PARIS (AP) - France's former U.N. ambassador has been taken into custody as part of an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in the Iraq oil-for-food program, judicial officials said Tuesday.[...]
Jean-Bernard Merimee, 68, who also was ambassador to Italy from 1995-98 and to Australia in the 1980s, is suspected of having received kickbacks in the form of oil allocations from the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. He was also a special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan from 1999 to 2002.
Saddam manipulated the program under a scheme by which he essentially sold oil at a reduced rate to favored buyers, who could then turn around and sell the oil at a hefty profit.
Ten French officials and business leaders - including a former adviser to former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua - are suspected of having received oil allocations as kickbacks from Saddam's regime.
Now you know why France opposed the liberation of Iraq.
How long before they finally get Galloway?
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