told investigators that the allocations were “compensation for support”, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs investigations subcommittee said in a report being released today.
The investigators said their interviews and documents from the former Iraqi government add to evidence in previous investigations linking Russian officials to abuses in the UN oil-for-food program.
Among the officials that have been implicated are Alexander Voloshin, former chief of staff to President Vladimir Putin, and ultranationalist Russian lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Russia’s foreign ministry declined comment on the report, saying it would be “unethical to make any statements” until a UN-appointed commission investigating the oil-for-food program releases its third and likely final report this summer.
Mikhail Troyansky, deputy chief of Foreign Ministry’s information department, said Russia has been co-operating with that investigation, led by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
The congressional panel’s findings were released ahead of a hearing tomorrow on Saddam’s use of oil vouchers to reward supporters. The vouchers allowed the bearer to buy Iraqi oil at cut-rate prices and could be sold for a profit. Saddam also demanded kickbacks from the oil transactions.
“This is the way Saddam used oil-for-food to line his own pocket and to curry political favour,” said Sen. Norm Coleman, the subcommittee chairman.
The panel also released documents last week claiming that former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and British politician George Galloway also accepted allocations. Both deny the charges.
Galloway has announced he would appear at tomorrow’s hearing to defend himself. Coleman said Galloway has not contacted the committee and said he would have to testify under oath if he does so.
