Friday, October 28, 2005

Volcker Report

The Many Streams That Fed the River of Graft to Hussein

In case you've missed any of this in all the hub-bub:

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 27 - Paul A. Volcker's report on the oil-for-food program in Iraq includes industrial giants like DaimlerChrysler AG, Siemens AG, the Weir Group P.L.C. and Volvo, as well as little known traders.
The individuals named as having profited from contracts with Iraq ranged from recognizable politicians like Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party in
Russia, and Charles Pasqua, a former French interior minister, to unfamiliar names like the Rev. Jean-Marie Benjamin, a Swiss priest who put his profits in his Vatican bank account.
What brought them together in Thursday's report was their participation, witting or unwitting, in the exploitation of the program, which funneled $1.8 billion in illicit profits to
Saddam Hussein.

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