Text 14271, 114 rader
Skriven 2005-07-26 18:30:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Oil for food
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The left will go mute on this...

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163721,00.html

IRS Docs Detail Ties Between Syria, Iraq
Tuesday, July 26, 2005



WASHINGTON  Syria had $3 billion in illegal oil-import and arms-export deals
with Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime, according to documents obtained by
the House International Relations Committee.

The documents, prepared by IRS special agents, have emerged as a new avenue in
Congress' investigation into the scandal-plagued U.N. Oil-for-Food program.
Congressional 1investigators on Wednesday will hold a 10:30 a.m. EDT hearing to
probe the actions of Syria and President Bashar Assad.

Click here to read the documents released by the House International Relations
Committee (pdf file).

Investigators said that for Baghdad, the relationship was attractive because
Syria could buy more oil under better financial deals than other Iraqi clients.
Damascus, meanwhile, was more willing than any other neighboring state to allow
military goods to be shipped to Iraq through its borders.

Following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's (search) government in 2003, IRS
criminal investigators opened an inquiry into Iraqi operations of Oil-for-Food
and interviewed numerous mid-level government officials, former Iraqi ministers
and other imprisoned officials and supplied information to Congress, CIA and
IRS.

Commercial transactions and deposits were uncovered that implicated the Syrian
government in the Oil-for-Food scandal.

The IRS learned through its interviews that Iraq's State Oil Marketing
Organization (SOMO) maintained accounts at the Commercial Bank of Syria (CBS)
that received funds from the oil sales to Syria. Beginning in June 2000 and
lasting until March 2003, Iraq and Syria set up a border trade protocol, which
ultimately resulted in $3 billion worth of Iraqi oil being imported by Syria.

IRS investigators have concluded that the money was funneled through these
accounts. About 40 percent was paid in cash while the other 60 percent came in
"goods" such as arms.

Both the imports of oil and the exports of military supplies were illegal under
U.N. sanctions imposed after the first Gulf War.

Funds in these accounts were used to purchase merchandise through Syrian
suppliers, transferred in cash to Baghdad using a diplomatic courier, and used
to pay the 10 percent kickback demanded by Iraq of all companies involved in
the U.N. program, according to the House International Relations Committee.

And some of the highest officials in the Syrian government were part of the
illegal trade, according to the probe.

IRS investigators have also determined that Syrian Defense Minister Mustapha
Tlas (search) received a "tribute payment" in return for permitting trade
between the two countries in violation of U.N. sanctions. Tlas' son, Firas, and
other officials with personal ties to Assad, also received commissions for
acting as intermediaries in military procurement contracts. Another
intermediary was Thualhima Shaleesh (search), chief of the presidential
bodyguard and cousin of the Syrian president.

One document details how Iraq's Military Industrialization Commission (search)
used intermediaries to arrange for arms imports. Another document says that a
source at the Iraqi Ministry of Trade (search) told the U.S. agents, "the
majority of the Iraqi trade with Syria was transacted through [a company
called] SEAS ... belonging to Dr Asef Shaleesh. He mentioned that Shaleesh was
related to the president of Syria."

The Bush White House and previous administrations have known that Syria was
violating the sanctions and importing enormous amounts of oil illegally from
Iraq. In fact, one of former Secretary of State Colin Powell's first trips was
to the Middle East, including a stop in Syria, to urge Iraq's neighbors to
strengthen the sanctions against Saddam.

At that point, the United States was still somewhat hopeful that the younger
Assad would be a more flexible and democratic leader than his father

"Candidly, we then discussed the Iraqi-Syrian pipeline. Of course, as you know,
the Syrians want to stay within the context of the U.N. Security Council
resolutions to play their role and they have been on record with that," Powell
told reporters after his meeting with Assad on Feb. 26, 2001.

"The president said to me in response to my query that it is their plan to
bring that pipeline, and what is going through that pipeline and the revenues
generated in that pipeline, to be under the same kind of control as other
elements of the sanctions regime. I found that to be a very important statement
on his part, and we have passed that information to President Bush; he has been
informed of that, and he also was pleased."

As for what happened to the billions of dollars in cash, IRS agents cannot say
for sure; some of it has been traced, some of the Iraqi accounts in Syria are
frozen, but possibly hundreds of millions of dollars were taken out of those
Syrian accounts and transferred to banks in Beirut, Lebanon.

After the transfers, investigators say "a special truck would be dispatched to
withdraw the money and bring it to the Central Bank of Iraq. These trucks would
make the journey at least on a weekly basis."

On Wednesday, the hearing by the House International Relations Joint Oversight
Subcommittee will feature witnesses such as: Elizabeth Dibble, deputy assistant
secretary for the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs; Dwight
Sparlin, director of operations, policy and support for the criminal
investigations division of the IRS; and Victor Comras, former member of the
U.N. Al Qaeda monitoring group.

FOX News' Jonathan Hunt and Teri Schultz contributed to this report.

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