Prime Time Crime

Oil-For-Food: The Canadian Connection

Asian triads and Sidewinder

Friends of Saddam

Canadian Foundations

Rosett's Notebook

   

Climate Debate

It is interesting to note that the man named by Kofi Annan to investigate this shocking scandal, Paul Volker, is associated to Power Corp.'s International Advisory Council .pdf. Considering the bank chosen by the UN to administer the funds was BNP Paribas, which is controlled by Power Corp., one wonders if Annan really does want to get to the bottom of the corrupt morass. - Leo - Jan. 18     International Advisory Council 2003 

How the Desmarais family clinched its power play

ROME - The blockbuster merger of Suez SA and Gaz de France SA, formally announced yesterday, has put Montreal's billionaire Desmarais family at the centre of the world's third-largest power utility.   The family's impeccable investment and political connections paid off:  The Desmarais got there with a little help from their friends - Albert Frere, their European partner and agent, and none other than Nicolas Sarkozy, the new President of France.  (Globe & Mail)  PREVIOUS:  Oil bosses see politics hurting hunt for reserves    French GDF, Suez agree to power merger as GDF Suez 

 

Galloway may face criminal inquiry

LONDON - Scotland yard is to take the first steps toward a possible criminal investigation against George Galloway, who faces an 18-day suspension from the Commons over his financial links to Saddam Hussein's regime.  (Telegraph UK)   PREVIOUS:  George Galloway 'should be suspended'    Standards and Privileges - Report

 

Tipster faces jail in Saddam oil scandal

PARIS - Marc Francelet, a colourful paparazzo turned businessman and newspaper tipster, has swapped the champagne and canapes for prison rations - the latest victim of a massive investigation into bribes handed out by Saddam Hussein. (Guardian UK)

 

Ban Ki-Moon's first cover-up?

 UNITED NATIONS - Less than one month into his job, the new United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has already had his first scandal.  Now he may be engineering his first cover-up.  (Fox)   PREVIOUS:  UN announces audit of N Korean fund   Cash for Kim   UN paid North Korean millions in cash   North Korea's misuse of UN Development Program funds   UN Development Program   UN's Board of Auditors   Britain raises red flags over UN peacebuilding program

 

UN corruption probe 'at full throttle'

UN - A day after a senior UN official was indicted on bribery charges, the United Nations management chief said Thursday an investigation into corruption was "at full throttle" and he urged anyone with relevant information to cooperate.  (AP)   MORE:  UN official pleads not guilty to corruption charges   UN official held, accused of graft    Forgotten UN reform

 

Canada takes UN fight to world media

UNITED NATIONS - Canada stepped outside diplomatic circles at the United Nations yesterday, appealing to the international media to help end the secrecy with which the world body's chief executive is chosen.  (CanWest)  PREVIOUS: UN finds waste in Peacekeeping work   UN: a 'culture of impunity'   How corrupt is the United Nations?   UN scam exposes a world mired in corruption   IIC Oct 2005 Report .pdf   Accompanying tables reports   Oil-for-food report 'implicates 2,200 firms'   Volcker cites two Canadian oil firms  Calling Galloway's bluff

Fraud inquiry breaks 'special protection'

PARIS - The inquiry into the affairs of presidents Omar Bongo, of Gabon, and Denis Sassou N'Guesso, of the Democratic Republic of Congo, marks a break with the protection that was accorded to France’s African “clients” by President Chirac and other former leaders. (Times online)  

 

UN rights body: It's still a mess

It certainly didn't take long for the United Nations' new human rights council to prove itself every bit as facile and irrelevant as the old rights commission it replaced. (National Post)  PREVIOUS:  UN rights council 'mockery'    Iraq deputy PM blames corruption on UN

 

Canada blew whistle on Oz's 'wheat-for-weapons' scandal

GATINEAU - As Australian Prime Minister John Howard wraps up his three-day visit to Canada today, new revelations are emerging in a "wheat-for-weapons" scandal rocking his government back home, which could have been prevented if a Canadian official's warnings about illegal Australian payments to Saddam Hussein had been heeded in January 2000.  (CanWest)   PREVIOUS:  Cole inquiry    Monopsony   Kickbacks known for five years    Active choice to see no evil    AWB reaps a bitter harvest    Canberra 'knew' of kickbacks    Whistle blown on deal: Bosses knew   Wheat 'kickbacks' to Indonesia, Bangladesh and Mexico    Australian Wheat Board (AWB)   Kickback 'paid through shadowy agent'   Groan not another one    Canadian Wheat Board (CWB)

