 Report
On Oil Allocations Granted To The Russian Presidential Council
Oil For Influence: How Saddam Used Oil To Rewaed Politiciens And Terrorist Entities Under
The United Nations Oil-For-Food Program.
This Report presents the evidence gathered
by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (the Subcommittee)
establishing that the former regime of Saddam Hussein attempted to influence the Russian
government through the issuance of lucrative allocations of oil under the U.N.
Oil-for-Food Program.1 In addition, this Report reveals how the
recipients of these oil allocations utilized a series of trading companies and other
intermediaries in Cyprus and the Channel Islands to execute the transactions necessary to
monetize the oil allocations. Bayoil,2 an American oil trader,
performed the actual liftings of oil from Iraqi ports and paid massive “premiums” and
“commissions” to the trading companies and intermediaries amounting to millions of
dollars. Finally, this Report details how funds transferred by Bayoil to certain
intermediaries resulted in the payment of millions of dollars in illegal, under-the-table
surcharges to the Hussein regime.
I. BACKGROUND
A. Saddam’s Manipulation of Oil Sales
Under the Oil-for-Food Program
Under the Oil-for-Food Program, Iraq was
permitted to sell its oil and use the proceeds to purchase food, medicine, and other
humanitarian goods. As is well documented, the Hussein regime quickly exploited the
Program for its own purposes. One of the regime’s chief strategies was the use of “oil
allocations” to garner political influence and reward allies around the globe. To
understand how the Hussein regime manipulated these oil transactions, one must begin with
how Iraq sold its crude oil under the Program. The arm of the Iraqi government that
managed the sale of Iraqi crude oil was a division of the Ministry of Oil called the State
Oil Marketing Organization, or “SOMO.” In order to manage the volume of oil flowing
through its pipelines, the Iraqis divided its oil supply into discrete units, typically
ranging from 1 to 10 million barrels. These units were allocated to prospective oil
purchasers, essentially giving those recipients an option to purchase that allotment of
oil. These options were typically called “allocations.” Once SOMO and the oil
purchaser agreed on other contractual terms, such as the loading schedule, the purchaser
would execute a contract with SOMO, purchase the oil, and ship its allotted quantity.
Soon after the initiation of the Program,
however, the Hussein regime used the allocation process to maximize Iraq’s influence
around the world. The plan was simple: rather than granting allocations to traditional oil
purchasers, the Hussein regime gave priority to foreign officials, journalists, and even
terrorist entities.3 The central purpose of this tactic, according
to senior officials of the Hussein regime interviewed by the Subcommittee, was to engender
international support for the Hussein regime and against U.N. sanctions.4 To
that end, the Hussein regime favored individuals and political parties from countries that
were members of the U.N. Security Council. Senior Hussein
regime officials and numerous Ministry of
Oil documents confirm that the regime steered a massive portion of its allocations toward
Security Council members that were believed by the Hussein regime to support Iraq in its
efforts to lift sanctions -- namely, Russia, France, and China.5 The
recipients of the allocations were chosen by a committee of Hussein’s closest advisors,
including Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan.6 SOMO documents reveal that these individuals -- along with Saddam
Hussein himself -- were personally involved in the process.7 Some of
those documents are presented in this Report.
By granting the rights to purchase oil to
a limited number of individuals and entities, the regime forced oil purchasers to obtain
allocations from those favored few. The allocation holders essentially became gatekeepers
to Iraqi oil. As gatekeepers, they demanded a “commission,” which typically ranged
from 3 to 30 cents per barrel. In light of the fact that most allocations amounted to
millions of barrels of oil, such commissions were quite lucrative, reaching hundreds of
thousands of dollars per allocation. Therefore, these allocations were extremely valuable,
and by doling them out to favored individuals and entities, the Hussein regime could
direct the payment of millions of dollars to a foreign official, political party,
journalist, or terrorist entity without incurring any loss.
B. Efforts to Influence Russian Policy
Towards Iraq by Awarding Oil Allocations
Russia topped the list of nations from
whom the Hussein regime wanted support at the Security Council. As a result, the Hussein
regime granted allocations to Russian individuals, political parties, and others due to
their good relationship with Iraq and their support for the lifting of sanctions.8 The oil allocations, which could be sold for large commissions, often
resulted in pecuniary gain for the recipient.9 The Vice President of
the Hussein regime, Taha Yasin Ramadan, confirmed to the Subcommittee that oil allocations
were indeed “compensation for support.”10 Another senior
official from the Hussein regime confirmed that the oil allocation scheme was for the
purpose of “buying influence.”11 The scale of the oil
allocations given to Russian individuals and political parties was substantial, totaling
approximately 30 percent of all the oil allocated during the course of the Program.12 One Russian political party that received a large number of allocations
was the Unity Party (now known as the Unified Russia Party13), a
pro-Kremlin party associated with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Tariq Aziz stated that
the Unity Party received such a large number of allocations because Russia was taking
positions at the Security Council that were favorable to Iraq.14 Vice
President Ramadan stated that the Unity Party received the largest quantity of allocations
in Russia because it was the governing party and the party of the president.15
Other key Russian recipients of oil allocations included the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the Communist Party, and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The focus of
this Report -- the Russian Presidential Council -- also received a significant number of
oil allocations.16 The Russian Presidential Council consisted of
advisors appointed by the Russian president who were responsible for devising presidential
policy, drafting presidential decrees, and coordinating policy among government agencies.
At the head of the Russian Presidential
Council was Alexander Stalevich Voloshin, who was originally appointed to that position by
former president Boris Yeltsin and reappointed by President Putin upon Putin’s
ascendancy to the presidency in December 1999. Although Voloshin resigned in late 2003
over a scandal involving the Russian oil giant Yukos, there is little debate over the
magnitude of Mr. Voloshin’s influence in Russian government during the Oil-for-Food
Program. Mr. Voloshin, whose middle name means “son of steel,” was widely known as the
“power behind the throne” at the Kremlin. Mr. Voloshin reportedly assisted in
President Putin’s rise to power, managed Putin’s first election campaign, and helped
to create the pro-Kremlin Unity Party.17 He was once referred to as
“de facto … Russia’s most powerful man” after President Putin, as well as the
“eminence grise” behind President Putin.18 Alexi Mukhin, a
Moscow lobbyist, described Mr. Voloshin as a guide for those who needed things “fixed”
at the Kremlin:
In any ministry or department
there are fixers. …
[T]hey get money for bringing things to people’s attention. These are people who don’t
use the main road but take the tracks by the side of the road, which are faster, with less
traffic and fewer checkpoints. Voloshin was a guide along that path.19
The Hussein regime had reason to believe
that Mr. Voloshin would be an effective conduit to President Putin. Kremlin adviser Gleb
Pavlovsky was quoted as saying that “the Putin-Voloshin link is the strongest link in
the political game.”20 Former Hussein regime officials apparently
shared that belief. Vice President Ramadan recognized Mr. Voloshin as the head of
Russia’s presidential administration and stated that the oil allocations awarded to him
had been approved by Saddam Hussein.21 Other regime officials stated
that the allocations given to Mr. Voloshin were a show of support to him, and were granted
to him because of his relationships with “very important characters.”22
To date, Mr. Voloshin has declined to comment on the allegations that he received
oil allocations from the Hussein regime.
Another name associated with the
allocations to the Russian Presidential Council was Sergey Issakov, a known friend of Mr.
Voloshin.23 As detailed in this Report, Mr. Issakov traveled to Iraq
on several occasions and executed many of the contracts associated with allocations to the
Russian Presidential Council. The former Deputy Prime Minister stated that the purpose of
giving allocations to Mr. Issakov was to buy influence.24 The
influence desired by the Hussein regime was that which would bring an end to the sanctions
against Iraq -- influence which could be brought to bear only at the U.N. Security
Council. Establishing a direct correlation between an oil allocation and a specific vote
in the Security Council is problematic. Former regime officials, however, described one
such occurrence.25 In the summer of 2000, the United States proposed
a resolution at the Security Council to restrict the illicit trade occurring at Iraq’s
borders in violation of the sanctions. Russia, however, threatened to use its veto on the
proposal, effectively ending any efforts to pass the resolution. Hussein instructed his
subordinates to “show gratitude” to the Russians for supporting Iraq in the Security
Council on that issue.26 This gratitude entailed giving the Russians
additional oil allocations and commodity contracts in order to repay them for the
threatened use of the veto and for their future cooperation. This was a “new shift”
since it was the first time that oil allocations were linked to a specific act.27 There are other examples of where Russia took positions at the Security
Council that favored the Hussein regime and opposed the position of Security Council
members who sought to enforce the sanctions. In 2001, Russia reportedly fought off efforts
to shorten the list of companies eligible to contract for Iraqi oil and was in turn
rewarded with large oil contracts:
This dominance [by
Russian trading firms] occurs as Russia continues to thwart US-British efforts to shorten
the list of eligible firms that buy Iraqi crude. … [O]n Monday and Tuesday, three
Russian companies were awarded a total of 30 [million] barrels of Iraqi crude, showing
that Baghdad is rewarding Moscow for fending off a US-British plan to overhaul sanctions,
diplomats said.
Britain and the US have
since last autumn led efforts in the UN Iraqi sanctions committee to limit the firms that
can buy Iraqi crude because they fear some oil firms accept demands for under-the-table
payments directly to Baghdad and against UN sanctions.28
One of the three beneficiaries named in
the article quoted above was Rosnefteimpex, which had signed a contract with SOMO on July
14, 2001 for 17 million barrels of oil that had been allocated to the Russian Presidential
Council.29
Another example of mutual support between
Russia and Iraq involves Russia’s opposition in 2002 to the practice of “retroactive
pricing,” a tool used by the United States and the United Kingdom to combat Iraq’s
scheme of selling oil at below market rates for the purpose of generating revenue to be
split between the Hussein regime and the recipients of oil allocations. On August 16, 2002
the Russian Foreign Ministry (itself a recipient of oil allocations for massive quantities
of oil) published a press release calling for a special session of the Iraq Sanctions
Committee to address the issue:
Russia has come up with an
initiative to hold a special session of the U.N. Security Council Iraq Sanctions Committee
to discuss … the continuing practice of retroactive pricing of the oil exported by Iraq.
