国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

US, UN probe oil-for-food corruption
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-08-14 12:39

Two companies involved in the multibillion-dollar U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq said Friday they are cooperating with U.S. and U.N. investigations into alleged corruption, hoping to clear their names.

Swiss-based Cotecna Inspection S.A., which the United Nations hired in 1998 to authenticate that goods entering Iraq corresponded to a list of those approved for import, said it welcomes the opportunity "to set the record straight."

The Dutch company Saybolt International B.V., which monitored oil exports from Iraq, said it was "happy" to help with the investigations into its operations.

Critics accuse the companies of lax monitoring of oil and goods entering and leaving Iraq under the program, launched by the U.N. Security Council to help Iraqis cope with sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Cotecna has also faced allegations it was awarded the contract because it employed Kojo Annan, the son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In April, the Swiss firm put out a statement saying Kojo Annan worked on activities in Nigeria and Ghana and had nothing to do with Iraq; his father also denied any inside advantages.

In a statement issued Friday, Cotecna said it had been constrained in responding to allegations because of confidentiality agreements in its U.N. contract, but that it had sought and received waivers allowing it to provide information to Congress.

"The company is convinced that all investigating parties will conclude definitively that Cotecna performed its role according to the best professional and ethical practices in its industry," Cotecna spokesman Seth Goldschlager said in Paris.

John Denson, general counsel of Saybolt, said the company has already been providing information.

"We are in the active process of cooperating with the U.S. Congressional panels and any other government investigating authority, including the United Nations," he told The Associated Press. "We feel that we have not done anything wrong, and we are happy to cooperate and help any governmental investigating body understand that."

Under the oil-for-food program, which began in December 1996 and ended in November, Saddam's regime could sell unlimited quantities of oil provided the money went primarily to buy humanitarian goods and pay reparations to victims of the 1991 Gulf War. Saddam's government decided on the goods it wanted, who should provide them and who could buy Iraqi oil — but a Security Council committee monitored the contracts.

Allegations of corruption surfaced in January in the Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada, which published a list of about 270 former government officials, activists, journalists and U.N. officials from more than 46 countries suspected of profiting from Iraqi oil sales under the U.N. program.

Christopher Shays, R-Conn., who chairs the House subcommittee investigating the oil-for-food program, said Friday that during his current Mideast trip he met with Al-Mada employees.

"They contend there is another list of 300 names, and we just have to ask the right people for it," he said in a telephone interview from Damascus, Syria.

Shays confirmed that Cotecna and Saybolt were cooperating with his probe, and said that while in Baghdad, he and his staff looked at some of the thousands of Iraqi documents related to the program.

Paul Volcker, head of a U.N.-funded independent probe of the oil-for-food program, said Monday Congress has launched five investigations, and that the Justice Department, U.S. Attorney's office in New York, Britain and Iraq are also investigating.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Games come home in ancient and modern glory

 

   
 

Typhoon Rananim kills 115 in Zhejiang

 

   
 

Sharp profit rise expected for central SOEs

 

   
 

Regulation of land use shows progress

 

   
 

China prepares for French culture year

 

   
 

Athens to inspire Beijing games

 

   
  US, UN probe oil-for-food corruption
   
  Two US troops killed in Iraq -military
   
  Former aide to gay US Gov. says sexually harassed
   
  Iraqi cleric vows death or victory in holy city
   
  US backs Japan's bid for UN council seat
   
  Palestinian gunman kills settler in W.Bank, is shot
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Two US troops killed in Iraq -military
   
Iraqi cleric vows death or victory in holy city
   
Iraq says Sadr in Najaf talks, Briton kidnapped
   
British journalist kidnapped in Iraq
  News Talk  
  American "democracy" under the microscope...  
Advertisement
         
秦安县| 汉沽区| 揭西县| 华阴市| 亚东县| 凤冈县| 阳春市| 武陟县| 瓦房店市| 赞皇县| 宽城| 黔江区| 临沭县| 临猗县| 洛隆县| 彭泽县| 隆尧县| 北流市| 根河市| 凯里市| 濉溪县| 舟曲县| 瑞昌市| 阜新| 开封市| 静海县| 浠水县| 棋牌| 湘潭市| 米脂县| 宣城市| 班戈县| 长岭县| 河源市| 米泉市| 南汇区| 临湘市| 崇信县| 怀仁县| 岱山县| 桂东县|