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Iraq to file US lawsuits over oil-for-food: minister
Baghdad (AFP) Jan 5, 2010 Iraq will file lawsuits in the United States against foreign firms for alleged fraud in a UN oil-for-food scheme under Saddam Hussein's regime, the country's commerce minister told AFP Tuesday. "We have asked an American lawyer to prosecute the companies that violated the law regarding the oil-for-food programme," Safaldin al-Safi said, but did not give any further details. French newspaper Liberation said on Tuesday that the Iraqi government has demanded a total of 10 billion dollars in compensation from 93 companies for alleged violations of the terms of the programme. According to the newspaper, among the companies are French vehicle manufacturer Renault and banking giant BNP Paribas. Liberation said that BNP Paribas rejected the allegations. The UN oil-for-food programme ran from 1996 until 2003, when US-led forces invaded Iraq. It allowed Baghdad to sell limited amounts of oil to fund UN-supervised imports of humanitarian goods which the country lacked because of tight UN sanctions imposed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Saddam's government allegedly embezzled millions of dollars from the scheme, sparking a scandal that caused major embarrassment to the United Nations. Last October, the US magazine Vanity Fair reported that the Federal Reserve shipped to Baghdad a total of 12 billion dollars, including oil-for-food funds handed over by the United Nations, between April 2003 and June 2004. "At least nine billion dollars has gone missing, unaccounted for, in a frenzy of mismanagement and greed," it said.
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