The delegation of Russia intends to decisively raise the question of changing the pricing
mechanism imposed on the Committee and reverting to the previous, consensus-based
procedure for setting the price of oil in advance ….30
In sum, the evidence suggests that Russian
individuals and political parties were consistently favored by the Hussein regime as a
result of Russia’s support for positions favorable to Iraq at the U.N. Security Council.31
C. The Division of Profits and Payment
of Surcharges Resulting from Oil Allocations
The profits generated from the
monetization of oil allocations were generally divided between the parties to the
transaction -- the allocation holder and the company nominated by the allocation holder to
execute the contract with the Hussein regime. The company nominated by the allocation
holder to execute the contract with SOMO would receive a portion of the profits in the
form of a “commission” based on the number of barrels lifted under the contract,
usually 2-3? a barrel. When asked whether the allocation recipients would personally
profit from the oil transactions, one senior Hussein official declared: “That’s the
whole point.”32 Another former senior regime official confirmed
the profit-sharing arrangement, and estimated that the oil allocations yielded a 15
percent profit margin which would be split between the allocation holder and the company
that executed the contract with SOMO.33
The director of the Military
Industrialization Commission informed Saddam Hussein about the large profits being made
from the oil transactions, which upset Hussein.34 As a result,
starting in the middle of Phase 8, the Hussein regime required that a portion of the
profits resulting from the oil allocations be paid back to the regime as a “surcharge”
fee, based on the number of barrels lifted. Between September 1, 2000 and November 30,
2000 the surcharge was 10? per barrel of oil lifted.35 Starting on
December 1, 2000, the surcharge was increased to 25? a barrel for shipments destined for
European markets and 30? a barrel for shipments destined for the North American market.36 The surcharge amount was dropped to 15? a barrel starting on May 30,
2002 and was canceled altogether on September 1, 2002.37 The
two-year period beginning on September 1, 2000 and ending September
1, 2002 is referred to as the “surcharge
period.” During the surcharge period, the profits generated by oil transactions were
split between the allocation recipient, the company that executed the contract with SOMO,
and the Hussein regime. One former regime official described the division of profits and
payment of surcharges from funds derived from oil allocations as follows:
Source discussed oil
allowances and how they were sold through brokerage companies. He stated that the profit
margins were not in the $1’s to the brokerage companies but usually in the .15 to .25
per barrel. The profit margins went away completely after 9/2000 when the Saddam Hussein
surcharge went into effect.
* * *
Source stated that the
proceeds from the sale of the oil allowances are made to pay the brokerage companies and
the brokerage companies make the payments to the owner of the oil allowances and to Saddam
Hussein for his agreed upon cut.38
Another former regime official described
the division of profits similarly, including the surcharge payments made to the Hussein
regime:
Source explained his knowledge
of the oil allowance program through the following example: The market value for a barrel
of oil would be $25. The oil allowance would be given to whomever at Saddam Hussein’s
discretion. The oil allowance must be sold through a brokerage company that was willing to
participate in the scheme. The brokerage company would submit the contract for the sale of
the oil allowance through the U.N. under the [Memorandum of Understanding]. Of the $25 per
barrel amount $20 would go into the Oil for Food Program account at a French bank. The
other five dollars would be split [] with the oil brokerage company receiving $1 and
Saddam and the recipient of the oil allowance sharing the other $4 with each receiving
about $2 per barrel. The oil brokerage company would make the disbursements into special
accounts for Saddam Hussein and the recipient of the oil allowance.39
Many Russian companies who owed surcharge
fees to the Hussein regime delivered those payments in cash to the Iraqi embassy in
Moscow. From time to time the cash at the Iraqi embassy would be flown to Iraq:
The cash was delivered
to the Iraqi embassy in Moscow where it was placed in the accountant’s safe. … When
the cash built up to approximately $3 million to $4 million (USD), it was couriered to
Baghdad in a diplomatic pouch. Approximately every three to four months such a diplomatic
pouch
would be delivered via a
special flight from Moscow by the Iraqi ambassador to the trade consulate.40
Other officials of the former regime
confirmed the arrangement for the payment of surcharges by Russian companies: “A
surcharge (either 10% or 10? per barrel) was charged to the companies with the surcharge
amount paid in cash to the Iraqi embassy in Moscow. … Representatives from each of the
companies purchasing the oil would come to the embassy with a suitcase full of cash and
say that this was the surcharge that was due to Iraq.”41
II. OIL ALLOCTIONS GRANTED TO THE
RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL COUNCIL
Beginning in Phase 6 and continuing
through the end of the Program (with the exception of Phase 7), the Hussein regime
allocated 90 million barrels of oil to the Russian Presidential Council.42
The Hussein regime allocated the oil to
the head of the council, Alexander Voloshin, as well as to his close confidant Sergey
Issakov.
Table 1: Oil
Allocations to the Russian Presidential Council by Phase.
PHASE ALLOCATION ALLOCATION RECIPIENT ALLOCATION
(BARRELS)
VI 1 The Russian Presidential Council
5,000,000
VIII 2 Sergey Issakov
(The Russian Presidential Council)
14,000,000
IX 3 Sergey Issakov
(The Russian Presidential Council)
16,500,000
X 4 Sergey Issakov
(The Russian Presidential Council)
16,000,000
XI 5 Sergey Issakov
(The Russian Presidential Council)
16,000,000
XII 6 Sergey Issakov
(The Russian Presidential Council)
12,500,000
7 Alexander Voloshin
(The Russian Presidential Council)
3,000,000
XIII 8 Alexander Voloshin
(Head of the Russian Presidential Council)
2,000,000
9 Sergey Issakov
(The Russian Presidential Council)
5,000,000
In order to initiate the transaction that
would lead to the eventual shipment of the oil, it was first necessary for the allocation
recipient to designate a company to actually travel to Baghdad and execute a contract with
SOMO. For the first allocation in Phase 6, the Russian Presidential Council designated a
Russian oil company -- Rosneft -- to execute the contract with SOMO. Rosneft was the
successor entity to the defunct USSR Ministry of Oil, and was then and is now owned and
controlled by the Russian government.43
For the allocations granted in Phases 8
through 10, a second company -- “Rosnefteimpex NK Rosneft” -- was designated by the
Russian Presidential Council to execute contracts with SOMO. At the time of the OFF
Program, Rosnefteimpex was an oil trading subsidiary of Rosneft.44 Near
the end of the OFF Program Rosneft divested itself of the stock it held in Rosnefteimpex.45 Later, after the Oil-for-Food scandal became public, Rosneft claimed
that Rosnefteimpex was not a Rosneft subsidiary, despite the fact that Rosneft had owned
56.7% of Rosnefteimpex’s voting shares in 2003.46 SOMO documents
named Sergey Issakov as the contact person for the oil allocations that resulted in
contracts between Rosnefteimpex and SOMO. Mr. Issakov was also at the time the deputy
chairman of Vnukovo Airlines, and traveled regularly to Iraq in an effort to reestablish
flights between Moscow and Baghdad.47
Beginning in Phase 11, a third company,
called the “Russian Engineering Company” became the designated purchasing agent for
the allocations awarded to the Russian Presidential Council. The evidence suggests that
the Russian Engineering Company is affiliated with Rosnefteimpex. For example, both
companies at one point shared the same address at 37 Leningradsky Prospect, Building 6, in
Moscow.48 Additionally, Sergey Issakov executed contracts with SOMO
on behalf of both Rosnefteimpex and the Russian Engineering Company (on whose board Mr.
Issakov currently serves as chairman).49 One energy trade
publication described the relationship between Mr. Issakov and the two companies as
follows:
The contracts [between
Rosnefteimpex and SOMO] were signed with Sergei Isakov, a close confidant of the head of
the Kremlin administration at the time, Alexander Voloshin, who resigned last year. Isakov
would travel back and forth to Baghdad to negotiate the contracts, sources say, and was
also responsible for getting allocations on the Kremlin’s behalf for the Russian
Engineering Co., which
took over the duties of Rosnefteimpex towards the end of the program.50
It is not clear why the parties decided to
cease using Rosnefteimpex as the designated purchasing agent, but some reports link
Rosnefteimpex with the Russian Engineering Company as well as Mr. Issakov’s airline. One
energy trading publication took note of a large contract signed by the Russian Engineering
Company in Phase 11:
Loyalty continues to pay off
for the group of Russian companies whose cooperation is rewarded with contracts to lift
Iraqi crude under the UN oilfor- food deal. … The largest volume so far -- 17 million
barrels -- has gone to the little-known Russian Engineering Co., the new name for former
state oil trader Rosnefteimpex, which received large contracts in previous phases. Moscow
sources say the company’s barrels originate via Trading House Vnukovo Airlines, which
plans to sell a fleet of Tupolev passenger jets to Baghdad once UN sanctions are lifted.51
Mr. Issakov’s travel to and from Baghdad
may have been assisted by the fact that Vnukovo Airlines had set up an office there as
early as 1998.52 In Phases 12 and 13, the Hussein regime made
separate allocations to both Mr. Issakov and directly to the head of the Russian
Presidential Council, Alexander Voloshin. Mr. Voloshin nominated a company called
“Impexoil LLC” to execute contracts with SOMO for his allocations. Prior to Phase 12,
Impexoil had conducted no business under the OFF Program. After serving as the designated
purchaser for Mr. Voloshin, however, Impexoil was nominated as the designated purchaser
for other Russian entities (such as the Russian Orthodox Church) during Phase 13.53 Once the allocation holder had nominated a company to execute the
“official” contract with SOMO, it was necessary to find an oil company capable of
actually loading and shipping the oil. For five of the allocations awarded to the Russian
Presidential Council, Bayoil was that company. Bayoil was responsible for contracting with
shipping companies to lift the Iraqi oil and ship it to end users in North America,
Europe, and the Far East. As the entity that was the beneficiary of the profits from the
ultimate sale of the oil to the end user, Bayoil was the party responsible for paying the
other parties connected to the transaction -- namely, the designated purchaser and the
allocation holder. To that end, Bayoil often entered into separate contracts with the
designated purchasing agent for the distribution of “premium payments” and “fees”
owed by Bayoil to the other parties.
Payments from Bayoil to the allocation
holder and the designated purchasing agent (Rosnefteimpex and the Russian Engineering
Company) were often routed through a purported “trading company” called Haverhill
Trading Limited (“Haverhill”). The payments to Haverhill are suspicious, since
Haverhill appears to have performed no function related to the transactions detailed below
other than sending invoices to Bayoil for payments owed. The corporate existence of
Haverhill is also suspicious. Located in Cyprus, which is known for corporate and bank
secrecy laws, Haverhill exists “care of a corporate services company which merely
maintains the company’s registered office and files appropriate documents with the
authorities to comply with the local laws.”54 Although a man named
Oleg Kalougin of Moscow is named as Haverhill’s sole director and Marios Kontemeniotis
is named as a shareholder, Haverhill’s “directors and shareholders are merely nominees
for the beneficial owners,” whose identities are unknown other than the fact that they
are non-Cypriots.55 As for its business activities, Haverhill “is
not allowed to engage in any trading activity in Cyprus,” and the Subcommittee has been
unable to determine the exact nature or the extent of Haverhill’s operations or where
any such operations are conducted.56 Nevertheless, millions of
dollars flowed through Haverhill in connection with the transactions detailed in this
Report.
The transactions described below followed
the same basic pattern: (i) At the beginning of each relevant phase, the Hussein regime
granted an oil allocation to the Russian Presidential Council, (ii) the allocation holder
(either Sergey Issakov or Alexander Voloshin) nominated a company (such as Rosnefteimpex,
the Russian Engineering Company, or Impexoil) to act as the nominal purchaser of the oil
in exchange for a small commission, (iii) a representative of the nominal purchaser (often
Mr. Issakov) traveled to Baghdad and entered into a contract with SOMO to buy the oil
allocated to the allocation holder, (iv) the nominal purchaser then entered into a
separate contract with Bayoil for Bayoil to lift the oil, and (v) Bayoil lifted the oil
and contemporaneously made one or more payments into certain bank accounts in favor of the
nominal purchaser or Haverhill. The available evidence indicates that the money wired to
those accounts by Bayoil was split between the nominal purchaser and the allocation
holder.
The remainder of this Report describes in
detail the transactions resulting from each allocation awarded to the Russian Presidential
Council.
A. The First Allocation (Phase 6: May
25, 1999 to December 11, 1999)
During Phase 6, the Hussein regime awarded
the first of its nine oil allocations to the Russian Presidential Council in an amount of
5 million barrels.57 This first allocation resulted in Contract
M/06/54 between Rosneft and SOMO. Contract M/06/54, which was executed in Baghdad on June
5, 1999, was for 5 million barrels of oil -- 3 million barrels of Basrah Light crude and 2
million barrels of Kirkuk crude.58 As such, the amount of oil
contracted for in Contract M/06/54 exactly matched the amount of oil allocated to the
Russian Presidential Council. Contract M/06/54 was approved by the U.N. Oil Overseers on
June 10, 1999.59 Unlike many of the contracts detailed in this
Report, Bayoil did not ship any oil under Contract M/06/54 and therefore the Subcommittee
is unable to determine whether any money was paid to the benefit of the allocation holder.
What is known is that the oil contracted for under Contract M/06/54 was indeed lifted in 6
shipments between June and October 1999, and that a total of 4,973,344 barrels were
lifted.60
B. The Second Allocation (Phase 8:
June 9, 2000 to December 5, 2000)
On the second day of Phase 8, June 10,
2000, prior to the date that any contract was signed by Iraq or approved by the U.N.,
Bayoil entered into an “Agency Agreement” with Haverhill Trading Ltd. Under the terms
of the agreement, Bayoil agreed to purchase and ship 8 million barrels of Basrah Light
crude and to pay certain “fees” to both Haverhill and the purchasing agent,
Rosnefteimpex. The terms of the agreement were as follows:
According to the Agency
Agreement signed between “BayOil Supply &
Trading Limited” and
“Haverhill Trading Limited” on June 10, 2000 please be kindly asked to sign the
Contract with “Rosnefteimpex NK Rosneft” for buying 8 bbls of Basrah light crude oil
and pay fees as following: ? USD 0,02 to “Rosnefteimpex NK Rosneft” as per Contract; ?
USD 0,12 to “Haverhill Trading Limited” after the nomination of the vessel; ? USD 0,10
to “Haverhill Trading Limited” 30 (thirty) days after the [bill of lading].61
This “contract before the contract”
detailed payments that would be made to parties outside of the Oilfor- Food Program. With
the “Agency Agreement” in place, on June 14 the Hussein regime allocated 14 million
barrels of oil to the Russian Presidential Council. Sergey Issakov was named as the
contact person for the allocation.62 A hand-written note to the
Executive Director of SOMO on the Phase 8 allocation list indicated that the 14-millon
barrel allocation to the Russian Presidential Council had been approved at the highest
levels of Iraq’s government:
To: The Executive Director of
SOMO Verbal approval of the President Leader, may God protect him, has been obtained as
per the verbal notification of the Vice-President of the republic along the margins of the
Cabinet’s meeting the morning of 06/25/2000. Please take the necessary measures for
action.63
With the allocation approved and the
Bayoil-Haverhill agency agreement in place, Demitry Kossarev of Rosnefteimpex traveled to
Baghdad on or about July 4, 2000 and executed Contract M/08/85 with SOMO for 14 million
barrels (the same amount allocated to the Russian Presidential Council for Phase 8).64 The 14 million barrels were split between 8 million barrels of Basrah
Light crude and 6 million barrels of Kirkuk crude.65 The terms of
Contract M/08/85 were then forwarded in a letter from the Executive Director of SOMO to
the Minister of Oil for approval:
To: [His Excellency] the
Oil Minister Re: Approval on Exported Crude Oil Contracts Based on the statement of
allocations in phase (8), please find below the details of the contract signed with
Rosnefteimpex Russian Company on behalf of Mr. Issakov (The Russian Presidential Council):
1 - Number of Contract: M/08/85 Date:
07/04/2000
2 - Name of Company Buyer: Rosnefteimpex
3 - Nationality: Russian
4 - Quantity: (14) million barrels divided
as follows:
(6) million barrels of Kirkuk crude oil
FOB Ceyhan terminal
(8) million barrels of
Basrah light crude oil FOB Al-Bakr terminal66
The Minster of Oil approved Contract
M/08/85 on July 8, 2000. Contract M/08/85 was sent to the U.N. for approval and was
approved by the U.N. Oil Overseers on July 10, 2000.67 With Contract
M/08/85 fully approved, Bayoil entered into a separate contract with Rusnaftaimpex (BVI)
Limited, a company located on Jersey in the Channel Islands. Under the terms of that
contract, Rusnaftaimpex agreed to sell 8 million barrels of Basrah Light crude to Bayoil
in exchange for a “premium” equal to an amount of 2? a barrel, to be transferred to a
bank account designated by Rusnaftaimpex.68 This contract was the
first of three versions of the same contract, all of which are dated July 11, between
Bayoil and, alternatively, Rusnaftaimpex and Rosnefteimpex. The final, executed version of
the contract directed that the premium be paid to Rusnaftaimpex as per the terms of an
addendum.69 The addendum to this final contract, dated July 26,
2000, directed Bayoil to pay 24? a barrel into a bank account designated by Rusnaftaimpex
-- 12? in advance and 12? after the completion of each lifting.70 Prior
to the execution of that addendum, on July 14, 2000, Bayoil directed its bank in Geneva to
wire the first of several “premium” payments in connection with Contract M/08/85 to a
bank account at Hellenic Bank Ltd. in Cyprus in favor of Haverhill.71 The
first was a pre-payment of $240,000, which amounts to 12? a barrel for the 2 million
barrels that Bayoil was scheduled to lift in July. Bayoil performed its first lifting, a
shipment of 1,833,963 barrels, on August 3, 2000 on the vessel Licorne Pacifique.
Then, on August 25, 2000, Bayoil made its first post-lifting payment in an amount of
$212,151.12, which was based on the actual amount of oil lifted (1,833,963 barrels @ 12? a
barrel). That payment was made, not to Haverhill, but to Rusnaftaimpex in an account at
United Bank of Switzerland AG in Geneva.72 In total, Bayoil
completed 4 shipments of oil under Contract M/08/85 and lifted a total of 8,009,014
barrels of Basrah Light crude.73 Prior to each shipment, Bayoil made
pre-payments in an amount equal to 12? per barrel of oil that Bayoil was scheduled to
ship. For the last 3 shipments, Bayoil was invoiced by and made its pre-payments to
Rusnaftaimpex instead of Haverhill.74 Bayoil made all four of its
post-lifting payments to Rusnaftaimpex as well.75 In total, as
detailed in the table below, Bayoil wired payments totaling $1,922,163.36 to bank accounts
in favor of Haverhill and Rusnaftaimpex in connection with Contract M/08/85:
Table 2: Bayoil
Payments to Third Parties in connection with Contract M/08/85.
Shipment Date of
Lifting Number of Barrels Lifted Prepayment to
Haverhill Prepayments to Rusnaftaimpex Post-Lifting Payments to Rusnaftaimpex Total
Payments to Third Parties
1 08/03/00 1,883,963 $240,000.00 -- $212,151.12
$452,151.12
2 08/12/00 1,857,303 -- $240,000.00 $205,752.72 $445,752.72
3 09/12/00 1,943,729 -- $240,000.00 $226,494.96 $466,494.96
4 10/21/00 2,324,019 -- $240,000.00 $317,764.56 $557,764.56
Total Payments76 from
Bayoil to Third Parties in Connection with Contract M/08/85: (8,009,014 barrels @ 24? a
barrel) $1,922,163.36
Bayoil made all of these payments to bank
accounts in favor of Haverhill and Rusnaftaimpex -- totaling $1,922,163.36 -- despite the
fact that neither entity had performed any discernable services in connection with
Contract M/08/85.
Bayoil’s internal accounting documents
repeatedly refer to the payments to Haverhill and Rusnaftaimpex as “premiums” and
“Price Premium Over O.S.P.” (the official sales price).77
Significantly, Bayoil’s ledgers
generally list these payments under an entry titled “Commissions - Russia.” Bayoil’s
ledgers related to Contract M/08/85 record these payments as follows:
Bayoil Supply & Trading,
Ltd. Transaction Detail By Account January
1995 through December 2003
Commissions – Russia
Check 7/18/2000 HAVERHILL TRADING … -240,000.00 Check 9/1/2000 RUSNAFTAIMPEX …
-212,151.12 Total Commissions - Russia -452,151.12
* * *
Check 8/2/2000 RUSNAFTAIMPEX …
-240,000.00 Check 9/11/2000 RUSNAFTAIMPEX … -205,752.72 Total Commissions - Russia
-445,752.72
* * *
Check 8/25/2000 RUSNAFTAIMPEX …
-240,000.00 Check 10/11/2000 RUSNAFTAIMPEX … -226,494.96 Total Commissions - Russia
-466,494.96
* * *
Check 10/13/2000 RUSNAFTAIMPEX …
-240,000.00 Total Commissions - Russia -240,000.00
Agent Commissions Check
11/20/2000 RUSNAFTAIMPEX … -317,764.5678
It is clear that these payments did not go
into the Iraq Escrow Account at BNP Paribas for the benefit of the Iraqi people. What is
less clear is where the money went once it was wired to bank accounts in Switzerland and
Cyprus. Reading the terms of the June 10, 2000 agency agreement between Bayoil and
Haverhill and the subsequent July 11, 2000 agreement between Bayoil and Rusnaftaimpex en
toto, Bayoil was obligated to compensate Rusnaftaimpex at a rate of 2? per barrel for
acting as the purchasing agent for Contract M/08/85. As such, Rusnaftaimpex was entitled
to $160,180.28 (8,009,014 barrels x 2?). After the deduction of the $160,180.38 due to
Rusnaftaimpex, $1,761,983.08 remains unaccounted for.
Based on SOMO’s documents and the
testimony of senior members of the former Hussein regime, the logical conclusion to be
drawn is that the remaining funds inured to the benefit of the allocation holder.79 If such is the case, the Subcommittee estimates that $1,761,983.08 went
to the benefit of Sergey Issakov on behalf of the Russian Presidential Council in
connection with Contract M/08/85:
Table 3: Estimated
Division of Bayoil’s Payments Between Haverhill/Rusnaftaimpex and the Russian
Presidential
Council in connection with Contract
M/08/85.
