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March 19, 2004
It's All About the Money
The GAO has raised its estimate of the ga-zillions of dollars Saddam made off the UN's oil-for-food scam.
But using updated data, the GAO has concluded that Saddam received $5.7 billion from oil smuggled out of Iraq and $4.4 billion in illicit surcharges on oil sales and purchases of commodities, according to testimony prepared for the House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.
And much like the fox investigating who raided the chickenhouse, the UN is asking for evidence of those who also illicitly profited from the program.
On Wednesday, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said the United Nations had asked the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and U.S.-led coalition to provide evidence of the corruption. The request followed reports that former Cabinet officials, legislators, activists and journalists had profited from Iraqi oil sales.
That's likely to be a long list indeed.
Posted by Rita at March 19, 2004 06:22 AM