The UN Security Council announced on Friday that all the measures imposed in its resolutions 1958 (2010) and 2335 (2016) pursuant to Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations in relation to the Iraq oil-for-food programme had been fully implemented. Unanimously adopting resolution 2390 (2017), the Council welcomed the fact that the remaining funds in the […]
By John Lee. A former chairman of the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) has been fined $50,000 and banned from a managing a corporation for five years for failing to properly investigate $223 million in kickbacks paid to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. But according to a report from ABC News, Trevor Flugge's reputation for honesty […]
By John Lee. French oil company Total and Swiss oil-trading company Vitol have been fined for corruption by a French court in relation to Iraq’s oil-for-food program. According to Bloomberg, Total was guilty of corrupting foreign civil servants, and has been fined EUR 750,000, while Vitol has been fined EUR 300,000. Other corruption charges against Total […]
By John Lee. The US Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by Iraq to revive a lawsuit against companies for allegedly conspiring with Saddam Hussein's government to subvert the United Nations oil-for-food program. According to the Reuters report, more than 80 companies and other entities were named as defendants in the 2008 lawsuit over the […]
By John Lee. According to a report from Reuters, a US federal appeals court has rejected Iraq's effort to sue dozens of companies for allegedly conspiring with the Saddam Hussein regime to subvert the United Nations' oil-for-food programme and deprive Iraqi citizens of humanitarian aid. The court said Iraq's government could not recoup damages under […]
By John Lee. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has today discontinued its proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria against Charles Stott and Michael Long for alleged breaches of their duties as officers of AWB Limited -- formerly the Australian Wheat Board -- in connection with the United Nations Oil for Food Programme in […]
By John Lee. A Paris court has cleared oil company Total, its chief executive Christophe de Margerie (pictured), and over a dozen other defendants of corruption charges related to the UN's oil-for-food programme in Iraq. The former interior minister Charles Pasqua, the Swiss oil trader Vitol, and a former French ambassador to the UN, were […]
By John Lee. An Iraqi lawsuit accusing more than 90 companies of conspiring with Saddam Hussein's regime to frustrate the United Nations' program, and depriving Iraqis of roughly $10 billion of essential aid, has been dismissed by a court in New York. Reuters reports that U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein said the government of Iraq […]
By John Lee. The CEO of Total, Christophe de Margerie (pictured), is to appear in a Paris court on Monday to fight charges of wrongdoing relating to the United Nations oil-for-food relief program in Iraq. Total, Vitol and 18 individuals, including de Margerie (61), are listed as defendants in the trial over claims the program […]
By John Lee. The former managing director of Australian wheat exporter AWB has been fined 100,000 Australian dollars ($106,000) and banned from being a company director for two years for his role in paying kickbacks to Iraq's former dictatorship under the discredited UN oil-for-food program. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the breaches related to […]
By John Lee. Reuters reports that a California court has ruled Iraq not liable for the end of two oil-for-food contracts dating from the Saddam Hussein regime. In a divided ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California said Iraq's current government deserves protection under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 because […]
After almost 10 years, the former chief executive of Australia's AWB Ltd has admitted to four breaches of the law relating bribes paid to Saddam Hussein's government between 2001 and 2005 to secure wheat sales. According to the report in The Australian, Andrew Lindberg's four admissions relate to his having failed to tell the AWB […]
