| Saddam Hussein's deputy prime minister, Tareq Aziz, denied that Iraq used the UN oil-for-food program to make billions of dollars, his defense lawyer said on Friday. Badih Aref said that Aziz told him that he wouldn't provide evidence on corruption allegations at the United Nations. "We used to offer assistance to parties, institutions and states that stood by Iraq. We helped them via the United Nations because the oil-for-food program was a legitimate program supervised by the UN," Aref cited Aziz as saying. "This cannot be considered bribery because it was our right to sell oil to those who wanted it and we could not affect the price at all, as it was set by the United Nations itself." Aziz added. |