A UN panel investigating corruption in Iraq's oil-for-food programme wants to interrogate one of Saddam Hussein's jailed right-hand men, Tareq Aziz, his lawyer told AFP. Badie Aref Izzat said he expected to visit the former Iraqi deputy prime minister in the coming days and would advise him to demand he be questioned in a foreign country, possibly France.Oh sure. Iraq will let him go to France. Get real.
"I have received many messages over the past 10 days from the head of the panel, Paul Volcker, asking me if Tareq Aziz would accept to be interrogated on the oil-for-food programme," Aref said.
A damning interim report by Volcker's panel released on Thursday found Benon Sevan, who headed the programme, repeatedly asked for oil allocations from Saddam's regime. Aziz denies any wrongdoing under the oil-for-food programme, but is believed to be ready to name names in a scandal that now threatens UN chief Kofi Annan, as well as several leading figures and companies in France, Russia and other countries.
Why was it you wanted to get him to France again?
"He is a political man, he is very clever, he holds a lot of information on this issue and he will assess the benefits that can be derived," Aref said. "But I believe that his moral sense will prevail on his political instinct."
Why his moral sense never kicked in before?
| That's quite a good joke, mixing "Tareq Aziz" and "moral sense" in the same sentence. Not many can pull that off. |
Aref said he believed he would be able to meet Aziz this week to pitch the idea of a meeting with UN investigators. "My client has four options. He can refuse to answer the questions. He can wait for the prosecution to decide on a release. He can demand the meeting be transferred to another country or he may decide to answer all the questions without conditions.
"I think the best solution is to have this meeting in another country, like
I am sure he would love to get out of jail and travel to any one of those countries to beat the death sentence he will get in Iraq. It's not happening.
"I think France would be the most suitable place, as it was opposed to the invasion and it was also against the embargo," Aref explained.
Why does France keep popping up again?
| Frenchies would have to pop him on day one, not a chance in hell that they'd ever let him sing. |
The only time he was allowed to see his client so far was for a six-hour meeting on December 23. Aref said Aziz had ruled out testifying against the former president then and would probably not change his mind. "He is not faithful to Saddam Hussein, he is just faithful to Iraq and for the moment his country is under occupation. All he told me was: 'When I am free, I will write a book about Saddam Hussein'," the lawyer said.
Aref also said Aziz had urged him to plead for the release of Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a woman captured in May 2003 and accused of being a leader of Saddam's alleged biological warfare programme. The scientist is dying of breast cancer, Aref said, warning the US and Iraqi governments that her case was now a "humanitarian emergency".
| Remind what kind of emergency it was when the Kurds were gassed? |