Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Baghdad, June26, (VOI) - Iraqi judicial source said his country would lodge a lawsuit against the United Nations at a U.S court over corruption charges in the Oil-for-Food programme overseen by the International organisation for seven years.

“A Texas-based legal firm would lodge an Iraqi government lawsuit at state court in NewYork”, Iraqi Justice Ministry source, who requested anonmity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq(VOI).

The source noted “Iraq file the case to catch up with its deadline expiring by the end of June”.

The Oil-for-Food Programme, established by the United Nations in 1995, which started working on April16th 1996 and terminated in late 2003, was intended to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs for ordinary Iraqi citizens without allowing Iraq to rebuild its military.

The programme was introduced by U.S administration in 1995, as a response to arguments that ordinary Iraqi citizens were inordinately affected by the international economic sanctions aimed at the demilitarisation of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, imposed in the wake of the first Gulf War. The sanctions were discontinued on November21, 2003 after the U.S. Invasion of Iraq, and the humanitarian functions turned over to the Coalition Provisional Authority.

As the programme ended, there were revelations of corruption involving the funds.

According to an interim report released by an idependent commission led by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker food aid supplied under the programme “was unfit for human consumption”.

The report concluded that former regime of Saddam Hussein had gained nearly $1.8 million in bribes and paybacks skimmed over the course of the programme.
AM