November 28, 2004
Tinesonline.uk
The wages of greed
Robert Winnett and Stephen Grey reveal how the UN betrayed the poor of Iraq in what is being called the greatest financial scandal ever:

"People called him Mr Cash.

He represented an oil trader based in Switzerland. His job was to make Saddam's favoured visitors rich. In his case were tightly wrapped wads of $100 bills....

...In 1998, on the recommendation of Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, the security council voted to expand the programme to pay for bridges, power plants and water systems. Huge amounts of almost unchecked money began flowing into Iraq. Yet the population did not benefit. A recent medical survey found Iraqis suffering a high rate of colon cancer, blamed on the poor quality of the wheat imported under oil for food.

By 2000 Iraq was free to sell as much oil as it wished through the programme. Corruption went into overdrive as Saddam began insisting on a kickback from every barrel of oil he allocated. A letter written on August 3, 2000 by Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, marked "urgent and confidential", informed fellow ministers that a high command committee wanted "extra revenues" from the programme.

Anyone wanting to purchase Iraqi oil had to pay between 10 cents and 50 cents a barrel into illicit bank accounts. According to Iraqi oil ministry documents, Saddam's embassies in Moscow, Athens, Rome, Vienna and Geneva also began accepting cash bungs for oil."

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