Shipment Number of Barrels Lifted Rate of Payment to
Haverhill & Rusnaftaimpex Payments to Haverhill & Rusnaftaimpex Suspected Amount
Paid to the Benefit of the Russian Presidential Council
1 1,883,963 2? a barrel $37,679.26 $414,471.86
2 1,857,303 2? a barrel $37,146.06 $408,606.66
3 1,943,729 2? a barrel $38,874.58 $427,620.38
4 2,324,019 2? a barrel $46,480.38 $511,284.18
Totals: $160,180.28 $1,761,983.0880
The suspected payment of $1,761,983.08 to
Mr. Issakov on behalf of the Russian Presidential Council under contract M/08/85 accounts
for the 8,009,014 barrels lifted by Bayoil, and does not account for the 6 million barrels
of Kirkuk crude also contracted for under Contract M/08/85. SOMO documents indicate that a
total of 14,000,000 barrels were lifted under M/08/85.81 Therefore,
depending on the terms of the deal struck between Rusnaftaimpex and whichever company
lifted the Kirkuk oil, there were likely to have been substantial additional payments in
favor of the Russian Presidential Council in excess of the $1,761,983.08 resulting from
payments made by Bayoil.
There is no evidence that any
“surcharge” payments were made to the Hussein regime in connection with Contract
M/08/85. Contract M/08/85 was executed prior to September 1, 2000 (the date that the
Hussein regime first imposed “surcharges” on oil contracts). A possible explanation
for the absence of any surcharge payments on Contract M/08/85 is found in a memorandum
written by a SOMO official explaining the origin and initial implementation of the
surcharge demand:
A decision was made in
August 2000 to impose a surcharge of 10? per barrel for all markets (as of mid phase (8)
and until the end of the phase) on the shipments that will be lifted as of September 1,
2000.
* * *
[S]ome of these parties
declined to pay the surcharge in phase (8) claiming that the payment notification for the
shipments lifted on September 1, 2000 came late, and that they had already sold the
quantities allocated to them to other companies before they had been told to pay;
therefore, they were unable to pay 10? per barrel.82
Although two of the four Bayoil liftings
occurred after September 1, 2000, there is no indication that any of Bayoil’s payments
to Haverhill and Rusnaftaimpex were in satisfaction of surcharge demands.
Finally, other SOMO documents indicate
that no surcharge payments were made in connection with Contract M/08/85.83
C. The Third Allocation (Phase 9:
December 6, 2000 to July 3, 2001)
There was no approved list of allocations
at the beginning of Phase 9, which commenced on December 6, 2000. This was due to the fact
that the Hussein regime had begun to demand 10? per barrel “surcharges” on oil
purchases lifted after September 1, 2000, and since many companies refused to pay, SOMO
was instructed to sign contracts with any company willing to pay the surcharge.84 Sergey Issakov was apparently willing to comply with the surcharge
demand and he traveled to Iraq to sign a contract on behalf of Rosnefteimpex. Contract
M/09/2585 was executed in Baghdad on January 17, 2001 between
Rosnefteimpex and SOMO and was signed by Mr. Issakov as “Adviser to General Director”
of Rosnefteimpex.86 Contract M/09/25 was approved by the U.N. Oil
Overseers on January 18, 2001.87 Mr. Issakov was personally involved
in the negotiations between Rosnefteimpex and Bayoil in relation to Contract M/09/25, and
specifically demanded that Bayoil pay high premiums as part of the deal:
To: Bayoil
Re: Shipment of Basrah Light crude in April-May-June M/t <<Stavros>> B/L
3.04.01
M/t <<Mariner>> Laycan May 14th and about 2,000,000 bbls loading in June
(Subject agreement of SOMO) Att: Mr. David Chalmer [sic],
President
Dear Sirs,
Taking into account the relationships between our companies and also the fact that your
company is one of the important Suppliers of crude oil to US and European Consumers, we
would like to continue our collaboration. Subject agreement with Supplier we propose to
you above quantities and any other quantities within this period. We consider that after
last decision of OPEC to cut crude oil output, crude oil market improved and we have
intention to cooperate with your company for promotion purposes of Iraqi oil to the
market.
Having in mind the above we would like to
receive higher trading benefit after selling of crude oil on the market at the level of
not less than USD 0.35 per each barrel. In case your agreement we are ready to conclude
respective deal with your company.
We expect your answer.
Best regards, S. Issakov88
The fee arrangement between Bayoil,
Rusnaftaimpex, and Haverhill (established in connection with Contract M/08/85) continued
during Contract M/09/25, as referenced in an invoice relating to Bayoil’s first lifting
under the contract. On April 3, 2001, the vessel Stavros G.L. lifted 250,000
barrels of Basrah Light crude under Contract M/09/25.89 In
connection with that lifting, on April 25, 2001, Rusnaftaimpex invoiced Bayoil for $87,500
(250,000 barrels at 35? a barrel) that was owed under the “Contract dated July 11, 2000,
addendum No 2 dated 18 January 2001.”90 Tellingly, Rusnaftaimpex
instructed Bayoil to pay the money into an account in favor of Haverhill and not
into an account in its own favor, which is further evidence of a close association between
the two entities. Bayoil made this first payment relating to Contract M/09/25 to a bank
account in Haverhill’s name at the Hellenic Bank Ltd. in Cyprus on May 2, 2001.91 For unknown reasons beginning with Contract M/09/25, Bayoil ceased to
refer to these payments as “Commissions - Russia” in its ledgers, as it had done with
the payments it made under Contract M/08/85 in the previous phase. Instead, Bayoil’s
ledgers list the payments to Haverhill as “Crude Purchases.”92 Another
departure from Contract M/08/85 was that Bayoil ceased to take note of these payments in
its internal pricing worksheets. All references to “premiums” and “Price Premium
Over” the official sales price are notably absent from Bayoil’s internal documents
relating to Contract M/09/25.
In total, Bayoil completed 4 shipments of
oil under Contract M/09/25 and lifted a total of 6,271,688 barrels of Basrah Light crude.93 As was the case with Bayoil’s first shipment under Contract M/09/25,
after each subsequent shipment Haverhill invoiced Bayoil for the “fee” that it was
owed pursuant to the terms of the July 11, 2001 contract.94 As
detailed in the table below, Bayoil made payments totaling $2,140,039.62 in connection
with Contract M/09/25 to accounts in Haverhill’s name at the Hellenic Bank:
Table 4: Bayoil
Payments to Haverhill in connection with Contract M/09/25.
Shipment Date of Lifting Number of Barrels
Lifted Rate of Payment to Haverhill Destination of Shipment Payments to Haverhill
1 04/03/01 250,000 35? a barrel North
America $87,500.00
2 04/19/01 2,160,986 30? a barrel95 Europe $651,295.80
3 05/20/01 1,860,777 35? a barrel North
America $651,271.95
4 07/13/01 1,999,925 37.5? a barrel North
America $749,971.87
Total Payments96 from Bayoil to Haverhill
for in Connection with Contract M/09/25: (2,160,986 barrels @ 30? a barrel; 2,110,777 @
35? a barrel; 1,999,925 @ 37.5? a barrel) $2,140,039.62
As is plainly evident from the table, the
rate of payment to Haverhill was lower for the shipment that was bound for the European
market. That difference corresponds to the fact that the Hussein regime charged a lower
surcharge rate for shipments destined for the European market than for shipments destined
for the North American market.
Unlike Contract M/08/85, the evidence
indicates that surcharges were paid to the Hussein regime in connection with Contract
M/09/25, and these surcharges were substantial. The liftings performed under Contract
M/09/25 occurred during the period when the Hussein regime charged 25? a barrel for
shipments destined for the European market and 30? a barrel for shipments destined for the
North American market. All the available evidence indicates that the Russian Presidential
Council/Rosnefteimpex/Haverhill paid the surcharges demanded in connection with Contract
M/09/25.
For instance, correspondence between
Bayoil and Rosnefteimpex indicates that the price calculation for the shipment on the
vessel Stavros G.L. included the surcharge amount: “This Contract or Agreement
should cover … m/t “Stavros” B/L 3.04.01 - 250 000 bbls of Basrah Light surcharge to
OSP 0,35 - 0,40 $/bbl.”97 Additionally, in March 2001
Rosnefteimpex made a request to SOMO to extend the expiration date of Contract M/09/25 and
to increase the quantity of oil under the contract in consideration for the surcharge
payments that Rosnefteimpex had made. An internal SOMO memorandum detailed the request:
To: [His Excellency] the
Executive Director
Re: Contract M/09/25 with Rosimpex [sic]
Russian Company (The Presidential Council)
* * *
4 - Rosnefteimpex company
requested to change the quantity of the contract to the following:
Basrah Kirkuk Total 4 2 6
to be lifted in April/May 2001, and to extend the validity of the contract until
05/15/2001, taking into consideration that the company has settled both of the surcharge
amounts due to our embassy in Moscow as per the telephone conversation with their
representative in Baghdad.98
Furthermore, SOMO’s documents indicate
that all of the surcharges due in connection with Contract M/09/25 were paid. In total,
14,431,154 barrels were lifted under Contract M/09/25, 6,271,688 of which were lifted by
Bayoil.99 A total of $3,918,481.80 in surcharge payments was due to
Iraq, all of which was paid.100 Ipso facto, all of the surcharges
that were owed in connection with Bayoil’s lifitings under the contract were also paid.
The Subcommittee estimates that $1,773,457.10 of Bayoil’s payments into Haverhill’s
bank accounts at the Hellenic Bank was ultimately routed to the Hussein regime for the
satisfaction of surcharges:
Table 5: Estimated
Surcharge Payments Made in Connection with Bayoil’s Shipments Under Contract M/09/25.
Shipment Number of Barrels Lifted Destination of Shipment
Rate of Surcharge Surcharge Payments to Iraq
1 250,000 North America 30? a barrel $75,000.00
2 2,160,986 Europe 25? a barrel $540,246.50
3 1,860,777 North America 30? a barrel $558,233.10
4 1,999,925 North America 30? a barrel $599,977.50
Total Surcharge Payments from Bayoil Liftings Under Contract M/09/25: $1,773,457.10
The surcharge payments that were drawn
from Bayoil’s payments to Haverhill do not account for all of the surcharge payments
made to Iraq in connection with Contract M/09/25. SOMO’s documents reflect that a total
of $3,918,543 in surcharges were paid to Iraq under Contract M/09/25, which indicates that
other unknown purchasing agents and/or oil companies made surcharge payments amounting to
$2,145,085.90 for their portion of the oil lifted under the contract.101 Once
the surcharge payments have been taken into account, the question remains as to what
happened to the remainder of the payments made by Bayoil to Haverhill in connection with
Contract M/09/25. Under the terms of the prior contracts between Bayoil and Rusnaftaimpex
dated July 11,
83 Id. (excerpts relating to Contract M/08/85). In the row that
lists the surcharge rate for Contract M/08/85, it states “what has been paid is higher
than.” In no other part of Attachment 4 is such an entry made. The meaning of the
notation is unknown.
