Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 03/11/07 - 31/12/07

Third drug company says it faces Iraq 'kickbacks' probe

A third pharmaceutical giant said Sunday it is being investigated by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over alleged breaches of the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

Eli Lilly and Company Limited said it had been asked to hand over documents to the SFO, a day after British peer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca announced they had received similar requests.

An Eli Lilly spokeswoman said the company would comply with the demand which was made in mid-December.

"We are compiling these documents and they will be sent to the SFO in the new year," she said.

Eli Lilly and Company Limited is the British affiliate of United States-based Eli Lilly and Company, headquartered in Indianapolis.

The oil-for-food programme, which allowed Baghdad to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian items, ran from 1996 to 2003, the year in which US-led forces invaded Iraq.

Paul Volcker, the former US Federal Reserve chairman, said in a 2005 report that Saddam's regime demanded kickbacks from foreign companies under the scheme, and accused more than 2,000 companies of involvement.

The Iraqi government swindled millions of dollars from the programme, sparking a scandal that caused major embarrassment to the UN.

The SFO, whose remit covers firms based in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said in February it had opened a probe into the affair which could take three years and is expected to cost around 22 million pounds (44 million dollars, 30 million euros).

The two other drug companies, GSK and AstraZeneca, denied any wrongdoing Saturday and said they were co-operating fully with the investigation

Third drug company says it faces Iraq 'kickbacks' probe - Yahoo! News

Iraq northern oil allegedly travelling through Talabani-controlled KRG and into Iran

Iraq oil produced by the Norwegian firm DNO, via a production sharing contract with the Kurdistan Regional Government, is allegedly being shipped on truck to Iran.

The oil from the Tawke field, from one of the KRG’s first forays into signing oil deals back in 2004, has no official place to go. Iraq’s central government is more than upset with the Kurds for moving unilaterally on developing their oil sector and accusing politicians of impasses to passing national hydrocarbons legislation. So they’ve prevented any oil from contracts signed outside the Baghdad authority from heading to market via state-owned pipelines or Iraqi refineries from processing it.

The Tawke field is in northern Iraq, near the Turkish and Syrian borders. Connecting the field to the northern pipeline already sending crude to a Turkish Mediterranean port, or even trucking it to Turkey, would be the logistical top choice. Turkey’s military action targeting the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party along the two countries’ border would prevent any trucks through there.

That’s out of the question regardless, since Turkey views any Iraqi Kurdistan action outside the Oil Ministry in Baghdad, such as controlling, developing and selling oil in the KRG territory, a move toward Kurdish independence. Turkey, the country with the largest Kurdish population, has been the most vocal against any Kurdish autonomy and empowerment. Syria and Iran have also expressed concern, though more muted.

Iran, according to sources of Faleh al-Khayat and Robert Perkins, writing in Platts’ Oilgram News, doesn’t mind getting their oil. DNO says it’s just offering the oil to local buyers and waiting for Baghdad’s approval to sell it elsewhere.

"Crude oil produced from the Tawke field in the northern Iraqi region of Kurdistan is being sold by the Kurdistan Regional Government to Iran via truck, informed sources told Platts in late December. …

The sources believe the crude is being sold to third parties, which are selling it on to Iran. ..

A DNO official said December 28 the company was not aware of any oil from Tawke being exported to Iran. …

The sources believe the deal with Iran was negotiated by the KRG to be transported by road tankers across Iraqi Kurdistan for processing at the Tabriz refinery in northwest Iran."

Platts reports that the oil would traverse roads in areas controlled by Jalal Talabani, one of the two Kurdish leaders who dominate Kurdish politics. He’s also president of Iraq. And for Tawke oil to enter Iran, the Revolutionary Guard Corps would need to give the green light.

Also from the article: Tawke, which DNO says can handle 90,000 barrels per day production, began producing in June, averaging nearly 6,900 barrels per day in third quarter 2007.

No proper link - just to iraqoilreport - heresay - Iraq Oil Report