IRAQ: Iraqi oil ministry officials are considering legal action against foreigners who received oil contracts worth billions of dollars from Saddam Hussein, following allegations that named countries, organisations and individuals did illegal deals with the deposed dictator that broke UN sanctions.
The countries allegedly include France and China, both permanent members of the UN Security Council.
"This is oil money that should be used for reconstructing Iraq. We will use all means to get it back," a senior official at the Oil Ministry said.
"Saddam had no right to give this money away."
Alleged beneficiaries of the contracts included members of Arab ruling families, religious organisations, politicians and political parties from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Sudan, China, Austria, France and other countries.
Organisations named in documents looted from the oil ministry include the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Communist Party, India's Congress Party and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation.
Mr Assem Jihad, an oil ministry spokesman, said thousands of documents, which were looted from the State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) after Baghdad fell to US forces on April 9th, may prove that Saddam used bribery to gain support.
"Anyone involved in stealing Iraqi wealth will be prosecuted," Mr Jihad said.
"I think the list is true. I will demand an investigation. These people must be prosecuted," Mr Naseer Chaderji, a Governing Council member, told Reuters.
Over 270 people are named on documents. Sheaves of documents record how "oil coupons" were awarded by Saddam Hussein that allowed the recipient to cash them in at SOMO, in exchange for oil barrels.
As many as five million barrels of oil were awarded every six months - providing recipients with millions of dollars over the course of a 12-year period after the first Gulf War.
When the oil was sold through middlemen, Saddam would exact a 10 per cent levy - a convenient way of avoiding the demands of Iraq's oil-for-food programme that closely monitored the spending of Iraq's oil wealth.
The comments from the oil ministry gave an air of authenticity to the documents, which were published first in a local Iraqi newspaper, al Mada. One set of documents contained contracts, signed by Sadam Zibn, director of Iraq's SOMO and Ali Rajeb Hassan, oil minister in the late 1990s.
Another set contained country lists, with the recipients of the oil coupons arranged by nationality. Their awards of oil were given in a spreadsheet over a three-year period.
Yesterday, the publisher of the documents, Mr Fahkri Karim, declared proudly he had many more such documents to publish.
"I have seen rooms of such documents. There is a lot more information." Mr Karim described how the documents were rescued from SOMO in the chaotic hours when the Americans first entered the city.
"It was a great free for all in the ministries. Iraqi political parties knew that there were secret documents to be found," said Mr Karim.
Mr Karim would not reveal which political party had given him the documents, saying only that he and his source were like-minded in wanting to reveal to the world those who had profited from Saddam's dictatorship.
Commenting on the documents' authenticity, he said, "You will see that the people named will come forward and admit the truth. Many already have done. Shame on them for taking Saddam's dirty money."
Despite UN sanctions, Iraq was allowed to sell oil from 1996-2003 under an agreement with the United Nations stipulating that proceeds from the oil sales be used to buy food, medicine and basic supplies.
But bankers say some international companies selling goods to Iraq may have paid commissions to Iraqi officials that were deposited in Arab banks in exchange for winning contracts.