Oil for Food (OFF) Debacle aka UNSCAM
- Lawhawk
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» Lawhawk - Kaus on the Marc Rich angle
http://slate.msn.com/id/2110976/Even if the latest allegations about Marc Rich--that he helped broker Saddam's oil-for-food deals--prove accurate, that won't be the main reason Clinton's pardon of the fugitive financier was scandalous. Saddam could presumably always get someone to broker his lucrative schemes--if not Rich, then another high-level operater. The Marc Rich pardon was scandalous mainly because it taught a generation of young Americans that you could buy your way out of punishment. ... But buy with what? ... Here's an instance where the convenient case for public figure privacy in matters of sex--made most conveniently by Clinton himself, but also by Jeffrey Toobin,*** Andrew Sullivan, etc.--completely breaks down. It turns out to be fairly important whether Clinton was or wasn't not having sexual relations with Denise Rich, Marc's glamorous ex-wife, who lobbied for the pardon. It's hard to explain Clinton's gross error any other way. (Lord knows I've tried!) ... Someday some historian will focus on this interpersonal causal chain and win a National Book Award for his provocative thesis--as Philip Weiss memorably put it, "Follow the nookie." But if reporters had been more irresponsible in reporting on Clinton's personal life--and less cowed by the Stephanopouloses and Carvilles--actual voters would have had this highly relevant information in real time when they made their decision in 1992. ... P.S.: Do Democrats really want to elect the woman who let all this happen under her nose? Just asking! ...What enabled Rich to obtain the last minute pardon has never been satisfactorily answered. His continuing involvement in shady dealings shows his utter lack of remorse and inability to act in an upstanding and honorable fashion by continually engaging in questionable transactions. First he engaged in questionable sales and trading practices that got him indicted and convicted for tax abuse by the US government. These practices occurred over a period of years. Now, he's found to be at the center of UNSCAM over a period of years. This isn't just guilt by association, but a pattern of abuse and illicit behavior that should shine the spotlight back on the Clinton Administration for failing to oversee the oil for food program more closely.*** When defending Clinton, Toobin ludicrously declared that a politician's sex life "tells you absolutely nothing about their performance" in office. Marc Rich might disagree. ... 12:21 P.M.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Manhattan Grand Juries Probing Rich Links
http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/364...-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Clinton's Rich Legacy
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editor...As The Post's Niles Lathem reports, local and federal prosecutors believe that Marc Rich — the one-time fugitive financier who received one of Bill Clinton's last-minute-in-office pardons — was a central figure in negotiating illicit oil deals on behalf of Saddam Hussein.This is only going to get messy for former President Clinton, and indeed may send some flack Sen. Clinton's way as well. This whole sordid affair raises very serious questions that must be addressed.Moreover, it appears that Rich began spreading Saddam's oil largesse to on-the-take international politicians after Clinton, at the end of his term, gave Rich full legal exoneration from the nation's biggest tax-fraud case — over the heated objections of his own Justice Department.
Talk about a slap in the face to America.
Of course, it's not as if Rich hadn't indulged in such anti-American behavior before.
During the hostage crisis two decades ago, Rich bought oil from Iran's ayatollahs. He's also done business with Libya's Moammar Khadafy, South Africa's apartheid regime, Cuba's Fidel Castro, Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic and Romania's Nicolai Ceasuescu — at a time when Americans were barred from doing so.
The indictment that led to his fugitive status charged him with evading $48 million in taxes on illegal oil sales from Iran; he agreed to plead guilty, but fled the country when prosecutors insisted on jail time.
From his comfortable haven in Switzerland, Rich lavished his ill-gotten bounty on influential people and government officials around the world — many of whom urged Clinton to pardon him.
And it certainly didn't hurt that Rich's ex-wife donated $1.7 million to Democratic campaigns — including Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate effort — and nearly $500,000 on Bill Clinton's presidential library.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Kojo Proclaims He's Not Involved...
