Former French minister faces oil-for-food inquiry

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Former French minister faces oil-for-food inquiry
By John Lichfield in Paris
Published: 16 July 2005

Detailed evidence has been sent to a French investigating magistrate linking the former interior minister Charles Pasqua and 11 other French nationals, including a maverick priest, to the misuse of the United Nations' oil-for-food programme in Iraq.

The magistrate, Philippe Courroye, is expected to visit the United States in the next few days - and wants to visit Baghdad - to verify the allegations made by US Senate and UN investigators.

The broad allegations against M. Pasqua - a former supporter of President Jacques Chirac but estranged from him 10 years ago - have already been published by the Senate and the UN. The documents sent to M. Courroye are said by the French media to contain more details from Saddam-era Iraqi documents, suggesting that M. Pasqua and the 11 others were given vouchers to trade millions of barrels of oil which were supposed to generate funds for food and medicine to help the Iraqi people.

However, there has been no evidence to show that the vouchers were actually redeemed.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article299446.ece