Aziz denies bribe allegations against foreign leaders

The right-hand man of Saddam Hussein, former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, has denied that the Iraqi leadership bribed the president of France and the former leader of Indonesia with oil vouchers in order to secure political support before the invasion of Iraq.

Mr Aziz, who has been in detention near Baghdad since his arrest in April 2003 along with other prominent members of Saddam's regime, used notes scribbled on pages from his lawyer's diary to issue a plea for help to end his "dire situation."

But in the letters, written in English and Arabic, Mr Aziz reveals details of his interrogation by US Senators and American arms inspectors attempting to account for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, who were following up accusations that Saddam diverted billions of dollars from the UN-administered oil-for-food scheme.
Senators from the permanent subcommittee on investigations interviewed Mr Aziz in Camp Cropper last month, and he had previously been questioned by the US-led Iraq Survey Group.

Mr Aziz said in one of the notes: "I was asked if I had recommended giving money or oil to President Chirac (of France), or Petros Gali (former UN general secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali), Ekius (Rolf Ekeus, former chief UN weapons inspector). My answer is NO. The same to (Indonesian) President Megawati. NO."

If Mr Aziz is to be believed, his notes could help shed light on the murky corruption scandal which is being investigated by the UN and by the US Congress.

The Iraqi deputy prime minister was the main contact for foreign individuals and companies involved in the oil for food programme.

The senators who questioned him returned convinced that both George Galloway, the British anti-war Respect MP, and the former French interior minister Charles Pasqua had profited from Saddam's bribes as he attempted to end UN sanctions in the 1990s.

Mr Galloway, who flew to Washington to rebut the accusations, and Mr Pasqua both deny the charges of the Senate subcommittee which were contained in a report on May 12.

Mr Aziz's notes - or at least those available yesterday - do not mention Mr Galloway or Mr Pasqua, who is close to Mr Chirac.

The extent of the oil-for-food scandal burst into the public domain in January last year, when the Iraqi newspaper al Mada published a list of 270 companies, organisations and individuals who allegedly illegally profited from Iraqi oil sales after being allocated vouchers by Saddam Hussein's regime.

The list was revisited, in greater detail, by the head of the Iraq Survey Group, Charles Duelfer, in September 2004.

- INDEPENDENT