Iraq will file lawsuits in the United States against foreign firms for alleged fraud in a U.N. oil-for-food scheme under Saddam Hussein's regime, the country's commerce minister told AFP Tuesday.
"We have asked an American lawyer to prosecute the companies that violated the law regarding the oil-for-food program," Safaldin al-Safi said, but did not give any further details.
French newspaper Liberation said on Tuesday that the Iraqi government has demanded a total of $10 billion in compensation from 93 companies for alleged violations of the terms of the program.
We have asked an American lawyer to prosecute the companies that violated the law regarding the oil-for-food program
According to the newspaper, among the companies are French vehicle manufacturer Renault and banking giant BNP Paribas.
Liberation said that BNP Paribas rejected the allegations.
The U.N. oil-for-food program ran from 1996 until 2003, when U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq.
It allowed Baghdad to sell limited amounts of oil to fund U.N.-supervised imports of humanitarian goods which the country lacked because of tight U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
Saddam's government allegedly embezzled millions of dollars from the scheme, sparking a scandal that caused major embarrassment to the United Nations.
Last October, the U.S. magazine Vanity Fair reported that the Federal Reserve shipped to Baghdad a total of $12 billion, including oil-for-food funds handed over by the United Nations, between April 2003 and June 2004.
War Inquiry resumes
Blair made the decision to commit us to a war in Iraq. We deserve to know the real reasons he went ahead
Meanwhile Britain's public inquiry into the Iraq war resumed Tuesday after the Christmas break, as questions grew about the looming appearance by Tony Blair, who led the country into the controversial conflict.
Blair is expected to give evidence to the inquiry in the second half of January or early February, while his former communications chief and close ally Alastair Campbell will appear next week, on Jan. 12.
Labor figures are reportedly worried Blair's appearance could cause problems for the ruling party as struggling Prime Minister Gordon Brown starts campaigning in earnest for Britain's general election, to be held by June.
Meanwhile, an Internet campaign has been launched for Blair to face tough questions about why he took Britain into the unpopular war, amid criticisms the probe, led by a retired top civil servant, has gone too easy on some witnesses.
"Blair made the decision to commit us to a war in Iraq. We deserve to know the real reasons he went ahead," activist group 38 Degrees said
Blair stood shoulder-to-shoulder with then U.S. president George W. Bush over the 2003 invasion, but faced a major backlash in Britain over the decision. He resigned in 2007 despite having led his Labor party to three election wins.
Britain justified the invasion at the time by arguing that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) but these were never found.
Blair insisted last month he would have supported the war, which did not gain explicit United Nations approval, even if he had known there were no Iraqi WMDs.
He said Saddam was a "threat to the region" who "used chemical weapons on his own people".
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