French Minister Questioned on Oil-for-Food Scandal
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
A former French interior minister, Charles Pasqua, 78, is under judicial investigation for accepting oil allocations from Saddam Hussein’s government, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported. The probe could lead to formal charges against the UMP Party member, who served as interior minister during the 1980s and ’90s.
The oil-for-food program – which was investigated by a committee headed by a former Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker, at the United Nations – began in 1996 and ended in 2003. It was designed to supply Iraqi civilians with humanitarian aid to counter sanctions against Saddam’s regime imposed following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Profits from regulated oil sales were meant to be used for the purchase of items such as food and medical supplies. Investigators found that third parties profited from the program, leading to the scandal at Turtle Bay.
Mr. Pasqua denied the allegations, saying they represented an American effort to undermine President Chirac and that he “never touched a single oil voucher,” according to the BBC.
