FBI Grills Jack Kemp About Iraqi Contact
The former vice presidential candidate has been connected to the Iraqi-American businessman who was indicted this week in the Oil-for-Food scandal. Kemp denies any wrongdoing
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Updated: 7:07 p.m. ET Jan. 19, 2005
Jan. 19 - Former vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp has been questioned by the FBI about his dealings with an Iraqi-American businessman who this week became the target of the first Justice Department criminal indictment in the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal, NEWSWEEK has learned.
advertisement
Kemp today confirmed that the FBI interviewed him last October about his contacts with Samir A. Vincent, a Northern Virginia oil trader who on Tuesday pled guilty to four criminal charges, including violating U.S. sanctions against Iraq and failing to register with the Justice Department as an agent of Saddam Hussein.
Specifically, the indictment states that Vincent illegally lobbied U.S. officials on behalf of the Iraqi government and received in exchange, along with unidentified co-conspirators, “millions of dollars in cash” as well as allocations for more than 9 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil under the Oil-for-Food program.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6845383/site/newsweek