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
barrels of oil designated to Mr. Boidevaix were purchased by Vitol. Mr. Boidevaix has denied
that the allocations were made to him personally. According to Mr. Aziz, Mr. Boidevaix was
given the oil because of his support for Iraq. In dealings with SOMO, however, Mr. Boidevaix
represented himself as a Vitol officer. Mr. Boidevaix admitted that he became aware of the Iraqi
regime’s imposition of surcharges in Phase IX. He stated that he warned Vitol not to pay
surcharges and that Vitol stopped getting oil contracts. In Phase X, Vitol lifted oil designated to
Mr. Boidevaix. In Phase XI, Mr. Boidevaix nominated another company that worked with Vitol,
Devon Petroleum, Ltd. (“Devon Petroleum”), a Cyprus-based company, to lift oil allocated to
him but the contract was not signed.
1. Background
Mr. Boidevaix, a career diplomat in France, served as Director of the Department for North
Africa and the Middle East in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1980 to 1983. During
this period, Mr. Boidevaix visited Iraq where he met Saddam Hussein, Mr. Aziz and Mr. Rashid.
In December 1993, after retiring from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Boidevaix was sent by
the French Minister of Foreign Affairs on a mission to Iraq to secure the release of a French
national who was arrested in Iraq. On this occasion, Mr. Boidevaix met with Mr. Aziz and
Mohammed Said Al-Sahaf, then the Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs. 120
After his retirement from the French government, Mr. Boidevaix established a consulting firm,
S.B. Consultants in Paris. Beginning in 1996, Mr. Boidevaix started traveling to Iraq on a regular
basis in an attempt to secure contracts for the various companies he represented. In 1999, Mr.
Boidevaix served as president of the Franco-Iraqi Economic Cooperation Association, and in
2002, he became the President of the French-Arab Chamber of Commerce. 121
120 Serge Boidevaix interview (Oct. 4, 2005); French Ministry of Foreign Affairs record, Press briefing
(Dec. 13, 1993) (translated from French) (referring to Mr. Boidevaix’s mission and his meeting with Mr.
Aziz and Mr. Sahhaf). Mr. Boidevaix served as a Counselor for International Affairs and Cooperation to
the then-Prime Minister Chirac in the mid-1970s. After serving as the French ambassador to Poland and
Germany, from 1992 to 1993, he served as the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From
1993 to 1997, he served as a member of the Conseil d’État (Council of State) with the title, Conseiller
d’État en Service Extraordinaire (Councilor of State) (translated from French). Serge Boidevaix interview
(Oct. 4, 2005). At the time of Mr. Boidevaix’s mission to Iraq, the spokesman of the French Ministry of
Foreign Affairs commented that France had no diplomatic relations with Iraq and this visit did not change
France’s position towards Iraq. French Ministry of Foreign Affairs record, Press briefing (Dec. 13, 1993)
(translated from French).
121 Serge Boidevaix interview (Oct. 4, 2005); Chambre de Commerce Franco-Arabe, “Who we are,”
http://www.ccfranco-arabe.com/english/bureau.php; Qui est Qui en France (36 th Ed.) (Jacques Lafitte S.A.,
2004) (translated from French), p. 302; The International Who’s Who, “Boidevaix, Serge Marie-Germain,”
http://www.worldwhoswho.com/views/entry.html?id=boi1018&ssid=1069318307&n=1.
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