Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

y Polish police included Ewex contracts with thewell-known Iraqi front company called Al-Bashair,shipping documents, extracts from the Polish traderegister, payment orders, and letters from Ewexdirectly to its Iraqi business partners.A high-level former Regime official stated that MICSpecial Office Director Hadi Tarish Zabun, IIS Scientificand Technical Information Branch Officer Hadi‘Awda Sabhan, and Al-Karamah State EstablishmentDirector General Dr. Muzhir Sadiq Saba’ al-Tamimimet to discuss how to conceal this particular illicittransaction from the UN. Al-Tamimi had previouslyled the Iraqi long-range missile program. The documentsregarding the deal were eventually transferredfor safekeeping to Ayyab Qattan Talib, an officer fromthe IIS M23 directorate that oversees military industrysecurity.The parties to the transshipment of Volga missilesincluded personnel from the Iraqi embassyin Warsaw, Iraqi intelligence officers, and Iraqibusinessmen. These parties clandestinely transportedVolga missile engines through Syria, according to ahigh-level official in the former Regime. Ewex representative,Amir Ibrahim Jasim al-Tikriti during April2002, requested an extension of the shipping time forillicit transfers because shipments would have had toproceed via many channels, particularly by circuitoustransport routes, in order to conceal the contents fromprying UN inspectors or foreign intelligence agencies.In 2002, three shipments of engines and spare partswere transferred; the third shipment arrived in Tartus,Syria, and was moved to Baghdad by the Al-KaramahState Establishment. The third shipment contained 32Volga engines and 750 related materials. In addition,the MIC contracted to deliver Volga engines toIraq, from Poland, via Jordan as insurance againstthe interdiction of Syria-bound shipments. Accordingto multiple sources, Polish missile parts also enteredIraq at the Al-Walid border crossing (see also theborder crossings map).Polish-Iraqi Procurement Financial FlowsNumerous contracts, memoranda, and referencesdetail the transfer of payments for the Volga missiles.In one contract, original date unknown, Ewextransferred $500,080 for the purchase of an unspecifiednumber of Volga missile engines, which weredelivered in June 2001. Raja Hasan Al-Khazraji,General Manager of the Commercial Affairs Department,wrote requesting the release of funds for finalcontractual payments. There are also letters writtenby Dr. Zabun to settle payment without deductions fordamaged materials on condition that compensationwill be included in future contracts. A contract alsostipulates that ARMOS Trading Company received acommission of $3,750.Dr. al-Tamimi, wrote a memorandum concerningcontract number 2/2001, in which he requests thatthe MIC transfer $315, 840, equaling 25 percent ofthe total contract price for 96 engines to accountnumber 500090, National Bank of Jordan, SpecialBanking Section. The authorized person in controlof the account was Abd al-Jabbar Jadi ‘Umar. Thereis also a MIC memorandum authorizing the paymentof $200,690 to Ewex via account number 501133/12,which equals 25 percent of the total contract pricefor the 61 engines received at Syrian ports. Dr. Zabunapproved a contract dated July 2001 with Ewex for 96engines with the same value and terms as a previouscontract for 38 engines.Other correspondence exists between the CommercialAffairs Department General Manager, Raja HasanAli, the MIC and Al-Karamah discussing charginglate penalties and compensation for damageditems. Further correspondence rejects the chargesand authorizes full payment of the contracted amountof $1,263,360 million to Ewex for Volga enginesshipped through Syria. Bank accounts used at theJordan National Bank (Special Banking) to pay forSA-2 Volga missile imports up until at least June2001, include 501083/14 and 12429.IndiaISG judges that the Government of India was notdirectly involved in supplying Iraq with military ordual-use items, but several Indian companies wereactive in illicit trade, particularly, NEC EngineeringPvt. Ltd. When Indian authorities discovered the122