[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 88 (Wednesday, June 23, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7221-S7223]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAM

  Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the Oil-for-Food 
scandal. I do so because I have been told that high ranking officials 
at the State Department and Paul Volcker, who is heading up the U.N. 
investigation, believe Senators are not personally committed to gaining 
access to all relevant documents, including U.N. audits. That is not 
true.
  A bipartisan group of Senators, including ranking members from the 
Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, wrote to Mr. Bremer in 
Iraq asking him to secure the Oil-for-Food documents.
  I ask unanimous consent that the letter be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                     Washington, DC, June 9, 2004.
     Hon. L. Paul Bremer, III,
     Administrator, Coalition Provisional Authority, Baghdad, 
         Iraq.
       Dear Mr. Bremer: We are writing to inquire about the status 
     of documents relating to the United Nations ``Oil-for-Food'' 
     Program (OFF Program), and express our concerns about recent 
     developments that could jeopardize American interests with 
     respect to those documents.
       The Section 2007 report submitted to Congress in April 
     states that you have ordered ``all relevant records in Iraq 
     ministries be inventoried and protected so that they can be 
     made available'' for certain investigations into the OFF 
     Program. We also understand that the Coalition Provisional 
     Authority (CPA) has recently entered into a Memorandum of 
     Understanding with the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) 
     regarding the sharing of documents and information relating 
     to the OFF Program.
       Our concern is that all documents related to the OFF 
     Program be secured not only for the IIC and the Iraqi Board 
     of Supreme Audit (BSA), but also for investigations conducted 
     by Congressional committees. Accordingly, we request that the 
     CPA work with the Inspector General's Office of the 
     Department of Defense (DoD IG) to secure a copy of all 
     documents that are being gathered for the BSA and the IIC 
     investigations. Once such documents are secured, a complete 
     set of documents relevant to the OFF Program should be 
     delivered within sixty (60) days or no later than August 31, 
     2004, to the General Accounting Office for further delivery, 
     upon request, to any Congressional committee of competent 
     jurisdiction. Please identify by no later than June 11, 2004, 
     a person at the CPA and at DoD IG responsible for securing 
     the documents in response to this request.
       We are sure you will agree that these documents should be 
     secured for all investigations into the OFF Program, whether 
     in Iraq or the United States. In light of the recent 
     dissolution of the Iraqi Governing Council, the formation of 
     a new Iraqi government ahead of schedule, and the rapidly-
     approaching June 30th turnover date, we are concerned that 
     American access to such documents will be jeopardized. 
     Accordingly, we believe that the documents should be secured, 
     duplicated, and delivered to DoD IG prior to June 30, 2004.
           Sincerely,
     Norm Coleman,
     Carl Levin,
     Saxby Chambliss,
     Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,
     Lindsey Graham,
     John Ensign.

  Mr. ENSIGN. Congressional investigators have an interest in making 
sure those documents are available and accessible. A subpoena has been 
served on BNP by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Chairman 
Coleman and the ranking Democrat, Senator Levin, have also sent letters 
seeking Oil-for-Food documents to

[[Page S7222]]

the State Department and the General Accounting Office.
  An amendment to the Defense bill, which would help Congress to 
conduct its own inquiries into the Oil-for-Food Program was passed 
unanimously. We want access to those documents. We wish the Volcker 
panel well; however, we are not going to abandon the duty of this 
Congress to conduct proper oversight or subcontract that role to an 
international body. The stakes are much too high.
  We now believe that Saddam Hussein, corrupt U.N. officials, and 
corrupt well-connected countries were the real benefactors for the Oil-
for-Food Program. They profited from illegal oil shipments, financial 
transactions, kickbacks, and surcharges, and allowed Saddam Hussein to 
build up his armed forces and live in the lap of luxury.
  The evidence in this far-reaching scandal tells an unbelievable 
story. Our own U.S. General Accounting Office estimates that Saddam 
Hussein siphoned off $4.4 billion through oil sale surcharges. Saddam 
Hussein also demanded kickbacks on the humanitarian relief side from 
suppliers which amounted to 10 to 20 percent on many contracts. Saddam 
used this revenue to rebuild Iraq's military capabilities, to maintain 
lavish palaces, buy loyalty, oppress his people, and perhaps 
financially support terrorism.
  And as Claude Haknes-Drielsma, an IGC consultant investigating the 
scandal, testified, the secret payments . . . ``provided Saddam Hussein 
and his corrupt regime with a convenient vehicle through which he 
bought support, internationally by bribing political parties, 
companies, and journalists . . . This secured the cooperation and 
support of countries that included members of the Security Council of 
the United Nations.''
  The United Nations should be embarrassed. What resulted from the 
goodwill gesture was international scandal, corruption at the highest 
levels, and suffering Iraqi citizens--not exactly a model U.N. program.
  Tasked by the international community to deny Saddam Hussein the 
ability to rebuild his military apparatus while providing humanitarian 
needs, the United Nations allowed the corrupt to become richer and 
innocent Iraqis to be oppressed. Today we have a chance to rectify that 
injustice. We must demand that the United Nations cooperate completely 
with efforts to extrapolate the truth from this scandal and punish the 
guilty.
  Unfortunately, that does not appear to be happening, as William 
Safire notes in a recent column entitled ``Tear Down This UN 
Stonewall.'' He talks about how Paul Volcker's first choices for 
staffing the U.N.'s own Oil-for-Food--

       . . . were turned off not just by the lack of subpoena or 
     oath-requiring power . . . but by an inadequate budget to dig 
     into the largest financial rip-off in history. As a result, 
     after nearly three months, a foot-dragging bureaucracy has 
     successfully frustrated the independent committee dependent 
     on it.

