In a settlement related to the United Nations oil-for-food program, Chevon will pay $30 million, prosecutors said Nov. 14. According to the agreement, Chevron admitted obtaining Iraqi oil from third parties that paid secret, illegal surcharges to Saddam Hussein's regime, in violation of U.S. wire fraud statutes and administrative regulations.
Of the settlement payment, Chevron agreed to forfeit $20 million to the U.S. Attorney's office, which would seek to transfer the money to the Development Fund of Iraq established under the United Nations in 2003. A further five million dollars would go to the district attorney's office while two million would go to the U.S .Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control and a further three million to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The oil-for-food program ran from 1996 to 2003, when U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq. It allowed Baghdad to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian goods the country lacked due to sanctions imposed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The Iraqi government swindled millions of dollars from the scheme, sparking a scandal that caused huge embarrassment to the United Nations.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007
