Court told Korean asked Iraq for UN chief bribes

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A South Korean lobbyist sought $10
million from Iraq before the U.N. oil-for-food program was set
up to “take care of some people,” including then U.N.
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a New York court was
told on Thursday.

Tongsun Park is accused of acting as an unregistered
foreign agent of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and
prosecutors say he pocketed some $2.5 million from Iraq, in a
case highlighting secret channels of international diplomacy.

The oil-for-food program allowed Iraq to sell oil and use
the proceeds to buy nonmilitary goods, under U.N. supervision.
It aimed to ease the impact of U.N. sanctions imposed after
Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, but the $67 billion program was
rife with corruption, investigators say.

The independent Volcker report last year said Iraq set
aside up to $15 million to bribe Boutros-Ghali, but there was
no evidence he ever received any money.

The prosecution’s main witness against Park, U.S.-Iraqi
businessman Samir Vincent, who has pleaded guilty to acting as
an agent for Saddam Hussein, testified that Park asked him in
1995 to seek $10 million from Iraq.

On Thursday, his third day on the stand, Vincent said Park
told him the money was “to cover some expenses he had incurred
on behalf of Iraq as well as to take care of some people.”

Asked by the prosecutor who needed to be taken care of,
Vincent said: “The only people I know of at the time was the
Secretary-General,” he said, referring to Boutros-Ghali.

In earlier testimony, Vincent outlined meetings with Park,
Boutros-Ghali and high-level Iraqi officials including former
deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz from 1992 to 1996.

CASH IN DIPLOMATIC POUCHES

Vincent described passing messages from Aziz and others in
Baghdad to Boutros-Ghali in an effort to set up an oil-for-food
scheme that would bring commercial benefits to Vincent and his
associates. Vincent said he enlisted Park in 1992 because of
his close association with Boutros-Ghali.

The independent report said Park made 11 calls to
Boutros-Ghali’s office and 28 calls to his home in 1995, the
year before the oil-for-food program was set up.

After Park asked him for $10 million, Vincent said he met
Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations, the late Nizer
Hamdoon, who suggested asking for $15 million, to give $5
million to Park and keep $10 million “for ourselves.”

“I guess he needs to take care of BB,” Vincent quoted
Hamdoon as saying, adding that BB referred to Boutros-Ghali.

Vincent recounted a tense trip to Iraq where he signed two
contracts promising Park $5 million, and $10 million for
Hamdoon and himself, before fleeing with $450,000 in a
“bulging” briefcase to Jordan and then flying to Germany.

With the help of an associate who carried the cash to New
York, Vincent gave Park a contract for the Iraqi deal and
$100,000 in a coffee shop, while Hamdoon kept the majority of
the money, he said.

More cash, stuffed in diplomatic pouches, later came from
Hamdoon, with Park receiving payments of $400,000 and $500,000
while Hamdoon kept more than $1.3 million, said Vincent.

Defense attorney Michael Kim has said Park was just “a
middleman or facilitator.”

Park, 71, faces charges in U.S. District Court of
conspiracy to commit wire fraud, acting as an unregistered
agent of a foreign government and money laundering. He has
pleaded not guilty and faces a maximum of five years in jail.