The Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein paid millions of dollars in lucrative oil export vouchers to leading French, Russian and other foreign politicians as part of a concerted effort to buy their assistance in lifting UN sanctions against Iraq, according to a CIA report made public in the US.
While the Iraqi intelligence service tried to bribe many foreign nationals, it paid particular attention to influential personalities from France and Russia because the two countries hold permanent seats on the UN Security Council, said the paper, prepared by chief US weapons inspector Charles Duelfer, who has spent months perusing secret Iraqi documents seized in the wake of the US-led invasion of Iraq.
"Iraq sought out individuals whom they believed were in a position to influence French policy," Duelfer concluded. "Saddam authorized lucrative oil contracts be granted to such parties, businesses and individuals."
The French targets, according to the CIA, included government ministers, politicians, journalists and businesspeople.
Among the recipients named in Iraqi intelligence documents is former French interior minister Charles Pasqua, who received export vouchers for almost 11 million barrels of crude that could be easily converted into cash, said the CIA report made public Wednesday.
The Saddam Hussein government also tried to find a way to influence President Jacques Chirac by making payments to businessman Patrick Maugein, whom the Iraqis believed had access to the French leader.
As a result, Maugein's Dutch-registered trading company was given export vouchers for 13 million barrels of oil, according to the report.
The founder of the French-Iraqi Export Club, Michel Grimard, received 5.5 million barrels through Swiss companies and the Iraqi-French Friendship Society, which, in turn, got vouchers for 10 million barrels of oil.
French oil companies Total and SOCAP were awarded over 105 million and 93 million barrels respectively, the report said.
In all, as of June 2000, Iraq awarded France US$1.78 billion worth of short-term oil contracts, equaling approximately 15 percent of the oil contracts allocated under the oil-for-food program, the CIA pointed out.
The transactions were executed under the UN-run US$60 billion oil-for-food program that was launched in 1996 in order to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people under a UN oil embargo imposed in the wake of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The payoffs were personally supervised by Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, who is currently in US custody in Baghdad.
The navy has installed 13 Phalanx Block 1B close-in weapons systems on its warships, increasing their defensive firepower, a defense official said on Saturday. The systems cost the navy NT$10.16 billion (US$314.67 million), while eight additional Block 1A systems are being upgraded in the US and are expected to be delivered next year, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Phalanx system used by Taiwan to defend its warships and key radar installations is a radar-cued gun system capable of firing 4,500 rounds a minute at targets as far away as 1.5km, the official said. With their superior range of
RACE FOR CHIPS: The Dresden site would help Europe reduce its reliance on Asia for semiconductors, while Germany aims to produce one-fifth of the world’s chips by 2030 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday broke ground in Dresden, Germany, on its first European plant as the continent seeks to safeguard its chip supplies amid growing US-China tensions. TSMC chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) attended the event, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the heads of Infineon Technologies AG, NXP Semiconductors NV and Robert Bosch GmbH, which each hold a 10 percent stake in the venture. TSMC owns a 70 percent stake in the plant. “Together with our partners, Bosch, Infineon and NXP, we are building our Dresden facility to meet the
‘CLOSE TIES’: Former Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda also attended the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security and spoke of Taiwan’s importance globally China’s authoritarian expansionism would not stop with Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, calling for solidarity among the world’s democracies to check Beijing’s territorial ambitions. Taiwan is determined to become a decisive force for democracy, peace and prosperity, standing side-by-side with its democratic partners to confront authoritarian expansionism and protect shared values, he told the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security in Taipei. Authoritarianism is now a global challenge, Lai said, using as examples Chinese military expansionism, economic coercion and the use of hybrid warfare tactics such as cyberattacks and cognitive warfare. “We are all fully aware that China’s growing authoritarianism will
RECOVERY: Overall, average income across all age groups increased, climbing to a record NT$709,000 last year, on the back of an improved economy, the DGBAS said Taiwanese workers under the age of 30 last year, on average, earned an annual income of NT$545,931 (US$17,044), a new high, as the economy continued to improve, data released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. That equated to monthly earnings of NT$45,494 per person, and marked an increase from NT$535,667 in 2022, the data showed. In addition to an improved economy, average incomes rose as the unemployment rate declined and the minimum wage rose, the statistics agency said. Overall, average income in Taiwan also hit a new record of NT$709,000 last year, up from NT$704,000 in 2022, the data