2000,102 Bayoil was
obligated to compensate Rusnaftaimpex at a rate of 2? per barrel for being the purchasing
agent. As such, Rusnaftaimpex was owed $125,433.76 (6,271,688 barrels @ 2? a barrel). Once
Rusnaftaimpex’s fees have been deducted from the amount paid by Bayoil to Haverhill,
there remains a balance of $241,148.76. Based on SOMO’s documents and the testimony of
senior members of the former Hussein regime, the logical conclusion to be drawn is that
those remaining funds were paid to the allocation holder.103 If that
is the case, the Subcommittee estimates that $241,148.76 went to the benefit of Sergey
Issakov on behalf of the Russian Presidential Council in connection with Contract M/09/25:
Table 6: Estimated
Division of Bayoil’s Payments Between Iraq, Rusnaftaimpex, and the Russian Presidential
Council in connection with Contract M/09/25.
Shipment Number of Barrels Lifted Surcharge Payments to
Iraq (25 or 30? a barrel) Payments to Rusnaftaimpex (2? a barrel) Suspected Payments for
the Benefit of the Russian Presidential Council 1 250,000 $75,000.00 $5,000.00
$7,500.00
2 2,160,986 $540,246.50 $43,219.72 $67,829.58
3 1,860,777 $558,233.10 $37,215.54 $55,823.31
4 1,999,925 $599,977.50 $39,998.50 $109,995.87
Totals: 6,271,688 $1,773,457.10 $125,433.76 $241,148.76104
The suspected payment of $241,148.76 to
Sergey Issakov on behalf of the Russian Presidential Council under Contract M/09/25
accounts only for such payments made on the 6,271,688 barrels lifted by Bayoil. SOMO
documents, however, indicate that a total of 14,431,154 barrels were lifted under Contract
M/09/25, and therefore what is not accounted for in the above table is any money that may
have been paid to the Russian Presidential Council in connection with the remaining
5,156,312 barrels that were lifted under Contract M/09/25. Depending on the terms of the
deal struck between Rusnaftaimpex and the company or companies that lifted the oil, there
may have been additional payments in favor of the Russian Presidential Council in excess
of the $241,148.76 resulting from payments made by Bayoil.
D. The Fourth Allocation (Phase 10:
July 4, 2001 to November 30, 2001)
The Hussein regime allocated 16 million
barrels to the Russian Presidential Council in Phase 10.105 On July
14, 2001 the Hussein regime executed Contract M/10/15 with Rosnefteimpex for 17 million
barrels -- 10 million barrels of Basrah Light crude and 7 million barrels of Kirkuk crude.106 SOMO documents indicate that the extra 1 million barrels included in
Contract M/10/15 was for the benefit of the Russian ambassador to Iraq, Vladimir
Titorenko.107 Other SOMO documents confirm that Sergey Issakov was
the point of contact for the allocation.108 The contract for 17
million barrels was executed in Baghdad by “Adviser to General Director” Sergey
Issakov on behalf of Rosnefteimpex.109 Contract M/10/15 was approved
by the U.N. Oil Overseers on July 24, 2001.110 Certain
correspondence connected with Contract M/10/15 provides additional evidence that there is
no discernable difference as to who controls the various entities conducting these
transactions. For instance, on August 21, 2001 Yuri Poukhov of Rosnefteimpex delivered an
invoice to Bayoil on Haverhill’s letterhead for the premium payment owed in connection
with a shipment of oil lifted under Contract M/10/15:
HAVERHILL TRADING LIMITED
23, ARISTIDOU STR., PIREAS, GREECE
To: Bayoil Supply and Trading Limited
Att: Mrs. Jean Johnston
CC: Mr. Ludmil Dionissiev Herebelow we are sending to you final invoices No. 03/17/08 for
m/t <<Magdelaine>> B/L 17.08.01 and No. 04/17/08 for m/t <<Stena
Convoy>> B/L 21.08.2001.
Best regards, Y. Poukhov111
The memorandum forwarded an invoice
charging Bayoil $683,501.25 for the Stena Convoy shipment.112 Prior
to that memorandum, all such invoices and other correspondence from Haverhill had been
delivered by Marios Kontemeniotis, the purported “director” of Haverhill. In response
to the letter from Mr. Poukhov, on September 13, 2001, Jean Johnston of Bayoil wrote a
memorandum to Rosnefteimpex to the attention of Mr. Kontemeniotis, although he
supposedly had no connection to the Russian oil trading company:
TO: Rosnefteimpex, Moscow
ATTN: Mr. Marios Kontemeniotis
FAX: 7095 979-6071
CC: Mr. Y. Poukhov
FROM: Jean Johnston
* * *
Dear Sirs:
With reference to your faxed invoices of today, please be advised following
payments have been made: Magdelaine (Your invoice no. 03/17/08) US $716,933.25 - value
August 20, 2001 Stena Convoy (Your invoice no. 04/17/08) US $683,501.25 - value Aug. 22,
2001
* * *
Best regards,
Jean Johnston113
Other correspondence illustrates that
Haverhill did not even prepare the invoices sent under its own letterhead. For example, a
letter from Rosnefteimpex to Bayoil indicates that Rosnefteimpex, and not Haverhill,
prepared an invoice to Bayoil in connection with Contract M/10/15:
To: Bayoil
Re: M/t <<Hellespont Capitol>> B/L 02.11.2001
Att: Mrs. Jean Johnston Date: 26.11.01
Dear Jean!
We are preparing invoice for above cargo. As soon as price differences are clear we will
present respective invoice.
* * *
Many thanks.
Best regards,
Y. Poukhov114
These documents are additional evidence
that Rosnefteimpex, Haverhill, and Rusnaftaimpex were not independent corporate entities
conducting oil transactions at arm’s length, but were related and acting in concert to
facilitate the payment of premiums on oil purchases under the Oil-for-Food Program, and in
many instances forwarding payments to the Hussein regime in satisfaction of
“surcharges.” In total, Bayoil completed 8 shipments of oil under Contract M/10/15 and
lifted a total of 12,828,688 barrels. After each shipment, Haverhill invoiced Bayoil for
the amount that it was owed.115 For Contract M/10/15, Bayoil paid a
premium of 37.5? per barrel for the first 6 shipments, 39.5? per barrel for the seventh
shipment, and 42.5? per barrel for the eighth and final shipment. In total, as detailed in
the table below, Bayoil made payments totaling $4,953,020.64 to Haverhill’s account at
Hellenic Bank in Nicosia in connection with Contract M/10/15:
Table 7: Bayoil
Payments to Haverhill in connection with Contract M/10/15.
Shipment Date of Lifting Number of Barrels Lifted Rate of
Payment to Haverhill Destination of Shipment Payments to Haverhill
1 08/01/01 200,000 37.5? a barrel North America $75,000.00
2 08/15/01 1,911,822 37.5? a barrel North America $716,933.25
3 08/21/01 1,822,670 37.5? a barrel North America $683,501.25
4 08/26/01 150,000 37.5? a barrel North America $56,250.00
5 09/08/01 2,356,360 37.5? a barrel North America $883,635.00
6 09/15/01 1,990,489 37.5? a barrel North America $746,433.38
7 10/09/01 2,586,824 39.5? a barrel North America $1,021,795.48
8 11/02/01 1,810,523 42.5? a barrel North America $769,472.28
Total Payments116 from
Bayoil to Haverhill in Connection with Contract M/10/15: (8,431,341 barrels @ 37.5? a
barrel; 2,586,824 @ 39.5? a barrel; 1,810,523 @ 42.5? a barrel) $4,953,020.64
The Subcommittee currently has no
explanation for the spike in the rate of premiums for the final two shipments on October
9, 2001 (39.5? a barrel) and November 2, 2001 (42.5? a barrel). All of Bayoil’s
shipments under Contract M/10/15 were destined for the North American market and therefore
carried a surcharge rate of 30? per barrel (see Table 8, below). As such, there was
no need to raise the price per barrel to account for any variance in the surcharge rate.
Contract M/10/15 was executed and performed during the surcharge period, and therefore
resulted in multiple payments to the Hussein regime. A letter from the Executive Director
of SOMO to the Minister of Oil noted that the surcharge payments due under Contract
M/10/15 were “Payable in one month from the date of loading.”117 Over
16 million barrels were lifted under Contract M/10/15, 12,828,688 of which were lifted by
Bayoil.118 SOMO’s documents indicate that all of the surcharges
due in connection with Contract M/10/15 were paid.119 Ipso facto,
all of the surcharges that were owed in connection with Bayoil’s lifitings under the
contract were also paid. The Subcommittee estimates that $3,848,606.40 of Bayoil’s
payments to Haverhill’s account at the Hellenic Bank were forwarded to the Hussein
regime for the satisfaction of surcharges:
Table 8: Estimated
Surcharge Payments Made in Connection with Bayoil’s Shipments Under Contract M/10/15.
Shipment Number of Barrels Lifted Destination of Shipment
Rate of Surcharge Surcharge Payments to Iraq
1 200,000 North America 30? a barrel $60,000.00
2 1,911,822 North America 30? a barrel $573,546.60
3 1,822,670 North America 30? a barrel $546,801.00
4 150,000 North America 30? a barrel $45,000.00
5 2,356,360 North America 30? a barrel $706,908.00
6 1,990,489 North America 30? a barrel $597,146.70
7 2,586,824 North America 30? a barrel $776,047.20
8 1,810,523 North America 30? a barrel $543,156.90
Total Surcharge Payments from Bayoil Liftings Under Contract M/10/15: $3,848,606.40
The surcharge payments that resulted from
Bayoil’s payments to Haverhill do not account for all of the surcharge payments made to
Iraq in connection with Contract M/10/15. SOMO’s documents reflect that approximately $5
million in surcharges were paid to Iraq under Contract M/10/15, which indicates that other
oil companies and/or purchasing agents made surcharge payments amounting to over $1
million for their portion of the oil lifted under the contract.120 Once
the surcharge payments have been deducted, the question remains as to what happened to the
remainder of the payments made by Bayoil into Haverhill’s bank account in connection
with Contract M/10/15. Under the terms of prior contracts, Bayoil was to compensate the
purchasing agent at a rate of 2? per barrel.121 As such, the
purchasing agent for Contract M/10/15 (either Rosnefteimpex or Rusnaftaimpex) was entitled
to keep $256,573.76 (12,828,688 barrels @ 2? a barrel). Once those fees have been
deducted, there remains a balance of $847,840.48. Based on SOMO’s documents and the
testimony of senior members of the former Hussein regime, the logical conclusion to be
drawn is that the remaining funds went to the allocation holder.122 If
such is the case, the Subcommittee therefore estimates that $847,840.48 went to the
benefit of Sergey Issakov on behalf of the Russian Presidential Council in connection with
Contract M/10/15:
Table 9: Estimated
Division of Bayoil’s Payments Between Iraq, Rosnefteimpex/Rusnaftaimpex, and the Russian
Presidential Council in connection with Contract M/10/15.
