by emad » Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:52 pm
Former UN envoy questioned over bribe allegations<br>From Charles Bremner in Paris<br> <br> <br> <br>A FORMER French Ambassador to the UN was detained yesterday over allegations that he received illicit oil vouchers from Saddam Hussein’s regime under the Oil-for-Food programme that was administered by the UN. <br><br>Jean-Bernard Mérimée is the highest-ranking of half a dozen men who have been summoned so far by Judge Philippe Courroye, the head of a three-year-old criminal inquiry into alleged bribes paid by Baghdad to foreign citizens. Five have been notified that they face prosecution in the investigation, which began before the scandal broke over Baghdad’s use of the programme to buy corrupt officials and reward supporters of Saddam’s cause. <br><br> <br> <br>M Mérimée, 68, served as French Permanent Representative to the UN from 1991 to 1995, leaving one year before the start of the Oil-for-Food programme to become Ambassador to Italy and then special adviser on European issues to Kofi Annan. His name was among 11 listed in UN documents handed over to Judge Courroye in March. <br><br>M Mérimée was held overnight before being questioned by M Courroye, who has broadened his investigation from its original target of illegal commissions allegedly paid by the Total oil group to obtain contracts with Baghdad. M Mérimée is expected to be released after his session with the judge. <br><br>He is alleged to have been among those who were allocated oil vouchers. The beneficiaries were able to sell these on to oil companies that had UN permission to trade with Baghdad. <br><br>The most prominent Frenchman among those named in the documents is Senator Charles Pasqua, a former Interior Minister and senior figure in President Chirac’s neo-Gaullist party. M Pasqua, already under indictment in two unrelated investigations, denies involvement in any Iraqi oil dealings. Bernard Guillet, M Pasqua’s former chief of staff, has been placed under formal investigation. <br><br>The others are Serge Boidevaix, a former ambassador and director of the Foreign Ministry, Claude Kaspereit, a businessman, Gilles Munier, the head of an Iraqi-French friendship society, and Hamida Nana, a Palestinian journalist. The Oil-for-Food programme, from 1996 to 2003, provided humanitarian goods for Iraqis trying to cope with UN sanctions imposed after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Saddam, who could choose the buyers of Iraqi oil and the sellers of humanitarian goods, manipulated the programme by awarding contracts to, and getting kickbacks from, favoured buyers.<br> <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-1821969,00.html">www.timesonline.co.uk/new...69,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br> <br> <br> <p></p><i></i>
