Panel Connects Oil Program To Europeans
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 12, 2005; A16
UNITED NATIONS, May 11 -- A congressional committee probing corruption in the $64 billion U.N. oil-for-food program released new details of allegations that Saddam Hussein's government provided two French and British politicians with valuable rights to purchase millions of barrels of Iraqi crude at favorable rates.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is chaired by Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), charged that Charles Pasqua, a French senator who previously served as France's interior minister, and George Galloway, a British MP, were rewarded with oil contracts for promoting Hussein's efforts to obtain an end to economic sanctions.
The plan was simple: rather than granting oil allocations to traditional oil purchasers, Iraq gave priority to foreign officials, journalists and even terrorist entities, the report said.
Allegations that Pasqua and Galloway had a role in the oil-for-food program were previously outlined in a report by U.S. weapons hunter Charles A. Duelfer. Congressional investigators said they have collected additional details through an examination of Iraqi oil ministry documents and interviews with senior Iraqi officials in U.S. custody, including former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz. Coleman's committee will conduct public hearings Tuesday on its findings.
Galloway charged yesterday that Coleman's lickspittle Republican committee had never sought to question him and that it had never responded to letters or e-mails asking to appear before the committee to clear his name. I have never traded in a barrel of oil, or any vouchers for it, Galloway said in a statement. And no one has acted on my behalf, trading in oil -- Middle Eastern, olive, patchouli or any other.
Pasqua has denied in the past receiving financial favors from Hussein's government. Attempts to reach him yesterday were unsuccessful. Aides to Pasqua told the Associated Press in Paris that he would not comment until the committee report, which was distributed to reporters Wednesday, is made public today.
Pasqua, an ardent opponent of Iraq sanctions who was recently reelected to the French senate, received the right to purchase more than 11 million barrels of Iraqi oil, according to the report. As an elected official, he is immune from prosecution.
The report says that Pasqua sought to hide his activities out of fear of creating a political scandal. Instead, he instructed his foreign affairs adviser, Bernard Guillet, to transfer the oil rights to a Swiss-based company, Genmar Resources, which bought the Iraqi crude, the report claims. Evidence shows that some of Pasqua's allocations were personally approved by Saddam Hussein, the report said.
Genmar did not respond to a phone message last night seeking comment. Guillet was detained last month by a French prosecuting judge who is conducting an investigation into the oil-for-food transactions.
Galloway received allocations allowing the trade of 20 million barrels of Iraqi oil between 2000 and 2003, according to Duelfer's report. The report cites an Iraqi document alleging that Galloway funneled at least one oil payment through the Mariam Appeal foundation, which was established to raise funds for a 4-year-old leukemia victim, Mariam Hamze.
Iraq's former vice minister, Taha Yassin Ramadan, told Coleman's committee last month that Iraq had rewarded Galloway with oil business because of his opinions about Iraq and because he wanted to lift the embargo.
Researcher Madonna Lebling in Washington contributed to this report.
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