The report, obtained by the newspaper Le Monde, says that "Most of the individuals who received [oil] allocations were expected to spread a positive image of the Iraqi regime by taking a pro-Iraqi position," and specifically names Mr. Boidevaix and Gilles Munier, secretary-general of the Franco-Iraqi Friendship Society.
Mr. Boidevaix is a former president of Franco-Iraqi Economic Co-operation Association and frequently denounced UN sanctions against the Hussein regime before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Among the others on the judge's list are Charles Pasqua, a former French interior minister and political ally of President Jacques Chirac, and Jean-Bernard Mérimée, a former French ambassador to the UN. [...]
Although Mr. Boidevaix insisted in the interview that all the investigations into the oil-for-food program are baseless -- "You're looking for problems where there are none," he said -- his privileged position with the Iraqis is evident from a letter written by Iraqi oil minister Amir Muhammad Rashid to vice-president Taha Yasin Ramadan in November of 1998, outlining oil allocations for the next two months. The document was disclosed at a Senate committee meeting in May.
In the letter, the oil minister proposed that 80 million barrels of crude be distributed to "friendly nations, companies and political establishments . . . for the superpowers as shown below: Russia, 40 per cent; France, 15 per cent; and China, 11 per cent."
I wonder if Galloway is included in those "political establishments"? And since Volcker has not cleared Annan yet, is he in that group as well?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment