Statement by the Honorable Michael Burgess, MD

The United Nations Oil-for-Food Program: Saddam Hussein’s Use of Oil Allocations to Undermine Sanctions and the United Nations Security Council

May 16, 2005

Thank you Mr. Chairman, and thank you for holding this important hearing.

As we all know, the United Nations originally established the oil-for-food program for the noble cause of aiding and providing for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people trapped under Saddam Hussein’s regimen. This program was quickly warped into a financial scandal of epic proportions. I am extremely disappointed by the documents that we have in front of us today, and I sincerely hope that this committee will be able to provide further oversight into this international crisis.

Under the program, Iraq could sell limited quantities of its oil and use the funds only to buy humanitarian supplies for its people. We have since found out that billions of dollars in kickbacks went from corrupt contractors—mainly French and Russian companies—into the pockets of Saddam. Some of these funds even went to pay off the dictator’s foreign protectors.

The documents that we have in front of us today prove that Iraq specifically targeted French and Russian government officials, as well as private individuals, with connections to French President Chirac and Russian President Putin. Correspondence and transactional documents purportedly show that several prominent French and Russian politicians did, in fact, receive oil contracts from the Regime, including Former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and Russian Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

To further perpetuate the scandal, and perhaps even more shocking is that the UN official in charge of the oil-for-food program, Benon Sevan, received oil allocations. While all three individuals have publicly denied any involvement with these scandals, these documents prove otherwise.

In a statement last November, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan actually praised the Iraq oil-for-food program stating that it “was the only humanitarian program ever to have been funded entirely from the resources belonging to the nation it was designed to help.” Especially in light of the allegations that Secretary General Annan’s own son has been implicated in the oil-for-food corruption, I respectfully disagree with the UN Secretary General. I am committed to examining this entire situation in more detail.

Again, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for this crucial hearing in which we have the opportunity to examine and discuss the UN oil-for-food program.