2 Houston businessmen arrested - HoustonChronicle.com

HoustonChronicle.com - 2 local men arrested in U.N. oil-for-food scandal:

"A New York grand jury has accused two Houston oilmen of paying illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime when buying Iraqi crude under the United Nations' oil-for-food program.
..........................................
Chalmers and Dionissiev appeared before Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley in chains this afternoon where details of their bonds were set.
........................................

Bayoil's accused of paying millions of dollars in secret surcharges to Saddam's regime in order to acquire Iraqi oil. Prosecutors say the secret payments were not made to the U.N. bank account from which food and medical supplies could be purchased for the people of Iraq.

While the United Nations was overseeing the oil-for-food program and was supposed to be controlling the proceeds, Saddam's regime was allowed to chose who would purchase the oil. The buyers would then resell the crude to oil companies or traders.

Saddam's regime required the recipients of its oil to pay kickbacks into secret bank accounts controlled by Baghdad. The recipients of the crude would then pass along the cost of those kickbacks to their customers."