Attorney General John Ashcroft today announced the first criminal conviction related to the oil-for-food program run by the United Nations for Iraq, as an Iraqi-born businessman pleaded guilty to tax fraud and other charges.
Mr. Ashcroft said the man, Samir A. Vincent, was cooperating in an ongoing investigation.
Mr. Ashcroft called Mr. Vincent one of Saddam Hussein's "accomplices in corrupting" an international program meant to provide food and medicine for the people of Iraq that ended up generating "hundreds of millions of dollars" in kickbacks to Mr. Hussein's government.
Mr. Vincent, a naturalized American citizen and a resident of Annandale, Va., pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan today to four counts. Along with tax fraud, he admitted to failing to register as an agent of a foreign government and violating a federal ban on doing business with Iraq. Mr. Vincent faces a maximum of 28 years in prison.Mr. Ashcroft said that Mr. Vincent traveled to Baghdad in 1996 and was told by Iraqi officials that he and others "were guaranteed millions of dollars" if they were able to convince United States officials to drop sanctions imposed against Iraq, and for their work pushing for the creation of the oil-for-food program. People lobbying for foreign governments are required to register with the federal government.
[Pardon my Clinton hate, but Slick Willie acted as if he'd invented the wheel when he announced the "creation" of the OFF program.--Jen]
In the years the program was in effect, between 1996 and 2003, the Iraqi government allocated nine million of barrels of oil to Mr. Vincent to sell, an allocation he then sold for millions of dollars, Mr. Ashcroft said.
David N. Kelly, the United States attorney in Manhattan, put Mr. Vincent's profits at between $3 million and $5 million.
A series of reports in recent months has portrayed the oil-for-food program as riddled with corruption. It was designed to ease the economic impact on ordinary Iraqis of sanctions that were put in place after Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Under the program, Iraq was allowed to sell a limited amount of oil, and the proceeds were supposed to go toward food and medical care.
Mr. Ashcroft said today that Iraq had skimmed off "at least several hundred million dollars" by handing out the right to sell oil to individuals and companies, many of which had little or no experience in the oil business, and demanding kickbacks. "Many millions of barrels and millions of dollars were involved," in the scheme, he said.
Today's guilty plea, Mr. Ashcroft said, sends a message that "the integrity of a program that's designed to protect innocent people from suffering at the hands of brutal regimes is a serious matter."
In addition to the federal investigation, a Senate panel and a special United Nations committee led by Paul Volker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, are looking into the allegations.
Mr. Volker's committee recently issued a series of audits that found widespread waste and mismanagement in the program.
[I don't look for Volcker's committee report to be much more of a mea culpa or relevatory of a genuine scandal than was Thornburgh's and Boccardi's for CBS News.
A report prepared by Mr. Volker concluded that the Mr. Vincent's company, the Phoenix Group, handled oil sales worth $162 million.
Mr. Vincent was one of three individuals cited in an October report on the program prepared by the chief arms inspector for the Central Intelligence Agency.
The other two were Oscar S. Wyatt of Houston, a well-known oil investor and former head of the Coastal Corporation,
[For all you trivia buffs, it was Oscar Wyatt's stepson, Steve, who had an affair with Fergie, Duchess of York.
Small world when you're very rich, I guess.]
which was a major importer of Iraqi oil before the invasion of Kuwait, and Shakir al-Khafaji of West Bloomfield, Mich. The C.I.A. report said that Mr. Khafaji had financed a film about Iraq made by Scott Ritter, the former arms inspector who opposed the American invasion in 2003.
Ah, yes! Scott Ritter's name comes up on the wrong side of the score board as aiding and abetting the bad guys.
Whatta surprise--not.
Let's hope that as part of his plea bargain, Mr. Vincent agreed to give our Justice Dept. lots of names, evidence and bank account numbers!
I have the Korbel champagne chilling for the Bush Inauguration II, but after we've celebrated that, we'll all have to make lots of popcorn for this scandal--it will be deliciously and deservedly nasty!
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