....But notfor the iraqi people!
In late January of this year an Iraqi daily paper, Al-Mada, published a partial list naming at least 270 individuals and enities who received oil vouchers as payments for the use of their influence or supplying the needs of the regime regardless of U.N. sanctionsWhile the reactions of a few from the lst were mixed and the arab media laughable (most were well know regime appologists) the majority oof those named must have taken a vow of silence.
Almost immediately the list itself was called into question.....but to add yet another nail into those who would try to deflect their crimes....former Iraqi Ministry of Petroleum undersecretary Abd Al-Saheb Salman Qutb confirmed that the ministry did indeed have the records to prove the authenticity of "the List" in question. The records which were the property of the State Oil Marketing Organization or (SOMO) are currently being prepared to be sent to Interpol for possible action against those named.
Currently, the Iraqi Governing Council has begun focusing on 46 groups/people named...mostly from the neighboring countries in an effort to determine what action, if any, would be done. Once action is taken..it might be interesting to see who aquired what for Saddam, especially in the Wmd issue (materials,plans,etc) cause while the question of Saddam's stockpiles seem for the moment to be up in the air for the moment....everyone has agreed his programs didnt stop simply because the world said so...
One key final note...the former U.N. executive director in charge of the Oil-for-Food program, Benon Sevan, has recently come under a cloud of suspicion as well in the whole voucher list scandal....and although as of yet he has not be named as being on the list but it looks like further list of those who profited off the backs at the expense of the iraqis will be published soon.
Its interesting that while the regime loyalists were always well fed...the normal iraqi was left to fight for the limited amount of medical supplies and food...which in a few occasions were rotten...
anyway here is a small list of of the countries/regions with people groups named....please click the link below to go to the MEMRI site for the complete list and story which does includemore info on the vouchers and how they were exchanged for money!
Link
I would like to add one final note....the most public figure to date who has dealt with the fallout from this is george galloway....former member of british parliment and recently kicked out of the labour party over his alleged dealings