report on programme manipulation - Independent Inquiry Committee

INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE INTO THE UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME
REPORT ON PROGRAMME MANIPULATION
CHAPTER TWO
OIL TRANSACTIONS AND ILLICIT PAYMENTS
Mr. Oliveira has denied having any familiarity with the TQOB forms despite Mr. Manoussakis’s
insistence that Mr. Oliveira filled in all of the hand-written numerals on both TQOB forms, but
refused to sign them. At the Committee’s request, Mr. Oliveira provided several handwriting
examples. Though not conclusive, given the limited number of examples, there is considerable
similarity between several of the examples he provided and the numerals found in the TQOB
forms. 367
Correspondence and banking records further confirm Mr. Oliveira’s agreement with the
Government of Iraq. Mr. Oliveira received payments in the amount of $105,819, of which
$86,119 was paid during September 2001 and the remaining $19,700 during March 2002.
According to Saybolt records, Mr. Oliveira left Mina al-Bakr to return to Lisbon, Portugal, less
than a day after Mr. Rashid provided him with a letter facilitating his departure from Iraq. When
interviewed, Mr. Oliveira confirmed that he left Iraq through the Trebil border to Jordan on his
way home to Lisbon. While Mr. Oliveira denies receiving any cash during this trip, bank records
show that he made a $5,000 cash deposit into his personal bank account in Lisbon on March 11,
2002. Mr. Oliveira has stated that he routinely carried such amounts of cash when he traveled
back and forth between Portugal and Iraq. 368
C. THE FINANCIAL TRAIL OF THE ESSEX TOP-OFF SCHEME
1. The May 16, 2001 Essex Top-Off Load
As described above, on May 16, 2001, the Essex vessel lifted two million barrels of oil— of
which only 1.8 million was authorized for sale under the Programme. The oil that was lifted
legitimately by the Essex was authorized under Ibex contract M/09/81 and purchased through a
letter of credit in the name of Ibex that was financed by Trafigura. Trafigura sold the full cargo to
United States refiners Marathon Ashland and Koch Petroleum, each receiving approximately one
million barrels. In exchange for the oil, Koch Petroleum made two payments to Trafigura
totalling $20.8 million. Both payments were wired to Trafigura’s account at BNP Paris.
Marathon Ashland, meanwhile, made two payments to Trafigura totalling $23.2 million: first,
$18 million was wire-transferred to a Trafigura account at BNP Paris for 795,265 barrels; second,
$5.2 million was wire-transferred to a Trafigura account in London at Crédit Agricole Indosuez
367 Armando Carlos Oliveira interview (May 14, 2005); Manolis Manoussakis interview (May 12, 2005).
See Annex 1 for Handwriting Examples.
368 SOMO Summary Report (containing Amer Rashid’s letter to the Central Bank of Iraq, dated March 5,
2002, and Amer Rashid’s letter to Tariq Aziz, dated April 12, 2002); United States Senate Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations hearing on “The United Nations’ Management and Oversight of the Oilfor-Food
Program,” Exhibit 8 (Feb. 15, 2005); Armando Carlos Oliveira interview (May 14, 2005);
Feudore Aquino interview (June 7, 2005). Mr. Aquino, a Saybolt inspector, advised that there was no need
to have that much cash at Mina al-Bakr, an isolated platform in the ocean, since all provisions had to be
purchased at Baghdad or Basrah. Ibid.
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