Malaysian PM denies involvement in Iraqi oil scam
Posted: 13 October 2004
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has denied US allegations that he received kickbacks from the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in a UN oil-for-food program.
"I have no deal or share (in the matter)," Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was cited by national news agency Bernama as saying.
"I don't know how my name was implicated,” he added.
Charles Duelfer, head of the US Iraq Survey Group, a US government body in charge of investigating weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, released a report last week, which stated Saddam Hussein issued secret vouchers for the purchase of oil- which could then be resold at a profit- to officials and political figures from several countries, mainly Russia, France and China.
The report also said former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Russian political figure Vladimir Zhirinovsky were involved in the scam.
It also listed a Malaysian by the name of "Abdullah Badawi" as one of the recipients, but didn't specifically identify him as the Malaysian prime minister and gave no further details.
It also said that “Mr. Abdullah Badawi” has received vouchers to sell two million barrels of Iraqi oil through a company called Tradeyear.
Abdullah said that he was shocked to be mentioned in Duelfer’s report.
He added that he had helped many Malaysian businessmen participate in the UN oil-for-food programme, but he made it clear that he was not personally involved.
"Some Malaysian businessmen interested in the programme had asked me to write letters to the former Iraqi government supporting their bid for roles in it," Bernama quoted Abdullah as saying.
"I don't know what happened to their bids after that."
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar vowed to probe the case, expressing his concerns that there might be "people who want to smear the good name of this nation's leadership."
Posted by Alexander Lindsay, Editor Pipeline Magazine
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