August 19, 2005
Danish Firm Admits Paying Iraq Oil - for - Food Kickbacks
By REUTERS
Filed at 6:21 a.m. ET
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A Danish maker of industrial pumps, Grundfos, on Friday admitted paying kickbacks to authorities in Saddam Hussein's Iraq under the U.N. oil-for-food program.
``We deeply regret that two employees have taken part in bribery in connection with Grundfos's sales of pumps under the oil-for-food program,'' Grundfos Chief Executive Jens Joergen Madsen said in a statement.
The company said an internal investigation in May 2004 had revealed that the employees had paid bribes to Iraqi authorities in 2001-2002 to win two orders. It fired them and notified the Danish Foreign Ministry and the United Nations about the matter.
The company, which sold products worth up to 100 million Danish crowns under the oil-for-food plan during 1996-2003, declined to comment on the size of the bribes.
Earlier this month Benon Sevan, former head of the $67 billion oil-for-food humanitarian plan for Iraq, was accused of receiving nearly $150,000 in kickbacks, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week ordered a broad independent review of the world body's procurement practices.
Grundfos has been contacted by the U.N. in the investigation of the oil-for-food program being conducted by former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Paul Volcker.
``We have done everything to openly cooperate with the United Nations in New York to end the case in a satisfactory way,'' Grundfos said.
Denmark, ranked in international surveys as one of the least corrupt countries in the world, has 530 soldiers serving with the U.S.-led forces in Iraq.