Was Jacques Chirac bribed by Saddam?

TomF

Mon Dieu, but this is terribly distressing if true. Whom can one trust if not M. Chirac?


http://interestalert.com/brand/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/01280002aaa05619.upi&Sys=rmmiller&Fid=NATIONAL&Type=News&Filter=National%20News

Iraqi govt. papers: Saddam bribed Chirac


BAGHDAD, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Documents from Saddam Hussein's oil ministry reveal he used oil to bribe top French officials into opposing the imminent U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The oil ministry papers, described by the independent Baghdad newspaper al-Mada, are apparently authentic and will become the basis of an official investigation by the new Iraqi Governing Council, the Independent reported Wednesday.

"I think the list is true," Naseer Chaderji, a governing council member, said. "I will demand an investigation. These people must be prosecuted."

Such evidence would undermine the French position before the war when President Jacques Chirac sought to couch his opposition to the invasion on a moral high ground.

A senior Bush administration official said Washington was aware of the reports but refused further comment.

French diplomats have dismissed any suggestion their foreign policy was influenced by payments from Saddam, but some European diplomats have long suspected France's steadfast opposition to the war was less moral than monetary.

"Oil runs thicker than blood," is how one former ambassador put his suspicions about the French motives for opposing action against Saddam.

Al-Mada's list cites a total of 46 individuals, companies and organizations inside and outside Iraq as receiving Saddam's oil bribes, including officials in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Sudan, China, Austria and France, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Communist Party, India's Congress Party and the Palestine Liberation Organization.




Copyright 2004 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.

Sand

Could be just a smear campaign by the coalition - even if its disproved the suspiscion will linger in the minds of the average punter who hears about it.

If it is true ( biiiiiiiiiiig if), and if it can be proven it will bring down Chirac and badly damage the reputation of the French government for decades.

sovtek

Wonder if this has anything to do with corruption charges in Nigeria being levied against Cheney and Halliburton by a French court.

raphaelS

Just one point, Chirac is not on that list, the main "bad" guy is Charles Pasqua, he denied... but I don't believe him!
He was the police minister in a previous Chirac government, and at moment he is european MP. They are on the same side.
Charles Pasqua was indeed also involved in some business in Africa...!


It is true that French people were against the war because it was (is?) a war and they don't like when the White House plays the "corrupted" Sherif in the world.

On the other side, the French government (so Chirac!) were opposed to the war because many French companies had some interests in Irak (Petrol for sure and I guess weapons)...

Raphael

Source in French

Sparks

Why do I smell an old story when someone mentions documents found in Iraq?

The Corinthian

Jacques Chirac is no saint, I do not believe that any head of state can be or is in practice, but this story is leaves me a little cold.

Firstly, the question of bribery is left a little open – none of the articles relating to this story I’ve read actually define what they mean by a bribe. After all, Iraq was entitled to exchange oil for various goods, throughout the nineties, so for France to receive oil would not be a bribe in itself depending upon the circumstances.

There are far too many fuzzy grey areas that have been left open to interpretation without so much as a shred of evidence or explanation (a favoured TomF tactic, I’ve noticed) for the story to be given too much currency. Thus while it merits greater investigation, the ambiguity of the alleged bribes presently raises too many questions of politically motivated media spin in the story.

raphaelS

Jacques Chirac (and his wife!) is not clean at all... there's some stories about social accomodations(1) when he was Paris mayor and also some exotic holidays he went on with his wife paid by the tax payers... I can find some details about that if someone is interested!?

Raphael

1)- Some nice appartments in Paris, owned by Paris were rented as a social accomodation so for a small amout to closed friends and family...

TomF

A list of the names of many of the 270 who were beneficiaries of Saddam's largesse in the way of sweet deals on crude oil can be found at:

http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=IA16004

Jacques Chirac is not on the list, but, as raphaelS notes, Charles Pasqua is on it.

Here's some of the preamble to the story.
"The following report from [the Middle East Media Research Institute's] Baghdad office is a translation of an article which appeared in the Iraqi daily Al-Mada, [1] which obtained lists of 270 companies, organizations, and individuals awarded allocations (vouchers) of crude oil by Saddam Hussein's regime. The beneficiaries reside in 50 countries: 16 Arab, 17 European, 9 Asian, and the rest from sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.Only a portion of the 270 recipients are listed and identified.

...

"... the issuing of vouchers by Saddam's regime may have served two primary purposes:

A: Payments in the form of bribes to individuals and organizations for their support of the regime.

B: Vouchers may have been issued to pay for goods and services that fell under U.N. Security Council sanctions and could not be financed under the 'Oil for Food' program. Goods may have included military equipment or military parts, luxury automobiles that Saddam distributed as gifts inside and outside Iraq, and general luxury goods for the benefit of high-ranking officials in the Ba'ath party and government.

...the voucher recipients sold the vouchers to oil traders, who then collected the oil against the vouchers from the Kirkuk-Banias (Syria) pipeline terminal, which was operating in contravention of the Security Council sanctions. The pipeline carried 200,000 barrels per day of Iraqi oil, which benefited Syria greatly."

Victor

Nicely dove-tails with this story:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0130/france.html

Verdict on corruption for former French PM
January 30, 2004

(10:01) The former French Prime Minister Alain Juppe, who is one of President Jacques Chirac's closest allies, will learn today if he has been convicted in a political corruption trial.

58-year-old Mr Juppe is one of 20 people accused of involvement in a funding scandal during Jacques Chirac's 18-year tenure as Mayor of Paris.

If found guilty, Juppe faces possible disqualification from holding elected office and a suspended prison sentence.

Meh

Russia: The Russian state itself received 1,366,000,000 barrels.

At the pre-war production levels of 2.8 million bpd, this figure alone is well over a year's production for Iraq. If the Russian government got all this oil from the 200,000 bpd Kirkuk-Banias pipeline, as the article says they did, it would have taken them nearly twenty years to collect it all. When you add in the other amounts, these allegations become even more unbelievable.

raphaelS

Originally posted by Victor
Nicely dove-tails with this story:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0130/france.html

He's accused to have used Paris' money to paid employees of his (and Chirac) party. He's still the chief of Chirac's party...

Chirac won't go for a second mandat and Juppé is said to be Chirac's preference to replace him. If he's find guilty, Chirac will be in a very bad position!

Raphael

raphaelS

He got a 18 months suspended sentence... so by the French law, he's disqualified from holding elected office for 10 years!

He's going to appeal, that will suspend the verdict for a while.

I guess, you should read and hear more about it on the news tonight and tomorrow's papers.

In French: http://actualite.free.fr/actu.pl?doc=france/3_2004-01-30T1433_FAP6867.xml

Raphael

TomF

The article starts off with a disclaimer: "MEMRI is not responsible for the accuracy of the details with regard to the names listed or the amount of oil granted." But then, being granted a voucher doesn't necessarily mean the recipient actually has the oil delivered, does it? Maybe the pipeline in question ends at a terminal with a large number of very big storage containers which could supply "draws" on individual vouchers. I am certainly not qualified to comment much on the wheeling-and-dealing that probably characterizes the world crude oil market.

mike65

I should'nt feel ever so slightly pleased at this news but I am! (Never trust the French)

Mike.