The black money of Saddam Hussein.

One thing that makes this entire discussion moot is how the recent Oil-for-Food scandals were perpetrated.

Pardon me if I make a few errors in the specifics, but the general idea is correct. When I get a chance, I will add a link to an article with this info in it.

Essentially, what Sadaam would do is this...

He was allowed by the UN to set his own prices and choose his own middlemen when selling his oil. He would contract with sympathetic (or greedy) middlemen and sell his oil to them at bargain-basement prices. They would pay into a UN account, which the UN would then use to purchase food, medicine, etc.

Meanwhile, the middleman would then sell the oil at a much higher price than he paid for it, and kickback a percentage directly to Sadaam. To keep the wheels greased, he would provide sales vouchers to various high-ranking individuals (those folks whose names were on the notoriuous list found recently in Iraq).

Most disturbing are Iraqi records that suggest Benon Sevan, the executive director of the Oil for Food office, received a voucher for 11.5 million barrels of oil from Saddam's manipulation of the program � enough to yield a profit of between $575,000 and $3.5 million.

Washington Times article

With such a great setup already in place (one that profited himi in the 10's of billions of dollars), why would he bother with such a complicated and slow process as trying to defraud shipping monitors, sea captains, port authorities, etc.?

I doubt he would.

Oil fraud? Absolutely! Via the shipping industry? I doubt it.

I guess we may know for certain one day.

Here is another article that explains the way he did it a bit better.
Link 2

And hey kids, don't try this at home.

i'll stick to the black market tanker story and you know why ?
because what i tell is 100% true !

i think it does'nt ring a bell to most people that if a country hides for billion dollars military jets under the sand one way and on the other way transport gold ingots for also milions of dollars out of the country we are dealing here with a mayor BLACK CIRCUIT of crooks and thiefs.

i can name 10 countries that hush hush every possible way to get a black load of oil without blinking their eyes and i can name 50 countries that would gladly accept a load of 1000 kilos pure heroine.

on top of that i can name 5 maritime agencies who arrange any kind of ship you want to lease without asking a single question where you will go with the ship or what you will load in it !
they only want you to make the payment...and in advance !

do i have to name the low-fare countries that supply your ship with any identification you want and a crew that just do their work without asking a question if you have paid them in advance and with a bonus promised on the end of trip ?



[Edited on 19-5-2004 by NOGODSINTHEUNIVERSE]

[Edited on 19-5-2004 by NOGODSINTHEUNIVERSE]