Number: RL30472
Title: Iraq: Oil-for-Food Program, Illicit Trade, and Investigations
Authors: Kenneth Katzman and Christopher M. Blanchard, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division 
Abstract: The Oil for Food Program (OFFP) terminated following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, the assumption of sovereignty by an interim Iraqi government on June 28, 2004, and the lifting of Saddam-era U.N. sanctions. However, after the fall of the regime, there were new allegations of mismanagement and abuse of the program, including allegations that Saddam Hussein's regime manipulated the program to influence U.N. officials, contractors, and politicians and businessmen in numerous countries. New attention also has been focused on Iraq's oil sales to neighboring countries outside the control or monitoring of the U.N. OFFP. Several investigations revealed evidence of corruption and mismanagement on the part of some U.N. officials and contractors involved with the OFFP, and called into question the lack of action on the part of U.N. Sanctions Committee members, including the United States, to halt Iraq's profitable oil sales outside of the program over a ten year period.
Pages: 29
Date: January 24, 2007