 

Iraq charity given improper cash

LONDON - George Galloway's Mariam Appeal, the campaign he set up to oppose UN sanctions on Iraq, received at least £230,000 in improper donations, the Charity Commission will reported.  (Guardian Unlimited)

 

UN Procurement Scandal: Ties to Saddam and Al Qaeda

NEW YORK - It now appears that while doing business with the U.N., IHC Services had links both to Saddam Hussein’s old sanctions-busting networks, and to a Liechtenstein-based businessman, Engelbert Schreiber, Jr., known among other things for his ties to a figure designated by the U.N. itself as a financier of Al Qaeda.  (Fox)   PREVIOUS:  The Estate of John Patrick O'Neill, Sr. vs   A secret sales deal

 

China's CITIC group in talks to buy Canada's Nations Energy

BEIJING - CITIC Group, a state-owned conglomerate, is in talks to buy Canadian oil company Nations Energy Co, the Wall Street Journal reported.    (Forbes)   RELATED:   China arms sales 'fuel conflicts'   China: The flow of arms accelerates

 

Paul Martin named to advisory panel for African development bank

OTTAWA - Former prime minister Paul Martin has been named co-chair of a high-profile panel that will advise the African Development Bank Group on its strategic vision. (CP)

   

Wyatt sentenced to year in prison

NEW YORK - Texas oilman Oscar Wyatt, 83, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison on Tuesday for conspiracy in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal, becoming the most prominent figure jailed over corruption in the program to buy oil from Saddam Hussein's Iraq.    (Reuters)  

 

Oilman pleads guilty

'Fugitive' twist at oil trial

Lawyers fight over Wyatt's address book

Texan 'gave millions to Saddam' 

The man who brought the oil from Iraq

   

Martin has private UN meeting with Annan

UNITED NATIONS - After a vacation in Europe, former prime minister Paul Martin met privately yesterday with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan -- a day before the UN chief unveils major proposal for a management shakeup at the organization.   (Ottawa Citizen)   Martin's secret agenda agent

Judge denies bail for Tongsun Park 

Tongsun Park allowed on flight at Canadian airport

Strong neck deep in suspect money trail  

Strong Implications  

Korean arrested over oil-for-food

Tongsun Park arrested

Tongsun Park guilty in UN oil-for-food program

'Koreagate' figure guilty in oil-for-food scheme

Strong & Soros in partnership

Oil-for-Food terror links

Lucky Maurice

Chairman Mo resurfaces to blow horn

Strong: Didn't know the "money was from Iraq"

The U.N. Money for Smog Program

Time to say ‘So Long’ to the UT

Oh what a tangled web

Strong evidence for an investigation

UN investigator claims Annan lied about son's role Documents show peril Annan faced in scandal

Report of HIRC's findings on UN Oil-for-Food

The systemic failure of the UN  .pdf reports. 

No better place to hide than China

'Chery' picking for China

His gray eminence Maurice Strong

China 'Coal Man' Strong back on radar screen

Investigation of Maurice Strong's role in scandal

Park, Strong and Morden at Atomic Energy of Canada

Former UN chief named in Oil-for-Food scandal

Memo suggests Annan Oil-for-food link

UN - The committee probing the UN oil-for-food program announced Tuesday it will again investigate Secretary-General Kofi Annan after two e-mails suggested he may have known more than he claimed about a multimillion-dollar UN contract awarded to the company that employed his son.  (CTV)

Two e-mails contradict Annan on Oil-for-Food

United in greed, divided it falls

UN Deputy gets share of blame in Oil-for-Food report

UN corrupt and incompetent

Members split on UN management overhaul

Louise find yourself another world to be part of

The UN's 'illegal' High Commissioner for Human Rights

Iraq set aside $15M to bribe UN leader

UN's spreading bribery scandal

Oil-for-food probe strongly critical of Annan

Corrupt and blundering

Exposé, At Last?