Shipment Number of Barrels Lifted Surcharge Payments to
Iraq (30? a barrel) Bayoil Payments to Purchasing Agent (2? a barrel) Suspected Payments
for the Benefit of the Russian Presidential Council
1 200,000 $60,000.00 $4,000.00 $11,000.00
2 1,911,822 $573,546.60 $38,236.44 $105,150.21
3 1,822,670 $546,801.00 $36,453.40 $100,246.85
4 150,000 $45,000.00 $3,000.00 $8,250.00
5 2,356,360 $706,908.00 $47,127.20 $129,599.80
6 1,990,489 $597,146.70 $39,809.78 $109,476.90
7 2,586,824 $776,047.20 $51,736.48 $194,011.80
8 1,810,523 $543,156.90 $36,210.46 $190,104.92
Totals: 12,828,688 $3,848,606.40 $256,573.76 $847,840.48123
The suspected payment of $847,840.48 to
Sergey Issakov on behalf of the Russian Presidential Council in connection with Contract
M/10/15 accounts only for the payments made in connection with the 12,828,688 barrels
lifted by Bayoil. SOMO documents indicate that over 16 million barrels were lifted under
that contract124 and therefore what is not accounted for here is any
money paid to the allocation holder in connection with the over 3 million barrels that
were lifted under Contract M/10/15 by companies other than Bayoil. Depending on the terms
of the deal struck between Rosnefteimpex and the company that lifted that oil, there would
likely have been additional payments in favor of the Russian Presidential Council in
excess of the $847,840.48 resulting from payments made by Bayoil.
E. The Fifth Allocation (Phase 11:
December 1, 2001 to May 29, 2002)
The Russian Presidential Council, through
Sergey Issakov, was awarded an allocation of 16 million barrels by the Hussein regime
during Phase 11.125 This allocation resulted in Contract M/11/05
between the Russian Engineering Company and SOMO. Contract M/11/05 was executed in Baghdad
on December 26, 2001 for 16 million barrels of oil -- 9 million barrels of Basrah Light
crude and 7 million barrels of Kirkuk crude.126 Sergey Issakov
executed the contract as chairman of the Russian Engineering Company.127 SOMO
documents indicate that, like Contract M/10/15, an extra 1 million barrels was included in
Contract M/10/15 for the benefit of the Russian ambassador to Iraq, Vladimir Titorenko.128 Contract M/11/05 was approved by the U.N. Oil Overseers on December
31, 2001.129 Unlike many of the contracts detailed in this Report,
Bayoil did not perform any liftings in connection with Contract M/11/05 and therefore the
Subcommittee has limited documentation as to what amounts, if any, were paid to the
benefit of the allocation holder. What is known is that the oil contracted for under
Contract M/11/05 was indeed lifted in 10 shipments between January and July 2002, and that
approximately 15 million barrels were lifted.130 F. The Sixth and
Seventh Allocations (Phase 12: May 30, 2002 to December 4, 2002) During Phase 12 the
Hussein regime made two allocations for the benefit of the Russian Presidential Council.
The first was to Sergey Issakov, an allocation that resulted in Contract M/12/69, and the
second was to the head of the Russian Presidential Council, Alexander Voloshin, which
resulted in Contract M/12/109.
1. The Sixth Allocation
The Russian Presidential Council, through
Sergey Issakov, was awarded an allocation of 12.5 million barrels by the Hussein regime
during Phase 12.131 This allocation resulted in Contract M/12/69
between the Russian Engineering Company and SOMO. Contract M/12/69 was executed in Baghdad
on July 20, 2002 and was originally for 1 million barrels of oil, but was subsequently
amended and increased to a total of 12.5 million barrels -- 6.5 million barrels of Basrah
Light crude and 6 million barrels of Kirkuk crude.132 Sergey Issakov
executed the contract as chairman of the Russian Engineering Company.133
As with Contract M/11/05, Bayoil did not
perform any liftings in connection with Contract
M/12/69 and therefore the Subcommittee has
limited documentation as to what amounts, if any, were paid to the benefit of allocation
holder. What is known is that the oil contracted for under Contract M/12/69 was indeed
lifted in 8 shipments between October and December 2002, and that 7,242,551 million
barrels were lifted.134 There is no evidence indicating that any
surcharges were paid to the Hussein regime in connection with Contract M/12/69.135 This is due to the fact that such surcharges had been cancelled for
all liftings that occurred after September 1, 2002,136 and that all
of the liftings performed under Contract M/12/69 occurred after that date.
2. The Seventh Allocation
On or about August 24, 2002, Taha Yasin
Ramadan, the Vice President of Iraq, approved a 3 million barrel allocation to the head of
the Russian Presidential Council -- Alexander Voloshin.137 A month
later, on September 24, 2002, Chertioukov Arkady of Impexoil LLC executed Contract
M/12/109 with SOMO for 3 million barrels of oil -- 2 million barrels of Basrah Light crude
and 1 million barrels of Kirkuk crude.138 Sergei Tumanov of Impexoil
forwarded the contract to the U.N. on September 26 and the contract was approved by the
U.N. Oil Overseers on the same day.139 On the same day, the Acting
General Director of SOMO sought the approval of the Minister of Oil for
Contract M/12/109, and indicated that the
Vice President of Iraq had approved the allocation:
To: [His Excellency] the Oil Minister
Re: Approval on Exported Crude Oil Contracts In compliance with the approval of the
vice-president of the republic, Mr. Taha Yasin Ramadan dated 8/24/2002 regarding the
allocation of (3) million barrels in phase (12) to Mr. Voloshin, head of the Russian
Presidential Council, please find below the details of the contract signed with Impexoil
Russian Company:
1 - Number of Contract: M/12/109 Date: 09/24/2002
2 - Name of Company Buyer: Impexoil LLC.
3 - Nationality: Russian
4 - Quantity & Quality: (3) million barrels divided as follows:
(2) million barrels of Al-Basrah light crude oil FOB Al-Bakrt terminal
(1) million barrels of Kirkuk crude oil FOB Ceyhan terminal
* * *
For your review and
approval, please. 140
The Minister of Oil approved Contract
M/12/109 on September 28.141 Another internal SOMO document noted
that the contract was “on behalf of the Russian Presidential Council,” but that the
point of contact was Chertioukov Arkady of Impexoil.142 With
Contract M/12/109 in place, Mr. Tumanov of Impexoil made the following offer to Bayoil on
October 2, 2002:
BAYOIL October 2nd, 2002
Attn: MR. LUDMIL DIONISSIEV
Ref: PHASE 12 Contract with SOMO for the procurement of Iraqi Oil
Dear Mr. Dionissiev,
Further to our discussions we would like to offer the following quantities of Iraqi crude
oil allocated to our company under Contract M/12/109 UN Program.
2’000’000 barrels of Basrah Light Oil ex Mina Al Bakr 1’000’000 barrels of Kirkuk
Crude Oil ex Ceyhan The period of lifting - October 2002 at your options Price - OSP + US
Dollars 0.06 Letter of Credit is at your expense. We would very much appreciate your
comments and are always open for discussions.
Your prompt reply will be highly appreciated Sincerely yours, S. Tumanov Director for
Iraqi Projects143
Bayoil responded to Impexoil’s letter on
the same day and accepted the offer to purchase 2 million barrels of Basrah Light crude
and to pay 6? per barrel over the official sale price.144 Bayoil
requested that Impexoil extend its offer on the Kirkuk crude until early the next week.
Thereafter, on October 4, 2002, Impexoil and Bayoil entered into a contract for the
purchase and sale of 2 million barrels of Basrah Light crude wherein Bayoil would pay a
“commission” of 6? per barrel.145 Bayoil completed the first of
its three liftings under Contract M/12/109 on October 16, 2002 in an amount of 1,340,073
barrels. Impexoil invoiced Bayoil on October 30, 2002 for $80,404.38 (1,340,073 barrels @
6? a barrel) and directed that the payment be made into an account at the Cyprus Popular
Bank Ltd. in Nicosia, Cyprus.146 Impexoil invoiced Bayoil for
payments due after the remaining two shipments as well.147 In total,
as detailed in the table below, Bayoil made payments totaling $182,267.94 into
Impexoil’s account at the Cyprus Popular Bank in connection with Contract M/12/109:
Table 10: Bayoil
Payments to Impexoil in connection with Contract M/12/109.
Shipment Date of Lifting Number of Barrels Lifted Rate of
Payment to Impexoil Payments to Impexoil
1 10/16/02 1,340,073 6? a barrel $80,404.38
2 12/02/02 660,000 6? a barrel $39,600.00
3 12/18/02 1,037,726 6? a barrel $62,263.56
Total Payments148 from
Bayoil to Impexoil in Connection with Contract M/12/109: (3,037,799 barrels @ 6? a barrel)
$182,267.94
There is no evidence indicating that any
surcharges were paid to the Hussein regime in connection with Contract M/12/109.149 This is due to the fact that such surcharges had been cancelled for
liftings that occurred after September 1, 2002150 and all of the
liftings performed under Contract M/12/109 occurred after that date.
The ultimate destination of the
$182,267.94 paid by Bayoil into Impexoil’s account at the Cyprus Popular Bank is not
definitively known. Unlike Bayoil’s prior fee arrangements with Rusnaftaimpex/Haverhill
wherein Bayoil agreed to pay the purchasing agent 2? per barrel, the Subcommittee does not
have an analogous contract outlining any such arrangement between Bayoil and Impexoil, and
therefore does not have direct evidence relating to the division of the premium payments
between the purchasing agent and the allocation holder. Based upon the testimony of senior
members of the former Hussein regime, however, the purpose of awarding oil allocations was
for the financial benefit of the allocation holder.151 The logical
conclusion is that some or all of the $182,267.94 went to the allocation holder --
Alexander Voloshin, as head of the Russian Presidential Council. If such is the case and
on the assumption that Impexoil was compensated at the same rate as Haverhill and
Rusnaftaimpex (2? a barrel), the Subcommittee estimates that $121,511.96 went to the
benefit of Alexander Voloshin in connection with Contract M/12/109:
Table 11: Estimated
Division of Bayoil’s Payments Between Impexoil and the Russian Presidential Council in
connection with Contract M/12/109.
Shipment Number of Barrels Lifted Assumed Rate of Payment
to Impexoil Suspected Payments to Impexoil Suspected Payments to the Russian Presidential
Council
1 1,340,073 2? a barrel $26,801.46 $53,602.92
2 660,000 2? a barrel $13,200.00 $26,400
3 1,037,726 2? a barrel $20,754.52 $41,509.04
Totals: $60,755.98 $121,511.96152
G. The Eighth and Ninth Allocations
(Phase 13: December 5, 2002 to June 3, 2003)
During Phase 13 the Hussein regime made
two allocations for the benefit of the Russian Presidential Council. The first was to the
“Head of the Russian Presidential Council,” Alexander Voloshin, which resulted in
Contract M/13/33. The second was to Sergey Issakov, which did not ultimately result in a
contract.
1. The Eighth Allocation
For the last phase of the Oil-for-Food
Program, a total of 2 million barrels were allocated to the “Head of the Russian
Presidential Council,” Mr. Voloshin.153 On December 17, 2002,
Contract M/13/33 was executed between Impexoil and SOMO for a quantity of 350,000 barrels
of Basrah Light crude.154 The contract was forwarded to the U.N. Oil
Overseers for approval on December 19, 2002 and was approved on the same day.155 On December 25, 2002, an internal SOMO memorandum indicated that the
“party benefiting” from the oil allocation was the “Head of the Russian Presidential
Council”:
To: The Financial Department
From: Crude Oil Marketing First Department Date: 12/25/02
RE: Contract No. M/13/33 Signed with Impexoil LLC Company
On 12/12/02, we signed a contract with the aforesaid company to supply it with quantity of
crude oil as per the following terms:
1 - Number of Contract: M/13/33
2 - Date: 12/12/2002
3 - Name of Company: Impexoil LLC.
