Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

utilized elsewhere. The signature authority on thisaccount was Ali Rijab and Yakdhan Hassan Abrihim.• There are two different cash accounts listed atthe Sardar Bank in Lebanon, both with the name“Rodolphe” listed as the bank point of contact.• SOMO established another account at the NationalBank of Egypt that was used as a Protocol tradeaccount, similar to the one set up for Syria. Again,a 60/40 split allowed 60 percent of oil proceeds toremain in the trade account and 40 percent of theproceeds to be deposited into Ahli Bank account inJordan.• The Commercial Bank of Syria cash accountreceived the 40 percent of the oil proceeds. Thebank was instructed that when the account balanceexceeded $1 million, it was to instantly transfer theextra amount to the Syrian Lebanon CommercialBank account.• The Turkish Petroleum International Company(TIPC) is a trading arm of the Turkish NationalOil Company and the SOMO equivalent in Turkey.SOMO funds were deposited at the Halk Banklocated in Ankara Turkey.• The account was actually in the name of TPIC “inthe favor” of SOMO. Currently SOMO is requestingto have funds still held at the Halk Bankreleased.• The SOMO amounts listed at the Iraqi Embassieswere received directly from oil contract holders.These payments were sometimes delivered directlyto the Embassies and other times deposited first intoan Ahli Bank account.As noted in Figure 25, the accounts at the Ahli Bankin Jordan are in the names of Saddam Zibin, YakdanHasan Abrihim al-Karkhi, and Ali Rijab Hassan.The accounts all have the same prefix of 501333 andsuffix range from 02 to 12. Senior sources at SOMOwere not sure of the reason for this.Figure 27 shows the SOMO non-surcharge accountsthrough TPIC maintained at the Halk Bank in Turkey.The cumulated interest earned for these accounts,according to SOMO, was $7,678,946.70. Seven ofthese accounts (shown in green) remain open. Thecurrent Iraqi Embassy in Turkey has been in contactwith the TPIC representatives about the currentaccount balance of SOMO with TPIC. The embassywas informed that TPIC believes that the amount dueto SOMO is only $100 million. A source at SOMOstated that TPIC must have allowed unauthorizedwithdrawals from these accounts.In the eighth phase of the UN OFF program, Iraqbegan to impose a 10-cent per barrel illicit surchargeon all oil sales contracts to foreign entities with theexception of Syria (see the Oil Surcharge section). Asummary of the surcharge amounts due collected, andleft outstanding for phases eight through twelve aredisplayed in the chart below (see Figure 28).These oil surcharge payments were deposited intoseveral accounts at banks located in Jordan and Lebanon.Names of these banks included the JordanianNational Bank (Ahli Bank), the Sardar Bank, andthe Fransabank in Lebanon (see Figure 29). Escrowaccounts were opened in the name of SOMO howeverthese other numbered accounts were opened byDirector General of SOMO, Rafid Abd al-Halim orhis Deputy and the Director of Finance or his Deputyfor the deposit of surcharges.• The various accounts at the Ahli Bank were createdto receive cash, which flowed in from surcharges,the Protocol accounts, and from payments receivedthrough border trade cash sales.• The amounts listed for the CBI and the RafidianBank are accounts that were still open in early2004.• The two al-Wasel & Babel accounts were for USDollars and Euros. They were only open for oneor two months before being closed out. Al-Wasel& Babel is a partially state owned oil and bankingenterprise in the UAE 51 percent of which is stateowned while UAE investors own the other 49 percent.This business was used to move goods outsideof the UN MOU and is still in operation.• Three accounts are shown at the Fransabank inLebanon. They were Euro accounts, however, thebalances have been converted to US Dollars for thischart.• Two of these accounts were set up to receive oilsurcharge amounts while the third account (marked42