Russian lawmaker denies oil-for-food claim

updated 4:43 p.m. ET May 16, 2005

MOSCOW - Ultranationalist Russian lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky on Monday denied wrongdoing under the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq, saying he never received money from Baghdad or from companies that bought oil from Saddam Hussein’s government.

Zhirinovsky was responding to a U.S. Senate report alleging that he was among Russian officials and politicians who received millions of dollars in oil allocations from Saddam’s government in return for their support in ending U.N. sanctions against Iraq.

“I did not sign a single contract, I did not receive a single cent from Iraq — not a kopeck,” Zhirinovsky told Ekho Moskvy radio. He said he “never saw any Iraqi oil, not a drop.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that, in the U.S. report, “Russia is incriminated by the very fact of its participation” in the program, which was designed to let Iraq sell oil and use the proceeds to buy humanitarian items in order to ease the effects on the Iraq people of U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

U.S. accused of trying to discredit U.N.
“It is difficult to avoid the impression that the senators are trying to discredit the United Nations as a whole, pointing fingers at other countries while leaving the participation of American firms ... outside the brackets,” the ministry said in a statement.

“It would be more logical for them to attend to seeking violations in their own country,” it added.

Zhirinovsky said he used his close ties with Saddam’s government to steer Iraqi oil to Russian companies but claimed he was motivated by patriotism and received no compensation for helping with introductions to Iraqi officials.

“I got no (money) from either side,” said Zhirinovsky, who estimated that he visited Iraq some 15 times a year before his last trip in 2002. He said he had helped Russian companies because “I was the most acceptable person for Iraq.”

A report released Monday by the investigations subcommittee for the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs said Zhirinovsky received Iraqi oil allocations worth $8.7 million under the oil-for-food program.

Saddam accused of currying favor
The program was designed to let Saddam’s government sell oil and use the proceeds to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian items to ease the effects on the Iraq people of U.N. sanctions imposed after his invasion of Kuwait in 1990, which led to the 1991 Gulf War.

Saddam is widely accused of using oil vouchers that allowed the bearer to buy Iraqi oil at cut-rate prices to curry favor with countries holding veto power in the U.N. Security Council — France, Britain, China, Russia and the United States. The Senate subcommittee said about 30 percent of the oil sold in the program was allocated to Russia.

Former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, also accused by U.S. lawmakers of involvement in corruption in the oil-for-food program, denied the allegations and said he was caught in the crossfire of what he called an American campaign against France, which opposed the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam.

“I have never been to Iraq. I have never met Mr. Saddam Hussein. I never received anything from the Iraqis, in any domain,” Pasqua said at a news conference in Paris. “If my name appears on documents as having benefited from allocations, it can only be the result of fraudulent behavior committed by certain people who used my name.”

Last week, the U.S. Senate committee presented what it said was evidence that Pasqua and British lawmaker George Galloway got oil allocations from Saddam in return for backing his regime and its campaign against U.N. sanctions on Iraq.

MORE FROM CONFLICT IN IRAQ

Conflict in Iraq Section Front

Iraq imposes new limits on U.S. forces 3 coalition soldiers die in Iraq attack Cookbook captures Iraqi culinary heritage Army units to go to Iraq for changing mission Conflict in Iraq Section Front   Add Conflict in Iraq headlines to your news reader: