French President Jacques Chirac and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero phoned U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Tuesday to express their solidarity in the face of criticism over the U.N. oil-for-food scandal in Iraq.

Zapatero and Chirac, had a bilateral summit in the northern Spanish city of Zaragoza, discussed Annan's situation over lunch and agreed to telephone him immediately.

Annan has come under scrutiny over the $64 billion oil-for-food program for Iraq, administered by the U.N. through which ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein reaped $21.3 billion in illegal kickbacks.

Annan's son Kojo got a salary, more or less for doing nothing beyond being the son of his daddy, from a Swiss firm, Cotecna, which was supposed to inspect the program and is under investigation.

The French and Spanish position can be understood.

Saddam Hussein paid hundreds of millions in bribes to scores of politicians, journalists and diplomats throughout Europe and at the UN. A sizable share of the bribes went to France and Spain.

In France, the lion’s share of the backhanders went to some   Mr. Chirac’s political friends. It is true that his ethical standards regarding public money are known to be less than stringent and only executive immunity is keeping him out of court (and out of jail!) for a string of sleazy scandals including distributing luxury flats in the best of Paris for friends and family for under $100 in rent. Some people have also wondered why the money from the oil-for-food program was systematically entrusted to French banks.

In Spain, the Iraqi regime financed the anti-war movement through a Committee for Solidarity with the Arab Cause, that funneled millions into the pockets of Spanish politicians, journalists and artists. The Havana educated general secretary of the communist party, Gaspar Llamazares was the chairman of the committee, monitored by a former Jordanian ambassador to Iraq now living in Spain. A handful of millions in bribes went to a Catalan politician referred to in the Iraqi files as Xavier Robert, who some in Spain believe to be Xavier Robert de Ventos, a prominent Socialist and defender of the Iraqi regime, although no hard evidence supporting that allegation has surfaced as of now.  

Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, chairman of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said Annan should resign because he had to be held "accountable for the U.N.'s utter failure to detect or stop Saddam's abuses."

Goog luck to you, senator!


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IMPORTANT COMMENT BY her ***

Hi, Juan. Here's some data about the oil for food scam:

HERE YOU HAVE THE COMPLETE LIST TO THE AL-MADA FILES of bribes handed out by the Saddam Hussein regime country by country.

The bribes are in vouchers of millions of barrels of oil.

The ones correspondig to Spain were:
Spain:

1-Bassim Qaqish/17.5 million
2-Javier Robert/9.8 million
3-Ali Balut/8.8 million

And to France:
France:

1-Adax/ 8.3 million
2-Trafigura (Patrick Maugain)/ 25 million
3-Michel Gremard (Iraqi-French Export Co.)/ 1 million
4-French Arab Friendship Association/ 15.1 million
5-Ibex/ 47.2 million
6-Charles Pasqua (former Interior minister)/ 12 million
7-Elias Al-Gharzali/ 14.6 million
8-ALTC (Claude Caspert)/ 4 million
9-Bernarde Merime (French UN ambassador)/ 3 million
10-Bernarde Merime/ 8 million
11-De Suza/ 11 million

h.e.r.

# posted by Juan A. Hervada @ 9:36 PM