WASHINGTON – Top Kremlin operatives and a flamboyant Russian politician reaped millions of dollars in profits under the U.N. oil-for-food program by selling oil that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein allowed them to buy at a deep discount, a Senate investigation has concluded.
The allegations – which also include descriptions of kickbacks paid to Hussein – are detailed in hundreds of pages of reports and documents made public Sunday night by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in advance of a hearing Tuesday.
The documents outline a trail of oil and money that leads directly from Iraq to the Kremlin and the former chief of staff to Russian President Vladimir Putin and former president Boris Yeltsin. The report said Iraq sought to influence and reward the Russian government because it sits on the U.N. Security Council, which oversaw sanctions against the Hussein government. Russia repeatedly sided with Iraq on issues before the Security Council.
Iraq’s U.N. ambassador, Feisal Amin Istrabadi, said Russia was one of dozens of countries that took advantage of Iraq’s oil wealth.
A CIA report last year said Hussein granted top political leaders from around the world the opportunity to buy Iraqi oil at a discount. But the Senate report presents more detailed evidence, alleging Russian officials took up the offer and profited handsomely.
In addition, the reports allege Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, several Russian entities and a Houston-based oil trading company, Bayoil, “paid millions of dollars in illegal, under-the-table surcharges to the Hussein regime in connection with these oil transactions.” U.S. officials say Hussein used illicit proceeds from oil sales to buy weapons, among other things.
The documents were provided to reporters Friday on the condition that articles about them not be published until today.
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