Saddam bribed Chirac with oil

[willy]

From the Washington Times Website



Iraqi govt. papers: Saddam bribed Chirac



BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Documents from Saddam Hussein's oil ministry reveal he used oil to bribe top French officials into opposing the imminent U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The oil ministry papers, described by the independent Baghdad newspaper al-Mada, are apparently authentic and will become the basis of an official investigation by the new Iraqi Governing Council, the Independent reported Wednesday.

"I think the list is true," Naseer Chaderji, a governing council member, said. "I will demand an investigation. These people must be prosecuted."

Such evidence would undermine the French position before the war when President Jacques Chirac sought to couch his opposition to the invasion on a moral high ground.

A senior Bush administration official said Washington was aware of the reports but refused further comment.

French diplomats have dismissed any suggestion their foreign policy was influenced by payments from Saddam, but some European diplomats have long suspected France's steadfast opposition to the war was less moral than monetary.

"Oil runs thicker than blood," is how one former ambassador put his suspicions about the French motives for opposing action against Saddam.

Al-Mada's list cites a total of 46 individuals, companies and organizations inside and outside Iraq as receiving Saddam's oil bribes, including officials in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Sudan, China, Austria and France, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Communist Party, India's Congress Party and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

[bostontricky]

Saddam tried to bribe the United Arab Emirates with oil? That'll get you far...

[willy]

It also indicates he succeeded in bribing the French. I can see how you missed that point, since it was way back at the beginning of such a long article.

[Monte Smith]

Willy, not everyone will read the Washington Times without undue scepticism. This major story was prefaced by a report from Reuters on Tuesday:

Iraq to Probe Alleged Saddam Oil Bribes
Tue Jan 27, 9:01 AM ET

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq plans to investigate allegations that dozens of officials and businessmen worldwide illegally received oil in exchange for supporting former leader Saddam Hussein, officials said Tuesday.

Their statements came after al-Mada, an independent Baghdad newspaper, published a list it said was based on oil ministry documents showing 46 individuals, companies and organizations from inside and outside Iraq who were given millions of barrels of oil.

"I think the list is true. I will demand an investigation. These people must be prosecuted," Naseer Chaderji, a Governing Council member, told Reuters.

The list includes members of Arab ruling families, religious organizations, politicians and political parties from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Sudan, China, Austria, France and other countries.

Organizations named include the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Communist Party, India's Congress Party and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Assem Jihad, an oil ministry spokesman, said thousands of documents which were looted from the State Oil Marketing Organization after Baghdad fell to U.S. forces on April 9 may prove that Saddam used bribery to gain support.

"Anyone involved in stealing Iraqi wealth will be prosecuted," Jihad said.

Oil ministry officials say they have stopped selling oil to companies that may have acted as fronts to supporters of the toppled leader.

Entifadh Qnbar, a spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress, a secular party headed by former exile Ahmad Chalabi, said even Arab oligarchs from oil producing countries received oil from Saddam.

"These people took bribes. Sadly, the Iraqi people paid the price," Anbar said.

Despite U.N. sanctions, Iraq was allowed to sell oil from 1996-2003 under an agreement with the United Nations stipulating that proceeds from the oil sales be used to buy food, medicine and basic supplies.

But bankers say some international companies selling goods to Iraq may have paid commissions to Iraqi officials that were deposited in Arab banks in exchange for winning contracts under the oil for food deal.

Oil traders say Iraq also smuggled oil through southern ports not monitored by the United Nations and through a pipeline running to Syria.

Damascus says the pipeline was only operating for testing purposes.

"Saddam had no problem giving oil to whoever he wanted," said one Iraqi trader who did business with the former government.

[Jim Dye]

He bribed him with oil! What kind of oil?

[Ron Thorne]

Well, if willy posted something that the Washington Times published, it must be true! What's the problem?

[Douglas]

Originally posted by willy
Such evidence would undermine the French position before the war when President Jacques Chirac sought to couch his opposition to the invasion on a moral high ground.

Al-Mada's list cites a total of 46 individuals, companies and organizations inside and outside Iraq as receiving Saddam's oil bribes, including officials in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Sudan, China, Austria and France, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Communist Party, India's Congress Party and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

This is just too funny.

All the revenue from the sales of Iraqi oil not going into UN accounts would account for about 0.5 per cent of French GDP annually (around $7 billion). Lets say 10 per cent was funelled to bribing foreigners (no idea whether this is accurate, but we know that they did actually get stuff like food, pharmaceuticals etc, and Iraqi officials were busily feathering their own nests, but it seems very generous). So 0.05 per cent of GDP. Then divide that by the 46 recipients and you get 0.001 per cent of GDP. OK, France may get more (but remember Gordon B has affirmed on another thread that Russia was also bought with this money), but even if this is out by an order of magnitude we are talking peanuts. It might buy you Chirac's fruit and vegetables for a year, but sure as hell wont buy you a seat at the Security Council.

[stonemonkts]

I for one wouldn't be surprised if France had an unwholesome alliance with Iraq. Jean Kirkpatrick speaks almost matter of factly about a nuclear connection between the two countries. Not that I buy every word she utters but it's not the first time I've read such things.

[Tom Storer]

On French radio it was reported that the Frenchman on the list was Charles Pasqua. Pasqua served as Minister of the Interior in right-wing governments first in the late 80's, then in the early 90's, but hasn't been in government circles since then. If this is the case it would seem that he accepted oil from Saddam before the first Gulf war, which France then supported. He wouldn't have been in a position to do Saddam any good before the recent invasion. Hard to know what to think without more details.

[bostontricky]

Originally posted by willy
It also indicates he succeeded in bribing the French. I can see how you missed that point, since it was way back at the beginning of such a long article.

Fine, but how the hell is this different from the US "bribing" Turkey and other nations for their support?

[Gordon B]

Oil was priced around $27/bbl just prior to the start of the Iraq war. Thus, the President of Oilexco,'s bribe was worth $27MM at the time. Memri refers to memri.org. Articles in Arabic countries are translated into English on their website.

Below is "a partial list and description of individuals and organizations that MEMRI has been able to identify":

Canada: Arthur Millholland, president and CEO of the Calgary-based Oilexco company, received 1 million barrels of oil.

United States: Samir Vincent received 10.5 million barrels. In 2000, Vincent, an Iraqi-born American citizen who has lived in the U.S. since 1958, organized a delegation of Iraqi religious leaders to visit the U.S. and meet with former president Jimmy Carter. Shaker Al-Khafaji, the pro-Saddam chairman of the 17th conference of Iraqi expatriates, received 1 million barrels.

Great Britain: George Galloway received 1 million barrels. Fawwaz Zreiqat received 1 million barrels. Zreiqat also appears in the Jordanian section as having received 6 million barrels. The Mujahideen Khalq(3) in Britain received 1 million barrels.

France: The French-Arab Friendship Association received 15.1 million barrels. Former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua received 12 million barrels.(4) Patrick Maugein of the Trafigura company received 25 million barrels. Michel Grimard, founder of the French-Iraqi Export Club, received 17.1 million barrels.

Switzerland: Glenco Re, the largest commodity trader in Switzerland, received 12 million barrels. Taurus, which has been associated with Iraq for 20 years and was the first company to renew its business with Iraq after the fall of Saddam, received 1 million barrels. Petrogas, which is listed under three sub-companies - Petrogas Services, Petrogas Distribution, and Petrogas Resources - and is associated with the Russian company Rosneftegazetroy, received 1 million barrels. Alcon, listed in Lichtenstein and associated with larger oil companies, received 1 million barrels. Finar Holdings, which is listed in Lugano, Switzerland, and is under liquidation, received 1 million barrels.

Italy: The Italian Petrol Union received 1 million barrels. West Petrol, an Italian company that trades crude oil and oil products, received 1 million barrels. Roberto Formigoni, possibly the president of Lombardia, received 1 million barrels. Salvatore Nicotra, a former NATO pilot who became an oil merchant, received 1 million barrels.

Spain: Basem Qaqish, a member of the Spanish Committee for the Defense of the Arab Cause, received 1 million barrels. Ali Ballout, a pro-Saddam Lebanese journalist, received 1 million barrels. Javier Robert received 1 million barrels.

Yugoslavia: Four Yugoslav political parties received vouchers: the Yugoslav Left party received 9.5 million barrels. The Socialist Party received 1 million barrels. The Italian Party received 1 million barrels. Another party, whose name in exact transliteration is "kokstuntsha" - possibly Kostunica's party - received 1 million barrels.

