The lawyer for former Iraqi deputy premier Tareq Aziz said on Saturday his client had been questioned in Baghdad by French judge Philippe Courroye and denied receiving bribes under the UN’s “Oil for Food” programme. “Judge Courroye questioned Tareq Aziz in the presence of an Iraqi judge, and Aziz told the judge that he refused to participate in a political settling of scores,” said Badie Aref, Aziz’s lawyer. “Aziz said that offers from companies and individuals close to the Iraqi people were studied and retained, but those did not result in a single case of payment of commissions or taxes. ‘We sold oil to everyone at the same price’, he told the French judge,” relayed Aref. “Aziz declined to answer a number of questions, in particular those regarding the names of French individuals implicated in the case,” he added. Aref added that the judge will be returning in a week. According to Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui en France on Saturday, the judge also visited the archives of Somo, the Iraqi institution then charged with selling oil under the UN programme, as well interviewing other former Iraqi officials. Translations of documents seized and minutes of his meetings were still being worked on in Baghdad.