Rice Kickbacks in Luxury ... or ... Let Them Eat Rice Cake

posted by The Sailor @ 9:32 PM Permalink

Chevron Seen Settling Case on Iraq Oil

Chevron, the second-largest American oil company, is preparing to acknowledge that it should have known kickbacks were being paid to Saddam Hussein on oil it bought from Iraq as part of a defunct United Nations program, according to investigators.
[...]
A report released in 2004 by an investigator at the Central Intelligence Agency listed five American companies that bought oil through the program: the Coastal Corporation, a subsidiary of El Paso; Chevron; Texaco; BayOil, and Mobil, now part of Exxon Mobil. The companies have denied any wrongdoing and said they were cooperating with the investigations.
[...]
In the case of Chevron, Mr. Loioli said in his deposition that he dealt with an official in the company's London office, Michael Dugdale, who handled the purchase of Iraqi oil.

An internal Chevron e-mail message found by United States investigators suggests that Mr. Dugdale informed the company that the premium to Mr. Loioli had the illegal Iraqi surcharge embedded in it, according to a person close to the investigation.
[...]
"Every deal I did was approved by senior management," Mr. Dugdale said, adding he had informed them about his negotiations with Mr. Loioli.
[...]
At the time, Condoleezza Rice, now secretary of state, was a member of Chevron's board and led its public policy committee, which oversaw areas of potential political concerns for the company.

Hmm, maybe the headline should have read 'Condi says Let Them Garg Oil'

Labels: Bush, corruption, Iraq