Hearing of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee: Volcker Interim Report on the U.N. Oil-For-Food Program

HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE

SUBJECT: VOLCKER INTERIM REPORT ON THE U.N. OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAM

CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE DANA ROHRABACHER (R-CA)

WITNESSES: NILE GARDINER, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION; GEORGE LOPEZ, THE JOAN B. KROC INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE STUDIES; AND NIMROD RAPHAELI, MIDDLE EAST MEDIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WILSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I would like to thank Chairman Hyde for putting together the Subcommittee. I think it is particularly appropriate that Dana Rohrabacher is going to be the Chairman of this Subcommittee. He is a person of extraordinary tenacity, a person of the highest integrity, and this is just so fitting for what may turn into an investigation of the largest financial scandal in the history of the world.

I also have the extraordinary privilege, as Congressman Flake, to visit Iraq, and I have seen numerous opulent palaces with beautiful lakes built around them on hills which had been built solely for the purpose of building the extraordinary facilities, the utter waste and extravagance. Additionally, I have had a son serving in Iraq, and he sent me pictures, and I have seen them, too, of the dilapidated schools and hospitals where the women and children of Iraq have been denied the needed services that could have been provided under the Oil-for-Food Program.

I am very hopeful that, as we proceed, that we can provide incentives so that monies can be recovered and provided back to the people of Iraq to provide better services and also to better protect, as Congressman Green has indicated, our service members and to protect the American taxpayers. Thank you very much.

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you, Joe.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WILSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you all for being here today, and the information you have provided is very helpful.

Dr. Raphaeli, I was very appreciative of your comment to begin as a tribute to freedom of the press. It is extraordinary that this issue first came to the attention of so many of us, of all things, out of an Iraqi daily newspaper, and I remember very well reading the article, but we have not seen much of it since. In particular, it identified 270 individuals and entities that received the vouchers to receive the oil at below-market price. From your research, is that list accurate? Is it still accurate?

Mr. RAPHAELI. This list was confirmed by the Duelfer report. There has been absolutely no question about the authenticity and the accuracy of the list. So it is accurate as it was published by the newspaper.

In fact, if I may, I would add one more comment. We have seen very few denials by those who received oil vouchers. Most of them made the point that they were given vouchers in return for goods and services they provided under the Oil-for-Food Program. This is not a truthful statement because everybody who provided goods and services under the Oil-for-Food Program was paid from the escrow account in Banque Nationale de Paris. So if Saddam paid these people outside the framework of the Oil-for-Food Program, it suggests to me that they had provided either luxury goods or goods that were used for weapons purposes.

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Or that there was another payment.

Mr. RAPHAELI [continuing]. For illicit purposes.

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Right. There was another payment that took place that we do not have a record of.

Mr. WILSON. And also, it appeared to me, too, of buying of influence, because weren't some of the recipients of the vouchers political parties?

Mr. RAPHAELI. Indeed, we find some very interesting figures who received the oil vouchers: The son of the minister of defense in Syria; the son of the former President of Egypt, Abdul Nasser; many Russian political parties; the former minister of interior of France. Many friends of Mr. Chirac received enormous amounts of oil. Actually, I wrote a paper on the European dimension of the scandal which suggests that more than 70 percent of all oil vouchers went to Russian and French individuals and entities.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa98601.000/hfa98601_0f.htm