Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

stated that he believed the Russian Government wassympathetic to the plight of Iraq and strongly againstthe sanctions imposed upon it and that most of theparties of the Russian Parliament (Duma) supportedIraq’s position. He stated that many Russian companieswere dealing with the Iraqi ministries in chargeof exports, and that this was no secret because manyof the Russian Ministers visited Iraq regularly to aidthis activity.American and British Oil Voucher RecipientsAccording to a former high-ranking Iraqi official withdirect access to the information, there are two Americansand one UK citizen listed as recipients on thelist of Iraq’s illicit oil allocation program (althoughat least three names are annotated “American” on theIraqi lists). Deputy Prime Minster Tariq Aziz wasthe principal point of contact for handling all highprofile foreign recipients, all American recipientsand most other non-Arab voucher recipients, called“internationals”, who lived in countries outside ofthe Arab world.Benon Sevan’s Use of Iraqi Oil VouchersAt the center of the day-to-day operations of theUN’s $64 billion OFF program, Sevan who spenthis entire career at the UN, received oil allocationsthrough various companies that he recommendedto the Iraqi government . This arrangement reportedlybegan soon after the OFF program started inDecember 1996. An investigation by the Iraqi GoverningCouncil has uncovered a letter linking Sevanto a Panamanian-registered company called AfricanMiddle East Petroleum Company. The letter, dated10 August 1998, from Saddam Zayn Hasan, theexecutive manager of SOMO, and addressed to AmirMuhammad Rashid Tikriti Al Ubaydi, then the IraqiOil Minister implicates Muwafiq Ayyub in playing arole in setting up the deal. The letter says: “MuwafiqAyyub of the Iraqi mission in New York informedus by telephone that the above-mentioned companyhas been recommended by his Excellency Mr. Sevan,director of the Iraqi program at the UN, during hisrecent trip to Baghdad.” A second page detailed the“Quantity of Oil Allocated and given to Mr. BenonSevan,” listing a total of 7.3 million barrels of oil asthe “quantity executed.”A Source at SOMO confirmed that Sevan receivedallocations by way of a Cypriot company or thePanamanian registered, The African Middle EastPetroleum Company. According to the source, whenthe Chairman of the Iraqi UN OFF Committee, VicePresident Taha Yasin Ramadan al-Jizrawi, saw anycompany with Sevan’s name in parenthesis next to it(and there were a lot of them, according to the source)on the proposed voucher recipient list, Ramadan automaticallygave approval to issue the vouchers associatedwith that account.• SOMO voucher documents only list Sevan in relationto the African Middle East Petroleum Company.We have no further information on the role ofa Cypriot company or any other company.According a high-level source at SOMO, Sevannever received his oil allocations in person. Sevan’svouchers were always picked up by Fakhir AbdulNoor, an Egyptian now residing in Switzerland andconnected to the African Middle East PetroleumCompany, who would sign documents on Sevan’sbehalf and pick up his allocations at SOMO. Noorconducted this business for Sevan for each phase ofthe UN OFF MOI starting in the fourth phase andending in the ninth phase. Sevan’s allocations endedafter the ninth phase when SOMO representativesinformed Noor that the African Middle East PetroleumCompany owed money under the oil surchargeprogram and the payments were in arrears.Iraqi Intelligence Service Nominations for OilVouchersThose who were nominated by the IIS and placed onthe master voucher list were most likely placed therefor their service in an intelligence capacity for theformer Regime. The following two individuals werenominated by the IIS and approved for inclusion onthe list (see Figure 18).Oil Export SurchargesIn addition to income from the trade Protocols andthe UN OFF program Iraq demanded a surchargeRegime Financeand Procurement33