[Mb-civic] CBC News - TEXAN AND SWISS EXECS CHARGED IN OIL-FOR-FOOD SCANDAL

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TEXAN AND SWISS EXECS CHARGED IN OIL-FOR-FOOD SCANDAL
WebPosted Fri Oct 21 15:13:16 2005

---A Texan oil boss and two Swiss executives and their companies have
been charged in connection with secret kickbacks in the UN oil-for-
food program.

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced charges Friday against Texan Oscar
Wyatt, the former Coastal Corp. chairman, and two Swiss business
executives, Catalina del Socorro Miguel Fuentes, alias Cathy Miguel, and
Mohammed Saidji.

Three companies were also charged, including the Cyprus-based Nafta
Petroleum Company Ltd. and Mednafta Trading Company Ltd., collectively
known as the Wyatt Foreign Companies.

Prosecutors said in a statement that Miguel and Saidji ran the companies
in close consultation with Wyatt.

The third company charged was Sarenco, a Swiss consulting firm run by
Miguel and Saidji.

"Wyatt, Miguel and Saidji obtained oil under the United Nations oil-for-
food program by paying millions of dollars in secret kickbacks to Saddam
Hussein's regime in Iraq," prosecutors said.

"These kickbacks were allegedly paid to the government of Iraq for oil
allocated by the Saddam Hussein regime to the Wyatt Foreign Companies and
the Coastal Corporation."

Under the former program, Hussein, then Iraq's president, sold oil to buy
food and medicine while the country was under international sanctions.

But a UN-commissioned inquiry uncovered rampant mismanagement that
allowed Hussein to skim more than $10 billion in profits.

That investigation found UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, his deputy and
the UN Security Council all were to blame in the scandal.

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