Former Gauteng premier Tokyo Sexwale and businessman Sandi Majale - director of a company involved in a controversial 2001 purchase of Iraqi oil for the Strategic Fuel Fund - are among 270 individuals and organisations worldwide listed in an alleged oil bribes scam operated by Saddam Hussein to buy support.
Sexwale has issued a strong denial through his company, Mvelaphanda Holdings, saying the transaction naming him was a legitimate purchase through the UN's oil-for-food programme, meant to provide relief from sanctions on Iraq.
The programme allowed Baghdad to sell oil to buy food and other basic imports.
Under the programme, which has been beset by allegations of corruption, the UN committee monitoring sanctions had to approve the oil price, but Saddam's government decided who would get the contracts.
Continues Below ↓
| Sexwale has issued a strong denial through his company |
The money was supposed to be paid into the fund, but it has been dubbed the "oil-for-palaces" programme amid allegations the former dictator spent the money on weapons and other illicit uses.
The publication of the list and the allegations by an Iraqi newspaper have made headlines worldwide this week and set off a storm of denials from those linked to the alleged scam.
The list is purportedly based on documents taken from Saddam's oil ministry during the chaos after Baghdad fell to US forces. Iraq's Governing Council has asked the new oil ministry to gather information on the allegations.
Named are prominent politicians - including a former French foreign minister - business figures and journalists from 46 countries.
Among the names are Sexwale and Majale, along with two companies Montega and Imvume, of which Majale was a director. Trading company Montega is now defunct and Majale is still on the board of Imvume, an oil trader which has won SA government contracts. The Cape Argus was not able to reach him for comment at the time of going to press.
Those named in the list were allegedly given vouchers which allowed them to benefit from the sale of oil - millions of barrels of it in each deal - in exchange for lobbying or other assistance to the Baathist regime.
Mikki Xayiya, deputy chairman of Mvelaphanda Holdings, said yesterday: "The allegations relating to Mvelaphanda Holdings and its chairman are untrue; they are a mischievous distortion of the activities of the United Nations' oil-for-food programme."
Sexwale himself was not available for comment.
Mvelaphanda said it was a participant in the UN programme. "The UN created a dedicated bank account in New York to co-ordinate this process, with a transparent procurement process."
It had been awarded a tender, with numerous other companies, through UK-based partner Mocoh Services.
Mvelaphanda was adamant that the process was above board and all transactions were routed directly to the programme bank account.
Mahmoud Othman, a member of the US-appointed Governing Council, said yesterday: "The Governing Council has given a directive to the oil ministry to gather as much information as possible regarding these (bribery) charges." He said a judicial probe might follow.
A senior oil ministry official, Abdul-Sahib Salman Qutub, said this week that the information gathering process had already begun. "We will sue those who stole the money of the Iraqi people."
- This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Argus on January 30, 2004
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
