Switzerland opens more investigations into Iraq oil-for-food corruption 

January 23, 2007
International Herald Tribune
Original Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/23/europe/EU-GEN-Switzerland-Oil-For-Food.php


BERN, Switzerland  (AP) Switzerland has opened further investigations into alleged corruption surrounding the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq, a Swiss official said Tuesday.
The probe has been widened to 33 companies from 17 already under investigation, Jeannette Balmer, a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutors' office told The Associated Press.
While no charges have yet been filed, the unnamed companies are being investigated for allegedly breaking Swiss law by violating a trade embargo against Saddam Hussein's regime between 1996 and 2003.
Prosecutors are also looking into whether companies and individuals illegally laundered money or bribed foreign officials to win contracts tied to oil-for-food. The U.N. program was meant to provide Iraq with humanitarian goods despite the embargo.
An investigation led by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker accused shoddy U.N. management and the world's most powerful nations of allowing corruption in the US$64 billion program.
At the time, the Volcker commission said about 40 Swiss companies were among more than 2,200 worldwide who paid a total of US$1.8 billion in kickbacks and illicit surcharges to Saddam's government.
The Swiss companies named by the commission included engineering firm ABB Ltd., pharmaceutical giants Novartis AG and Roche Ltd., oil trading firms Glencore International AG, Vitol SA and Marc Rich Group, and Taurus Petroleum, which has a trading office in Geneva.
All companies denied paying kickbacks.