Ghost Firms Hide Bribes

I'm not sure if a thread has been done on this or not.
I don't remember seeing it. The corruption surrounding
Saddam reaches far and wide. Good thing the Saddam
cancer has been removed. Now some chemo to take
care of the rest would be good ....

www.pittsburghlive.com...

EXCERPT - from today's pittsburglive.com

Ghost firms hide Saddam's bribes
By The Associated Press
Sunday, December 26, 2004


GENEVA -- The U.N.-ordered probe into oil-for-food corruption is being seriously hampered by an elaborate system of ghost firms set up around the world to cover the tracks of bribes to Saddam Hussein as he cheated the $60-billion program, a top investigator said.

Some front companies in this global oil trading center and elsewhere that dealt with Saddam have been liquidated or have hidden ownership, complicating the search for evidence of financial improprieties, said Swiss criminal lawyer Mark Pieth. He's one of three commission members leading the probe headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker.

Major oil trading companies and individuals -- from American businessmen to French, Chinese and Russian politicians -- are suspected of benefiting from lucrative Iraqi oil contracts that involved kickbacks, according to the independent panel's initial findings.

Those who profited may have been able to hide behind a web of fiction by making transactions through ghost firms that exist mostly on paper, Pieth told The Associated Press.

More of this article at -
www.pittsburghlive.com...


[edit on 1/10/2005 by FlyersFan]

To tell you the truth I don't thing anything is going to cure the mess in that country right now.

And to be fair the only ones losing the battler is the poor people in that country they were victims of Saddam and now they are victims of the vermin that has come across their border to unify in the power struggle.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
U.N.-ordered probe into oil-for-food corruption is being seriously hampered by an elaborate system of ghost firms set up around the world to cover the tracks of bribes to Saddam Hussein

Nothing indicates guilt and complicity more than covering up one's actions.

[edit on 10-1-2005 by Nygdan]