Corruption at the heart of the UN

Former oil-for-food chief accused of kickbacks

Oil-for-food chief 'took bribes'

Ex-UN official admits taking bribes

Volcker gives new oil-for-food report

Independent Inquiry Committee Report

Third Interim Report   .pdf

Europeans accused in Iraq report

NEW YORK - A U.S. Senate committee probing the defunct U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq alleges that two politicians from Britain and France received millions of dollars worth of oil allocations from Saddam Hussein's regime.  (CNN)

MORE:  Senate Subcommittee Report  .pdf

Envoys admit taking oil payoffs

Frenchman Fried?

Completing the French Connection

 

Another UN mystery man

The tangled web of UN Cronyism

UN Procurement Official resigns

UN family ties

Fired UN official seen as fall guy

Uday's Oil-for-News program   

Wheat Board demands retraction from MP

Chrétien involved in Yukos talks

Oil-for-food scandal: Key reports

Maurice Strong resurfaces in China

"Chairman Mo' trades North Korea for China

Chairman Mo pinkslipped

Ex-N.Korea envoy 'broke UN rules'

UN probe chief denies conflict of interest

'The Maustro' admits connection to 'Koreagate man' 

Entity behind Kyoto conned public

Hairdresser for the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa defects

DA pursuing criminal probe of aide at UN

Judge blocks ex-prober from giving oil-for-food docs to Congress

Oil-for-Food investigator quit on principle

Saddam invested $1M in Martin-owned Cordex

Showdown likely between Volcker, Congress

Foundation for the Defense of Democracies: Oil for Food

Former UN oil-for-food chief indicted

NEW YORK - Former U.N. Oil-for-Food chief Benon Sevan has been indicted in New York federal court for allegedly taking bribes under the program from Saddam Hussein's regime.  (Fox)  

While Annan was ignoring Zimbabwe, his son was building the airport

UN Chief no stranger to controversy

Two UN officials tied to Saddam allegations

Oil-for-Food: It's all relative

A gem laid out in Paul Volcker’s tabled Interim Report: Director of the discredited Oil-for-Food Program Benon Sevan, helped steer oil contracts to a relative of former UN Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Ghali.  (Canadian Free Press)

Annan docs handed over to Congress

Did Annan restrict access to UN papers?

Annan says right body harming UN

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has accused the UN Human Rights Commission of failing to uphold human rights and said a new, permanent body is needed.  (BBC)  

World's Worst Regimes Revealed

Most repressive societies 2005 .pdf 

Report: Annan didn't influence contract

Will Annan resign?  'Hell No'

Annan's #2 blocks Oil-for-Food scrutiny

Annan to discipline two oil-for-food officials

Annan orders disciplinary action after report

UN not at peace with its 'Blue Helmets'

Annan seeks thorough UN overhaul    UN Report

Volcker panel to correct Frechette omission

NEW YORK - It's well known that the Volcker commission's executive director, Reid Morden, and Louise Frechette have had a "longstanding professional relationship" for 30 years, according to the Independent Inquiry Committee.  (Fox News)

How Power Corp. found itself caught up in the biggest fiasco in UN history

Paul Desmarais' Web of Influence over Canada

Power Corp picking PM's in Canada

Canada's globe connections

Canada's PM, the UN Secretary-General and Louise   Welcome to Hotel 'Congo-fornia'

Volcker's business ties raise questions

Yet another Paul Volcker potential conflict of interest   Questions for Paul Volcker

UN didn't ask Volcker to disclose finances

Conflicts of interest and institutional corruption

Oil-for-Food scandal: The French Connection

The Oil-for-Food Scandal – the Canadian Connection    The Power behind the thrones

US probes $100M missing in Iraq

Documents: US condoned Iraq oil smuggling

Why the PM won't talk about human rights

"With Jean Chretien's administration it was very difficult," says Mr. Samdup, president of the Canada Tibet Committee. "No matter how hard we tried, people said, 'you know what, Chretien is so connected with his family business interests, with the Desmarais and all of them, when it comes to China, you have no hope.' "  (Ottawa Citizen)   BACKGROUND: Chretien hooks up with shady Chinese firm     Welcome to the Peoples' Republic of China on Canadian soil

UN audits show repeated Oil-for-Food woes

NEW YORK - Audits of the troubled U.N. Oil-for-Food program show a systemic failure by the United Nations to adequately oversee the program, resulting in contractors overcharging millions of dollars.   (Fox)

Key Findings Report .pdf

WMD Report Vol. 1 .pdf

WMD Report Vol. 2 .pdf

WMD Report Vol. 3  .pdf