  We know that officials acting on behalf of Benon Sevan, the executive 
director of the Oil-for-Food Program for the United Nations, who is 
personally implicated in the scandal, are asking contractors not to 
release documents relating to the program to congressional 
investigators without first getting U.N. authorization. We know the 
U.S. has asked for copies of the U.N. internal audit reports on this 
program, and the U.N. denied our request. I will include an exchange of 
letters to that effect in the Record.
  It was reported recently that the head of the U.N.'s own inspector 
general's office himself is now being investigated by the United 
Nations. The U.N. should be more interested in bringing the truth to 
light than trying to protect its tattered reputation and its corrupt 
officials. I hope the Volcker panel gets the tools it needs from the 
U.N. to do a thorough investigation of the Oil-for-Food Program. The 
Volcker panel work does not obviate the need for the U.S. Congress to 
conduct its own investigation.
  My amendment ensures that the Oil-for-Food documents in Iraq are 
secured before the June 30 handover and that copies are brought to the 
United States. Right now it is unclear what will happen to those 
documents following the June 30 handover. The amendment also requires 
U.S. agencies to provide relevant congressional committees access to 
Oil-for-Food documents. Additionally, it calls on the U.S. to use its 
voice and vote to get access to U.N. Oil-for-Food audits and core 
documents.
  Lastly, it mandates a GAO review of the Oil-for-Food Program. Under 
the Helms-Biden U.N. reform legislation which was signed into law, as 
this amendment makes clear, we believe the GAO should have access to 
U.S. documents relating to the Oil-for-Food Program.
  We in the Congress have a choice to make. We could do nothing and 
allow the word ``humanitarianism'' to be the new code word for 
corruption and scandal from here on out, or we can stand up and make 
the United Nations rightfully accountable for the corruption that has 
harmed innocent Iraqis.
  The answer is clear: We must act.
  The U.N. is broken. If the Security Council is to function, there 
cannot be questions as to whether members are more interested in lining 
their pockets than preserving security. We have to make sure Iraqi 
government officials get a clear message that the corruption and 
kickbacks of the Saddam Hussein regime--potentially aided and abetted 
by U.N. officials--will no longer be tolerated.
  I thank my colleagues for helping to craft this amendment. Lindsay 
Graham took the lead in achieving this consensus. Senators Chambliss, 
Coleman, Lugar, Kyl, Enzi, and the majority leader all made important 
contributions, as did the minority, in finalizing the language. This 
was truly a collaborative process.
  I ask unanimous consent that the letters I mentioned earlier be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

         United States Representative for United Nations 
           Management and Reform,
                                       New York, NY, May 10, 2004.
      Mr. Dileep Nair,
     Office for Internal Oversight Services, the United Nations, 
         New York, NY.
       Dear Mr. Nair: The U.S. Mission requests the following 
     documentation/information regarding the Oil-for-Food 
     Programme:
       --The 55 OIOS internal reviews, or audits, of aspects of 
     the OFF program;
       --All bank statements for the OFF escrow account at BNP-
     Paribas;
       --All Oil Overseer reports previous to October 2001;
       --Copies of all Customs Reports from the UN's Office of 
     Iraq Programme (OIP) to the 661 Committee that contain 
     pricing reviews with notes of concern about possible 
     overpricing.
       Please provide these documents by 14 May 2004. If this is 
     not possible, please provide a written explanation, including 
     when we might expect to receive such documentation.
       Thank you for your assistance.
           Sincerely,
     Patrick Kennedy.
                                  ____

                                                    United Nations


                                  Internal Oversight Services,

                                       New York, NY, May 12, 2004.
     Reference: OUSG-04-370

     Ambassador Patrick F. Kennedy,
     Representative for United Nations Management, United States 
         Mission to the United Nations, New York, NY.
       Dear Ambassador Kennedy: I refer to your letter to me of 10 
     May, as well as your previous letters of 20 April and 4 May, 
     seeking documents relating to the Oil-for-Food Programme.
       As you know, the Secretary-General has established an 
     independent inquiry into allegations relating to the 
     Programme, chaired by Mr. Paul Volcker. You would also be 
     aware that Mr. Volcker has asked the Secretary-General to 
     ensure that all relevant documents are secured solely for the 
     Inquiry's use, and that, on 6 May, Mr. Volcker issued a 
     statement saying that the Inquiry Committee believes non-
     public documents related to the Programme should not be 
     released during the current preliminary stage of the 
     Inquiry--though it will ``consider appropriate disclosure'' 
     at a later stage, as the investigation proceeds.
       As the internal reviews and audits of the Programme carried 
     out by this Office, bank statements of the escrow account and 
     letters sent to contractors, come in the category of ``non-
     public'' documents, these cannot be disclosed at the moment. 
     On the other hand, the reports of the Oil Overseers and of 
     the Customs Reports have already been provided to the United 
     States government in its capacity as a member of the 661 
     Committee.
           Yours sincerely,
                                                      Dileep Nair,
                                          Under-Secretary General.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia is recognized.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may proceed 
for no more than 3 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?

[[Page S7223]]

  Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________