Other political parties: The Romanian Labor Party received 5.5 million barrels. The Party of the Hungarian Interest received 4.7 million barrels. The Bulgarian Socialist Party received 12 million barrels. The Slovakian Communist Party received 1 million barrels.

Austria: The Arab-Austrian Society received 1 million barrels.

Brazil: The 8th of October Movement, a Brazilian Communist group, received 4.5 million barrels. Fuwad Sirhan received 10 million barrels.

Egypt: Khaled Gamal Abd Al-Nasser, son of the late Egyptian president, received 16.6 million barrels. 'Imad Al-Galda, a businessman and a member of the Egyptian parliament from President Mubarak's National Democratic Party, received 14 million barrels. Abd Al-Azim Mannaf,(5) editor of the Sout Al-Arab newspaper, received 6 million barrels. Muhammad Hilmi, editor of the Egyptian paper Sahwat Misr,(6) received an undisclosed number of barrels. The United Arab Company received 6 million barrels. The Nile and Euphrates Company received 3 million barrels. The Al-Multaqa Foundation for Press and Publication received 1 million barrels.(7)

Libya: Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem received 1 million barrels.

Sub-Saharan Africa: Chad's foreign minister received 1 million barrels.(8) Four South Africans are listed: Tokyo Saxville received 4 million barrels. Montega received 4 million barrels. Both are associated with the African National Party.

Palestinians: The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) received 4 million barrels. The PLO Political Bureau received 5 million barrels. Abu Al-Abbas received 11.5 million barrels. Abdallah Al-Horani received 8 million barrels. The PFLP received 5 million barrels. Wafa Tawfiq Al-Sayegh received 4 million barrels.

Oman: The Al-Shanfari group received 5 million barrels.

Syria: Farras Mustafa Tlass, the son of Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass, received 6 million barrels. 'Audh Amourah received 18 million barrels. Ghassan Zakariya received 6 million barrels. Anwar Al-Aqqad received 2 million barrels. Hamida Na'Na', the owner of the Al-Wafaq Al-Arabi periodical, received 1 million barrels.

Lebanon: The son of Lebanese President Emil Lahoud received 4.5 million barrels. Former MP Najjah Wakim received 3 million barrels. Nasserist Party head Osama M'arouf received 3 million barrels. National Arabic Club Chairman Faisal Darnika received 3 million barrels.

Jordan: Former Islamist MP and head of the Engineers Union Leith Shbeilat(9) received 15.5 million barrels. Former MP and Jordanian Writers Union head Fakhri Qi'war received 6 million barrels.(10) Former Jordanian chief of staff Mashhour Haditha received 1 million barrels. Former MP Toujan Al-Faisal received 3 million barrels.(11) The Jordanian Ministry of Energy received 5 million barrels. Muhammad Saleh Al-Horani, the Amman Stock Exchange head and former Minister of Supplies, received 4 million barrels. Lawyer Wamidth Hussein Al-Majali received 6 million barrels.(12)

Qatar: Qatari Horseracing Association Chairman Hamad bin Ali Aal Thani received 14 million barrels. Gulf Petroleum received 2 million barrels.

The Indian Congress Party received 1 million barrels.

Indonesia: Indonesian President Megawati received 1 million barrels as "the daughter of President Sukarno," and 1 million barrels as Megawati.

Myanmar: Myanmar's Forestry Minister received 1 million barrels.

Ukraine: The Social Democratic Party received 1 million barrels. The Communist Party received 6 million barrels. The Socialist Party received 1 million barrels. The FTD oil company received 1 million barrels, as did other Ukrainian companies.

Belarus: The Liberal Party received 1 million barrels. The Communist Party received 1 ton [sic] of oil. The director of the Belarussian president's office received 1 million barrels.