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?...-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Tyco may be linked to UNSCAM
Tyco International — the controversial conglomerate whose former CEO became a poster boy for corporate greed — has been linked to the U.N. oil-for-food investigation.There are numerous US companies being investigated for their roles in UNSCAM, and that Tyco appears to be involved is not that surprising. This is a company that openly flouted securities laws, and whose corporate governors were beyond greedy.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered Tyco to disclose details of its dealings in the United Nations' scandal-ridden program, which turned into a multibillion-dollar rip-off by Saddam Hussein as well as a host of crooked international businessmen and politicians.Spokesmen for the SEC and Tyco had no comment last night. But a source told The Post that Tyco sold medical supplies, plastic liners used in oil pipelines and other industrial products to other companies, described as third-party "distributors" that dealt directly with Iraq under the U.N. program.
It was unclear whether Tyco knew its products would end up in Iraq. It's also not clear whether Tyco or the "distributors" it dealt with are the targets of an SEC probe.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Kojo has some explaining to do...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,1416...Kojo Annan (search), the son of the U.N. secretary general, claims he has never been involved directly or indirectly with any business related to the United Nations. And Cotecna Inspection S.A., the company Kojo worked for, also maintains that the younger Annan was never asked to deal with the United Nations and that there was never any conflict of interest.Curious indeed. Did Kojo think that this stuff wouldn't be uncovered by investigators? Or that it was someone else named Kojo Annan who could take the fall for his actions and misdeeds? Of course, since those involved in UNSCAM and the UN failures appear to live in a parallel universe whose rules for moral and ethics is wildly divergent from what is right, moral, and ethical in this universe, anything is possible.Cotecna is a Swiss-based company that inspected freight shipments going into Iraq on behalf of Oil-for-Food; it employs 4,000 people in 100 countries. Both the company and the elder Annan have said that Kojo had nothing to do with the troubled U.N. program.
But a Cotecna management fax reviewed by FOX News appears to direct Kojo to get involved with U.N. officials.
The Aug. 28, 1998, fax praises Kojo's work at a meeting of world leaders in South Africa and adds: "Your work and the contacts established at this meeting should ideally be followed up at the September 98 UN General Assembly in New York."
Also, congressional investigators want Kojo to explain a hotel bill for the Holiday Inn Garden Court in Durban, South Africa, in September 1998. His registration card reads: "K Annan, United Nations." That hotel charge was billed to Cotecna as a business expense.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Kofi Annan pledges to assist in UNSCAM investigations
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ci...-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Clinton Administration warned of problems when OFF created
http://www.nysun.com/article/6835The Clinton administration and the United Nations were warned of a crucial problem in the oil-for-food program when it was first designed, Claude Hankes-Drielsma, a former British consultant to the Iraqi Governing Council, told The New York Sun yesterday. Investigators under Paul Volcker admit that this problem now "seriously hampers" their probe.This is a bit of 20/20 hindsight, but should stand as a warning on the creation of any new programs by the UN. Greater accountability and sunshine rules for open access to contracts and revenue sources must go hand in hand in order to prevent new scandals similar to UNSCAM.Mr. Hankes-Drielsma said that Madeline Albright, the former secretary of state, as well as U.N. officials who designed the program before it was officially accepted by Saddam in late 1996, were warned by Iraqi dissidents that they should not allow oil to be sold through shadow companies and middlemen.
Such companies allowed for an elaborate scheme of bribes that allegedly were paid by Saddam in the form of allocations, or "vouchers," of millions of barrels of oil to friendly politicians, government ministries, and U.N. officials. Those companies were set in a way that was designed to hide the true beneficiaries, or end users.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Top Ten Oil Purchasers Under OFF
According to the U.N.-ordered inquiry led by Paul Volcker, these are the top 10 countries that purchased oil from Iraq under the oil-for-food program from 1996 until 2003http://no-pasaran.blogspot.com/2004/12/a...
writes the Associated press.
1. Russia $19.259 billion
2. France $4.394 billion
3. Switzerland $3.480 billion
4. Britain $3.380 billion
5. Turkey $3.343 billion
6. Italy $2.718 billion
7. China $2.625 billion
8. Liechtenstein $2.468 billion
9. Spain $1.644 billion
10. Malaysia $1.485 billionThe United States is listed in 26th place at $482.826 million.
-- posted by Lawhawk
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