Kathleen Ridolfo
RFE/RL Iraq Report, Vol. 7, No. 4
January 30, 2004

An article that appeared in the Jan. 25 edition of Baghdad daily “Al-Mada” claims to have documentary evidence from Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) that the regime of deposed President Saddam Hussein paid off Western and Arab countries through illicit oil sales and bribes in exchange for their support for the regime, or to help the regime obtain weapons and even extravagant materials unavailable to it under UN sanctions.

The article purports that several well-known officials, organizations, political parties, and companies benefited from the regime, including the Russian Orthodox Church and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation; Khalid Abd al-Nasir, son of the late Egyptian president; and U.K. Labour Party member George Galloway. It also includes the names of individuals and companies in Algeria, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chad, China, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Syria, Sudan, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Vietnam, Yemen, and the former Yugoslavia.

The Jordanian government announced on Jan. 28 that it would investigate allegations that prominent Jordanian citizens were involved in the illicit oil-sales scandal, Jordanian and Western media reported. The “Al-Mada” article names 14 Amman-based firms and Jordanian citizens, including former government officials, AP reported. Meanwhile, Egyptian activist Mamduh al-Shaykh said he would ask the prosecutor-general to investigate allegations about Egyptian involvement in the scandal. Al-Shaykh reportedly filed suit last year against a number of Egyptian politicians and journalists, claiming they took bribes from the Hussein regime. Iraqi Governing Council member Nasir Kamil Chadirchi said on 28 January that the Governing Council has asked the Justice Ministry to investigate the matter and look into prosecuting Iraqi and foreign parties involved, Reuters reported.