Russia: The Russian state itself received 1,366,000,000 barrels. The list also included the following:

Companies belonging to the Liberal Democratic Party received 79.8 million barrels - the list notes the name of party president Vladimir Zhirinovsky. The Russian Communist Party received 1 million barrels. The Lukoil company received 63 million barrels. The Russneft company received 35.5 million barrels. Vladimir Putin's Peace and Unity Party received 34 million barrels - the list notes the name of party chairwoman Saji Umalatova. The Gazprom company received 26 million barrels. The Soyuzneftgaz company received 25.5 million barrels - the list notes the name Shafrannik. The Moscow Oil Company received 25.1 million barrels. The Onako company received 22.2 million barrels. The Sidanco company received 21.2 million barrels. The Russian Association for Solidarity with Iraq received 12.5 million barrels. The Ural Invest company received 8.5 million barrels. Russneft Gazexport received 12.5 million barrels. The Transneft company received 9 million barrels. The Sibneft company received 8.1 million barrels. The Stroyneftgaz company received 6 million barrels. The Russian Committee for Solidarity with the People of Iraq received 6.5 million barrels - the list notes the name of committee chairman Rudasev. The Russian Orthodox Church received 5 million barrels. The Moscow Science Academy received 3.5 million barrels. The Chechnya Administration received 2 million barrels. The National Democratic Party received 2 million barrels. The Nordwest group received 2 million barrels. The Yukos company received 2 million barrels. One Russian company which phonetically reads as Zarabsneft received 174.5 million barrels. Vouchers were also granted to the Russian foreign ministry, one under the name of Al-Fayko for 1 million barrels, and one to Yetumin for 30.1 million barrels. The Mashinoimport Company received 1 million barrels. The Slavneft Company received 1 million barrels. The Caspian Invest Company (Kalika) received 1 million barrels. The Tatneft Tatarstan company received 1 million barrels. The Surgutneft company received 1 million barrels. Siberia's oil and gas company received 1 million barrels.

In addition, the son of the former Russian Ambassador to Iraq received 19.7 million barrels. Nikolay Ryjkov, a former prime minister of the USSR, received 13 million barrels. The Russian President's office director received 5 million barrels.

Oil vouchers were also distributed to companies and individuals from the Sudan, Yemen, Cyprus, Turkey, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, the UAE, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Panama, Thailand, Chad, China, Nigeria, Kenya, Ireland, Bahrain, and the Philippines. Two Saudi companies were also listed.

[Tom Storer]

Where France is concerned, it looks as if Iraq was paying individuals and associations with government contacts to try to further their cause: lobbyists, in other words. It's certainly unsavory for them to have accepted the money, but the names mentioned don't lead me to think anyone in France's government received money. In other words the headline "Saddam bribed Chirac" is apparently a gross exaggeration. Unless "the French-Arab Friendship Association" or "Michel Grimard, founder of the French-Iraqi Export Club," had government positions, which has yet to be demonstrated or even claimed, apart from indirectly by the Washington Times.

Not that it might not eventually be demonstrated--who knows? But contrary to the article, I have yet to see it declared anywhere that French government officials received money from Iraq.

[crawjo]

Originally posted by Tom Storer
Where France is concerned, it looks as if Iraq was paying individuals and associations with government contacts to try to further their cause: lobbyists, in other words. It's certainly unsavory for them to have accepted the money, but the names mentioned don't lead me to think anyone in France's government received money. In other words the headline "Saddam bribed Chirac" is apparently a gross exaggeration. Unless "the French-Arab Friendship Association" or "Michel Grimard, founder of the French-Iraqi Export Club," had government positions, which has yet to be demonstrated or even claimed, apart from indirectly by the Washington Times.

Not that it might not eventually be demonstrated--who knows? But contrary to the article, I have yet to see it declared anywhere that French government officials received money from Iraq.

Okay, Tom, how about this report from the BBC?

[Tom Storer]

Crawjo, the article that opens this thread says:

Documents from Saddam Hussein's oil ministry reveal he used oil to bribe top French officials into opposing the imminent U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. [...]

Such evidence would undermine the French position before the war when President Jacques Chirac sought to couch his opposition to the invasion on a moral high ground.

This clearly means to imply that the money was distributed to government officials in office during the period preceding the most recent US-led invasion of Iraq, not the first Gulf war (since at that time Chirac was not the president of France and France was a member of the coalition with troops on the front line).

The article you link to says that eleven French names are on the list of recipients of Iraqi oil money, but it doesn't say who they are (except Pasqua, obviously) or when they are said to have received the money, although it implies it was during the 1990's.

If Pasqua received money from Iraq while he was a minister, it would have been in the early 90's.

If he received money before the recent invasion, it was indeed taking a bribe but in his position as a member of the European parliament, not as a French decision-maker, which he was not.

Again, I don't know whether or not any French government officials were bribed by Iraq between 2001 and 2003. That has not been detailed in any account I've seen so far.