4 - Nationality: Russian Nationality of Allocation Holder: Russian
5 - Party Benefiting from Allocation: Head of the Russian Presidential Council
6 - Quantity & Quality: (2) million barrels of Basrah light FOB Al-Bakr terminal,
including (1.650) million barrels that were lifted as per contract M/12/109
* * *
Please be informed and act
accordingly.156
Notably, this letter makes reference to a
prior contract -- M/12/109 -- that was executed in connection with a separate allocation
given to Mr. Voloshin during the previous phase. Another reference to Mr. Voloshin was
made a few days later, when the volume of oil was increased for Contract M/13/33. On
January 2, 2003 the Director General of SOMO sent a memorandum to Impexoil to the
attention of “Mr. A. Voloshin.” The memorandum approved an amendment to the original
contract to allow an additional 1 million barrels to be lifted:
REPUBLIC OF IRAQ
MINISTRY OF OIL
STATE OIL MARKETING
SOMO
DATE: 2/1/2003
TO: IMPEXOIL LLC - MOSCOW - RUSSIA
FAX: 7095 9562615
ATTN: MR. A. VOLOSHIN
RE: CRUDE CONTRACT M/13/33 DATED 17.12.2002
WE ARE PLEASED TO ATTACH HEREWITH ADDENDUM NO. (1) TO THE AFOREMENTIONED CONTRACT. IT IS
TO BE SIGNED BY MR. VLADIMIR EFROS (DIRECTOR) AND TO BE FAXED BACK TO SOMO AND TO THE U.N.
OIL OVERSEERS FOR APPROVAL.157
Addendum number one to Contract M/13/33
was executed by Impexoil and the volume of oil contracted for under M/13/33 was increased
to a total of 1,350,000 barrels. Impexoil forwarded the amendment to the U.N. Oil
Overseers on January 8, 2003 and the amendment was approved on the same day.158
Bayoil lifted the original contract amount of 350,000 barrels on January 10 aboard
the Hellespont Grand.159
On January 22 Impexoil invoiced Bayoil for
$17,500 (the equivalent of only 5? per barrel on 350,000 barrels),160 which
Bayoil paid the next day.161 The ultimate destination of the $17,500
paid by Bayoil to Impexoil is not definitively known. Unlike the arrangement between
Bayoil and Rusnaftaimpex wherein Bayoil agreed to pay Rusnaftaimpex 2? per barrel, the
Subcommittee does not have an analogous contract outlining any such arrangement between
Bayoil and Impexoil, and therefore does not have direct evidence relating to the division
of the premium payment between the allocation holder and the purchasing agent. Based upon
the testimony of senior members of the former Hussein regime, however, the purpose of
awarding oil allocations was for the financial benefit of the allocation holder.162 The logical conclusion is that some or all of the $17,500 went to the
allocation holder. If such is the case and on the assumption that Impexoil was compensated
at the same rate as Haverhill and Rusnaftaimpex (2? a barrel), the Subcommittee estimates
that $10,500 went to the benefit of Alexander Voloshin in connection with Contract
M/13/33:
Table 12: Estimated
Division of Bayoil’s Payments Between Impexoil and the Russian Presidential Council in
connection with Contract M/13/33.
Shipment Number of Barrels Lifted Assumed
Rate of Payment to Impexoil Suspected Payment to Impexoil Suspected Payment to the Russian
Presidential Council
1 350,000 2? a barrel $7,000.00 $10,500.00
Totals: $7,000.00 $10,500.00163
The suspected payment of $10,500 to Mr.
Voloshin as head of the Russian Presidential Council under Contract M/13/33 accounts only
for payments made on the 350,000 barrels lifted by Bayoil. SOMO documents, however,
indicate that approximately 900,000 barrels were lifted under Contract M/13/33,164 and therefore what is not accounted for here is any money that may
have been paid to Mr. Voloshin in connection with the remaining 550,000 barrels that were
lifted under Contract M/13/33. Depending on the terms of the deal struck between Impexoil
the oil company that lifted the remaining 550,000 barrels, there may have been additional
payments to Mr. Voloshin in excess of the $10,500 resulting from payments made by Bayoil.
There is no evidence indicating that any
surcharges were paid to the Hussein regime in connection with Contract M/13/33.165 This is due to the fact that such surcharges had been cancelled for
all liftings that occurred after September 1, 2002166 and the single
lifting performed under Contract M/13/33 occurred after that date.
2. The Ninth Allocation
According to SOMO documents, Sergey
Issakov was granted an allocation of 5 million barrels in Phase 13 on behalf of the
Russian Presidential Council.167 There is no evidence, however, that
a contract was executed in furtherance of that allocation.
III. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
Based on the foregoing, the Subcommittee
estimates that a total of $2,982,984.28 was ultimately paid to the benefit of the Russian
Presidential Council, through either Sergey Issakov or the former head of the Council,
Alexander Voloshin. The Subcommittee also estimates that $5,622,063.50 was paid to the
Hussein regime in the form of surcharges resulting from these transactions. Finally, the
Subcommittee concludes that the nominal purchasing agents involved in the transactions
detailed herein were paid $609,943.78. This estimate encompasses only those profits
derived from transactions where Bayoil lifted oil, namely the transactions related to
Contracts M/08/85, M/09/25, M/10/15, M/12/109, and M/13/33:
Table 13: Estimated
Division of Bayoil’s Payments Between Iraq, the Designated Purchasing Agents, and the
ussian Presidential Council in connection with Contracts M/08/85, M/09/25, M/10/15,
M/12/109, and M/13/33.
Contract Number of Barrels Lifted Surcharge Payments to
Iraq (25-30¢ a barrel) Bayoil Payments to Purchasing Agent (2¢ a barrel) Suspected
Payments for the Benefit of the Russian Presidential Council
M/08/85 8,009,014 --- $160,180.28 $1,761,983.08
M/09/25 6,271,688 $1,773,457.10 $125,433.76 $241,148.76
M/10/15 12,828,688 $3,848,606.40 $256,573.76 $847,840.48
M/12/109 3,037,799 --- $60,755.98 $121,511.96
M/13/33 350,000 --- $7,000.00 $10,500.00
Totals: 30,497,189 $5,622,063.50 $609,943.78 $2,982,984.28
-----------------------
1 The phrase “Oil-for-Food Program” refers to the
humanitarian aid program implemented pursuant to U.N. Security Council Resolution 986,
dated April 14, 1995, and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat and the
Government of Iraq dated May 20, 1996. Throughout this Report, the Oil-for-Food Program
may be called the “Program” and the “OFF Program.”
2 The term “Bayoil” refers to the
Houston-based oil trading company Bayoil (USA) Inc., as well as its subsidiaries and
affiliates, such as Bayoil Supply and Trading Limited, Bayoil Technologies, and Bayoil SA.
3 Subcommittee interviews of Deputy Prime
Minister Tariq Aziz, April 21, 2005, Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan, April 18, 2005,
and Senior Hussein Regime Official No. 1, April 14, 2005. Terrorist individuals and
entities who received allocations include the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, Abu Abbas, and the Mujahedin-e Khalq.
4 Subcommittee interviews of Deputy Prime
Minister Tariq Aziz, April 21, 2005 and Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan, April 18, 2005.
5 Subcommittee interview of Deputy Prime Minister
Tariq Aziz, April 21, 2005; Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on
Iraq’s WMD dated September 30, 2004, Volume 1 (“Duelfer Report”), p. 31.
6 Subcommittee interview of Deputy Prime
Minister Tariq Aziz, April 21, 2005.
7 Id.
8 Subcommittee interview of Senior Hussein
Regime Official No. 1, April 14, 2005.
9 Id.
10 Subcommittee interview of Vice
President Taha Yasin Ramadan, April 18, 2005.
11 Subcommittee interview of Senior Hussein
Regime Official No. 2, April 20, 2005 and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, April 21,
2005.
12 Duelfer Report, p. 31.
13 The Unified Russia Party currently holds
37% of the seats in the State Duma. The next highest percentage is held by the Communist
Party, which holds 12% (December 7, 2003 election results). CIA World Factbook (2005).
14 Subcommittee interview of Deputy Prime
Minister Tariq Aziz, April 21, 2005.
15 Subcommittee interview of Vice President Taha
Yasin Ramadan, April 18, 2005.
16 Various sources have alternatively referred
to this entity as the “Presidential Administration” and the “Presidential Executive
Office.” Since the former Hussein regime referred to it as the “Presidential
Council” this Report will, for the sake of consistency and clarity, use that
terminology. It is unclear whether the activities of the Russian individuals and political
parties detailed in this Report violate Russian law. See Memorandum from the
Library of Congress, Law Library, Eastern Law Division, “Legality of Russian Business
Under the Oil for Food Program,” LL File No. 2005-01892, May 6, 2005.
17 Voloshin, power behind the throne in two
Kremlin administrations, Agence France Presse, October 30, 2003; Key Kremlin Figure
Removed, BBC News, October 30, 2003.
18 European Press Review, BBC News,
citing Austria’s Der Standard, October 30, 2003; Nikolai Gorshkov, Kremlin
‘coup’ forces key Putin choice, BBC News, October 29, 2003.
19 Rafael Baer, Power Behind the Throne -
Alexander Voloshin, Financial Times, May 17, 2003.
20 Id.
21 Subcommittee interview of Vice
President Taha Yasin Ramadan, April 18, 2005.
22 Subcommittee interviews of Senior Hussein
Regime Official No. 1, April 14, 2005 and Senior Hussein Regime
Official No. 2, April 20, 2005.
23 Subcommittee interview of Senior Hussein
Regime Official No. 2, April 20, 2005.
24 Subcommittee interview of Deputy Prime
Minister Tariq Aziz, April 21, 2005.
25 Id.
26 Subcommittee interview of Senior
Hussein Regime Official No. 1, April 14, 2005.
27 Id.
28 Russian firms continue to dominate
Iraqi crude sales, Lloyd’s List, July 27, 2001.
29 Contract between Rosnefteimpex and SOMO
designated M/10/15 dated July 14, 2001 (See II. D., infra).
30 Press Release from Russian Foreign
Ministry: “On Russia’s Initiative to Hold a Session of the U.N. Security Council Iraq
Sanctions Committee” dated August 16, 2002.
31 Subcommittee interview of Deputy Prime
Minister Tariq Aziz, April 21, 2005.
32 Subcommittee interview of Senior Hussein
Regime Official No. 2, April 20, 2005.
33 Subcommittee interview of Senior Hussein
Regime Official No. 1, April 14, 2005.
34 Id.
35 Memorandum of SOMO official titled
“Allocations and Sales of Crude Oil in the Phases of the Memorandum of Understanding
(1996-2003)” dated February 19, 2004 (“SOMO Memorandum”), Attachment 4 titled “The
Surcharge.”
