report on programme manipulation - Independent Inquiry Committee

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INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE INTO THE UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME REPORT ON PROGRAMME MANIPULATION CHAPTER TWO OIL TRANSACTIONS AND ILLICIT PAYMENTS After each oil lifting under the Genmar contracts, Mr. Guillet received cash payments from Mr. Firzli’s bank account in Geneva, Switzerland. Bank records show that from October 1999 to October 2000, there were seven cash payments totaling $234,000 made to Mr. Guillet from Mr. Firzli’s bank account. Mr. Firzli has stated that these cash payments were the commissions to Mr. Guillet on the oil sales. 98 Mr. Guillet admitted that he received the cash payments from Mr. Firzli’s account. He stated that he traveled to Geneva from Paris on eight occasions to withdraw cash from Mr. Firzli’s bank account at Mr. Firzli’s request. According to Mr. Guillet, he was willing to do this on Mr. Firzli’s behalf because Mr. Guillet had consulted beforehand with Mr. Aziz on Mr. Firzli’s credibility. 99 Mr. Guillet’s description of the distribution of the money was not specific. Mr. Guillet denied that the cash payments from Mr. Firzli’s account were intended for his personal benefit, however, he mentioned sometimes using part of the cash for the reimbursement of one of the donors to his organization, France Afrique Orient. He stated that on a number of occasions after withdrawing the payments from Mr. Firzli’s account, he gave €7,500 in cash to Mr. Firzli. According to Mr. Guillet, at Mr. Firzli’s instruction and with the blessing of Mr. Aziz, he gave some of the cash to two Iraqi nationals in Geneva. Mr. Guillet stated that at least one of the Iraqi nationals was associated with Mr. Aziz. 100 Surcharges were assessed on the Genmar contract in Phase VIII. Ministry of Oil and bank records show that a surcharge of $367,930 was paid through a deposit by Mr. Firzli on February 27, 2001 in a SOMO bank account at Fransabank. Mr. Firzli admitted that he made the surcharge purchase some of his allocations and coordinated the purchase of allocations for some other French beneficiaries). Mr. Firzli has confirmed to the committee that the oil contracted for by Genmar was financed and purchased by Total at a premium of $0.02 per barrel. For Phase VI allocations for Mr. Pasqua this is also confirmed by the request from Total to Agence Internationale Paris to open a letter of credit in the name of Genmar, without mentioning Total’s name and an agreement between Genmar and Total. Elias Firzli interview (Oct. 14, 1999); Total telex to Genmar (Nov. 5, 1999) (confirming the purchase of Basrah light oil as agreed on October 26, 1999 at a premium of $0.02 per barrel); Total telex to BNP Agence Internationale Paris (Oct. 29, 1999) (requesting BNP to open a letter of credit in Genmar’s name without mentioning the name of Total); Genmar telexes to BNP Agence Internationale, Paris (Oct. 18, 1999) (Oct. 29, 1999) (Nov. 9, 1999) (authorizing BNP Paris, to accept documents, endorse bills of lading and execute any instruction given by Total for an on behalf of Genmar); Genmar telex to Total (Nov. 23, 1999) (invoice for contracts M/06/66 and M/06/74 calculating a premium of $0.02 per barrel). Elias Firzli is discussed in Section IV.B above in connection with Mr. Mérimée. 98 Banque Française de L’Orient (Suisse) S.A. record, Elias Firzli account, withdrawal advice (Oct. 14, 1999) (Dec. 29, 1999) (Jan. 13, 2000) (Feb. 22, 2000) (June 8, 2000) (Sept. 5, 2000) (Oct. 26, 2000) (indicating that upon telephonic instructions from Mr. Firzli cash payments of $50,000, $33,300, $25,000, $25,000, $40,400, $30,300, $30,000 respectively were made to Mr. Guillet) (translated from Arabic); Elias Firzli interview (Oct. 14, 2005). 99 Bernard Guillet interviews (Oct. 3 and 5, 2005); Bernard Guillet letter to the Committee (Oct. 21, 2005). 100 Ibid. REPORT ON PROGRAMME MANIPULATION–OCTOBER 27, 2005 PAGE 58 OF 623
INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE INTO THE UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME REPORT ON PROGRAMME MANIPULATION CHAPTER TWO OIL TRANSACTIONS AND ILLICIT PAYMENTS payment. He stated that he was “under pressure” to pay the surcharge during one of his visits to SOMO. According to Mr. Firzli, he did not discuss the surcharges with Mr. Guillet. 101 In April 2001, following an investigation by a French magistrate into allegations of irregularities in financing of the Mr. Pasqua’s political party (RPF), Mr. Guillet was barred by court order from contacting Mr. Pasqua or the Conseil Général des Hauts-de-Seine and stopped working for the Mr. Pasqua. According to Mr. Guillet, he continued to travel to Iraq at his own expense and regularly met Mr. Aziz. Around the same time, in August 2001, Mr. Guillet’s name appears in SOMO records for the first time as a holder of allocations. According to Ministry of Oil records, Mr. Guillet received a total of six million barrels of oil from Phases X to XIII. The oil was sold to Aredio Petroleum S.A.R.L. (“Aredio”), a French-based company, in Phases X and XI. 102 101 SOMO sales contract, no. M/08/113 (Sept. 21, 2000) (contracting with Genmar Resources GMBH). Committee oil surcharge table, contract no. M/08/113; Fransabank record, SOMO account, credit advice (Feb. 27, 2001) (translated from French and Arabic); Fransabank record, Elias Firzli account <strong>report</strong> (Feb. 27, 2001) (translated from French and Arabic); Elias Firzli interview (Oct. 14, 2005). 102 Charles Pasqua letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (May 30, 2001); Fabrice Lhomme, “Les proches de M. Pasqua contestent les accusations de financement occulte,” Le Monde, April 25, 2001; Bernard Guillet interviews (Oct. 3 and 5, 2005); Committee oil beneficiary table, contract nos. M/10/82, M/11/66, No contracting company; SOMO letters to Amer Rashid (Sept. 11, 2001) (approving contract M/10/82 for 2 million barrels of oil for Aredio “(Mr. Bernard Guillet)”), (Jan. 14, 2002) (approving contract M/11/66 for 1.5 million barrels of oil for Aredio “(Mr. Bernard Guillet)”) (each translated from Arabic) (hereinafter “Approval letters for Guillet contracts”); SOMO oil allocation tables for Phase X (Aug. 4, 2001) (indicating an allocation of 2 million barrels of oil for “Bernard Guillet”), Phase XI (Dec. 1, 2001) (indicating an allocation of 1.5 million barrels of oil for “Bernard Guillet”), Phase XII (May 19, 2002) (indicating an allocation of 1.5 million barrels of oil for “Bernard Guillet”), Phase XIII (Nov. 17, 2002) (indicating an allocation of 1million barrels of oil for “Bernard Guillet”) (each translated from Arabic) (hereinafter “SOMO oil allocation tables for Guillet”). In addition to the allocations tables for Phases X to XIII, Mr. Guillet’s name appears on the approval letters for contracts M/10/82 and M/11/66 executed with Aredio, of which only the first contract was implemented for two million barrels of oil. Approval letters for Guillet contracts; Committee oil beneficiary table, contract nos. M/10/82, M/11/66, No contracting company; SOMO sales contract, no. M/10/82 (Sept. 11, 2001) (contracting with Aredio Petroleum); Bernard Guillet letter to SOMO (Sept. 7, 2001) (assigning two million barrels of oil to Aredio); Bernard Guillet letter to SOMO (Dec. 31, 2001) (assigning Mr. Guillet’s allocation in Phase XI to Aredio; the fax ribbon on the first letter indicates that the letter is sent from Alcon Petroleum Limited. This fax ribbon matches with fax ribbon of other faxes sent by Alcon which were available in the United Nations Treasury. See e.g., Alcon fax to the oil overseers (Oct. 15, 2001)). Alcon Petroleum Limited (“Alcon”) is a sister company of Aredio which, as discussed below, similar to Aredio, acted as a front for Taurus. Mr. Guillet’s last mission to Iraq in his capacity as the diplomatic advisor to Mr. Pasqua occurred from February 7 to 15, 2005. Even though at this time Mr. Guillet no longer worked for Mr. Pasqua, according to one Iraqi official Mr. Guillet complained that Mr. Pasqua was embarrassed that allocations in Phases VI, VII, and VIII were in his name; as a result of these complaints, Mr. Pasqua’s allocations were recorded in Mr. Guillet’s name for Phases X, XI, XII, and XIII. Furthermore, Mr. Aziz claimed that he was under the impression that Mr. Pasqua had not received oil allocations under his own name and did not deal with the Iraqis directly. Rather, Mr. Aziz thought that Mr. Pasqua’s interactions were through Mr. Guillet. Conseil Général des Hauts-de-Seine REPORT ON PROGRAMME MANIPULATION–OCTOBER 27, 2005 PAGE 59 OF 623
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