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| Europe |
| Dutch firm admits kickbacks in Oil-for-Food programme |
| 2007-12-25 |
| The Dutch firm Akzo Nobel NV has admitted to paying thousands of dollars in kickbacks to the Iraqi government during the UN-administered programme that allowed Saddam Hussein's regime to sell oil to buy food or other humanitarian goods, the US Justice Department said Thursday. Akso Nobel acknowledged two of its subsidiaries, NV Organon and Intervet International BV, paid Saddam's government USD 280,000 to help win contracts between 2000 and 2002, the department said. The companies would artificially inflate the value of the contract to conceal the payments from the United Nations. Akso Nobel sold the two subsidiaries earlier this year. Under the agreement with the Justice Department, NV Organon must reach an agreement with Dutch authorities to pay EUR 381,000 in fines within 180 days or pay USD 800,000 to the US government. The United Nations in New York oversaw the programme that was set up in 1995 and ended under the US invasion in 2003. The programme allowed Iraq to sell oil for food and medicine to ease the burden of international sanctions enacted after Saddam ordered the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The oil for food programme was later found to be the subject of widespread corruption and abuse that involved payments to the Iraqi government and in some cases to UN officials. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #2 Nobel? Any relation to the Nobels of Sweden? |
| Posted by: whitecollar redneck 2007-12-25 12:52 |
| #1 The company is among the world's largest chemical manufacturers and a major salt producer. Akzo Nobel divides its business into two lines. Its coatings group makes decorative paints, automotive finishes, and industrial coatings. The chemical unit makes pulp and paper chemicals, functional chemicals (flame retardants, crop nutrients), surfactants, and catalysts. A third unit, pharmaceuticals, produced contraceptives, fertility treatments, antidepressants, OTC drugs, and veterinary medicines. Akzo sold the division, called Organon, to Schering-Plough for $14 billion in 2007, the same year it agreed to buy ICI for $16 billion. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-12-25 06:13 |