36 Memorandum from the Crude Oil Marketing
Second Department to the Financial Department dated March 24, 2001; SOMO Memorandum dated
February 19, 2004, Attachment 4.
37 SOMO Memorandum dated February 19, 2004,
Attachment 4.
38 U.S. Treasury Iraqi Financial Asset Team
interview #12 of former regime official, February 1, 2004.
39 U.S. Treasury Iraqi Financial Asset Team
interview #15 of former regime official, January 27, 2004.
40 U.S. Treasury Iraqi Financial Asset Team
interview #19 of former regime official, November 29, 2003.
41 U.S. Treasury Iraqi Financial Asset Team
interview #32 of former regime official, November 29, 2003. The practice of depositing
surcharge payments at the Iraqi embassy was recently confirmed by another former regime
official. Subcommittee interview of Senior Hussein Regime Official No. 2, April 20, 2005.
42 SOMO Memorandum dated February 19, 2004,
Attachment 5 titled “The Role of Russian Companies During the Phases of the Memorandum
of Understanding,” Table 1 titled “Quantities of Crude Oil Allocated to the Companies
during the Phases of the Memorandum of Understanding.”
43 See
http://www.rosneft.ru/english/company/history.html (website for Rosneft).
44 Alexei Sukhodoyev, Oil Company Promises
to be in the Focus of News, RusData DiaLine - BizEkon News, December 14, 1995; Russia
- The Export Coordinators, APS Review Oil Market Trends, August 21, 2000.
45 JSC ‘Rosneft’ sells its stakes in
JSC ‘GIVTsneftegaz’, JSC ‘Rosneft-Central Design Office ASUnefteproduct’ and JSC
‘Rosnefteimpex’, Skrin Market and Corporate News, February 26, 2003.
46 Greg Walters, Valeria Korchagina, CIA:
Russia Got Rich Violating Sanctions, Moscow Times, October 8, 2004; Ben Wetherall, Russian
Companies Dismiss CIA ‘Oil for Food’ Allegations, World Markets Analysis, October
8, 2004.
47 Russian Airline Applies to Run
Moscow-Baghdad Flights, BBC WorldwideMonitoring, April 13, 1998.
48 See, letter from Rosnefteimpex to
Bayoil dated July 12, 2000 (SNT 015621) (listing both companies at the same address).
49 See, http://www.rectrade.ru/index.php
(website for Russian Engineering Company). The Russian Engineering Company also sold
over $121 million in goods to Iraq under the Program between Phase 7 and 13. See Table
4, “Humanitarian Goods and Oil Spares Purchases by Vendor & Vendor Country per Phase
for Central & Southern Regions of Iraq (Sorted by Vendor),” published by the
Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme on October
21, 2004, p. 41.
50 Ciao Baby: Russia Confirmed as Top
Lifter of Saddam Oil Contracts, Nefte Compass, October 14, 2004.
51 Baghdad Boys: Iraq Rewards Russian
Steadfastness, Nefte Compass, February 13, 2002.
52 Vnukovo Airlines opens office in Baghdad,
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, February 17, 1998.
53 Duelfer Report, p. 198. The Subcommittee
has discovered very little information about Impexoil.
54 Report from International Company
Profile on Haverhill.
55 Id.
56 Id.
57 Memorandum from the Executive Director
of SOMO to the Minister of Oil dated October 5, 1999; SOMO Memorandum dated February 19,
2004, Attachment 5, Table 1; Duelfer Report, p. 175.
58 Contract between Rosneft and SOMO
designated M/06/54 dated June 5, 1999.
59 U.N. Oil Overseers approval of Contract
M/06/54 dated June 10, 1999.
60 SOMO invoice statements for Contract
M/06/54; Duelfer Report, p. 175.
61 Memorandum from Haverhill to Bayoil dated
June 10, 2000 (SNT 015625).
62 SOMO chart titled “Statement of
Allocations for the Phase Subsequent to Phase (7)” dated June 14, 2000.
63 Id.
64 Contract between Rosnefteimpex and SOMO
designated M/08/85 dated July 4, 2000.
65 Id. Bayoil did not lift any of the
Kirkuk oil in connection with Contract M/08/85, and it is not known which company or
companies did.
66 Letter from the Executive Director of SOMO
to the Minister of Oil dated July 5, 2000 (emphasis added).
67 U.N. Oil Overseers approval of Contract
M/08/85 dated July 10, 2000.
68 Contract between Bayoil and Rusnaftaimpex
dated July 11, 2000 (unexecuted) (SNT 014953-955).
69 Contract between Bayoil and Rusnaftaimpex
dated July 11, 2000 (executed) (SNT 017014-017). Yet another version of this contract
mirrors the terms of the other two versions, but names Bayoil and Rosnefteimpex as the
parties and was executed by D.I. Kossarev as Deputy Director General of Rosnefteimpex (SNT
015622-624). It is unclear why there were multiple iterations of this contract.
70 Addendum No. 1 to contract dated July 11,
2000 between Rusnaftaimpex and Bayoil (SNT 017013).
71 Wire transfer request from Bayoil to Credit
Agricole Indosuez SA (Geneva) dated July 14, 2000 (SNT 015735).
72 Wire transfer request from Bayoil to Credit
Agricole Indosuez SA (Geneva) dated August 25, 2000 (SNT 015706).
73 SOMO invoice statements for Contract
M/08/85.
74 Invoices from Rusnaftaimpex to Bayoil for
pre-shipment payments related to Contract M/08/85 (SNT 014950, 016308, 016998).
75 Invoices from Rusnaftaimpex to Bayoil for
post-shipment payments related to Contract M/08/85 (SNT 015708, 015053, 016286, 017115).
76 Bayoil Transaction Detail By Account for Licorne
Pacifique (B/L August 3, 2000), Tina (B/L August 12, 2000), Berge Chief (B/L
September 12, 2000), and Olympia Spirit (B/L October 21, 2000).
77 Wire transfer request from Bayoil to Banque
Cantonale Vaudoise dated July 14, 2000 regarding pre-payment of $240,000 to Haverhill (SNT
015735); Wire transfer request from Bayoil to Banque Cantonale Vaudoise dated August 2,
2000 regarding pre-payment of $240,000 to Rusnaftaimpex (SNT 015050); See also,
Bayoil’s internal pricing tables for calculating the price-per-barrel wherein the 24? is
calculated into the price as a “premium” (SNT 015704).
78 See Bayoil Transaction Detail By
Account for Licorne Pacifique, Tina, Berge Chief, and Olympia
Spirit.
79 Subcommittee interviews of Deputy Prime
Minister Tariq Aziz, April 21, 2005, Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan, April 18, 2005,
Senior Hussein Regime Official No. 1, April 14, 2005, and Senior Hussein Regime Official
No. 2, April 20, 2005; U.S. Treasury Iraqi Financial Asset Team interviews of former
regime officials, February 1, 2004 (#12) and January 27, 2004 (#15).
80 This figure amounts to 22? per barrel on
the 8,009,014 barrels lifted by Bayoil under Contract M/08/85.
81 SOMO Memorandum dated February 19, 2004,
Attachment 5, Table 2 titled “Quantities of Crude Oil Lifted by the Companies and
Russian Parties during the Phases of the Memorandum of Understanding.”
82 SOMO Memorandum dated February 19, 2004,
Attachment 4.
84 SOMO table titled “Crude Oil Allocations
during Phase (9) of the Memorandum of Understanding;” Duelfer Report, p. 182.
85 Contract between Rosnefteimpex and SOMO
designated M/09/25 dated January 17, 2001.
86 The original volume for Contract M/09/25
was 6 million barrels, but that amount was subsequently increased to 16.35 million
barrels, of which 11.428 million barrels were ultimately lifted. SOMO memorandum from the
Crude Oil First Marketing Department to the Financial Department dated May 14, 2001; SOMO
chart titled “Crude Oil Purchases during Phase (9) of the Memorandum of
Understanding.”
87 U.N. Oil Overseers approval of Contract
M/09/25 dated January 18, 2001.
88 Facsimile from Rosnefteimpex to Bayoil
dated April 20, 2001 (SNT 020928) (emphasis added).
89 SOMO invoice statement for Contract
M/09/25.
90 Invoice from Rusnaftaimpex to Bayoil dated
April 25, 2001 (SNT 021260). Rusnaftaimpex billed Bayoil an additional $3,000 in this
invoice for unknown reasons.
91 Wire transfer request from Bayoil to BNP
Paribas (Suisse) SA (Geneva) dated May 2, 2001 (SNT 021259).
92 Bayoil Transaction Detail By Account for Stavros
G.L. (B/L April 3, 2001), Settebello (B/L April 19, 2001), Astro Beta (B/L
May 20, 2001), and Olympia Spirit (B/L July 13, 2001).
93 SOMO invoice statements for Contract
M/09/25.
94 Invoices from Haverhill to Bayoil for
payments related to Contract M/09/25 (SNT 019650, 020995, 022344).
95 The actual rate calculates to $0.301388 per
barrel.
96 Bayoil Transaction Detail By Account for Stavros
G.L. (B/L April 3, 2001), Settebello (B/L April 19, 2001), Astro Beta (B/L
May 20, 2001), and Olympia Spirit (B/L July 13, 2001).
97 Facsimile from Rosnefteimpex to Bayoil
dated April 17, 2001 (SNT 020929-931).
98 Memorandum from the Head of Crude Oil First Marketing Department
to the Executive Director of SOMO dated March 24, 2001 (emphasis added).
99 SOMO invoice statements for Contract
M/09/25.
100 SOMO Memorandum dated February 19, 2004,
Attachment 4 (excerpts relating to Contract M/09/25). It appears as though the parties
involved overpaid by a de minimis amount, $61.20.
101 Id.
102 Contract between Bayoil and
Rusnaftaimpex dated July 11, 2000 (SNT 014953-955); Contract between Bayoil and
Rusnaftaimpex dated July 11, 2000 (executed) (SNT 017014-017).
103 Subcommittee interviews of Deputy Prime
Minister Tariq Aziz, April 21, 2005, Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan, April 18, 2005,
Senior Hussein Regime Official No. 1, April 14, 2005, and Senior Hussein Regime Official
No. 2, April 20, 2005; U.S. Treasury Iraqi Financial Asset Team interviews of former
regime officials, February 1, 2004 (#12) and January 27, 2004 (#15).
104 This figure amounts to 3.845? per barrel
for the 6,271,688 barrels lifted by Bayoil under Contract M/09/25.
105 SOMO Memorandum dated February 19, 2004,
Attachment 5, Table 1; Duelfer Report, p. 185.
106 Contract between Rosnefteimpex and SOMO
designated M/10/15 dated July 14, 2001.
107 SOMO Memorandum dated February 19, 2004,
Attachment 5, Table 2.
108 Letter from the Crude Oil First Marketing
Department to the Financial Department dated July 18, 2001.
109 Contract between Rosnefteimpex and SOMO
designated M/10/15 dated July 14, 2001, at p. 10.
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