This will be interesting

Hat tip to ThreatsWatch:
According to an article published in the Los Angeles Times, Iraq is suing in the United States over the oil-for-food corruption.

BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi government announced today that it intends to file suit in United States courts to recover funds allegedly embezzled from the United Nations oil-for-food program during Saddam Hussein's rule.

A statement by government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said the lawsuits would target companies and individuals that conspired to corrupt the U.N. program.

Dabbagh did not name any companies or say how much the government hoped to gain by going to court, but his statement cited the findings of a 2005 U.N. inquiry into the program.

That investigation, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul A. Volcker, concluded that 2,400 companies and individuals participated in fraud that included $1.8 billion in kickbacks to Hussein.

After the inquiry several of those named were prosecuted in the U.S. and Europe, resulting in prison sentences for two Texas oilmen and restitution from several companies totaling 10 of millions of dollars.

But little has been done to recover larger sums from those named in the Volcker report in countries including Russia, China, Yemen, Egypt, Vietnam, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.

The oil-for-food program was intended to allow humanitarian goods to reach Iraq while the country was under international sanctions following its invasion of Kuwait, which precipitated the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

From 1996 through the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the Iraqi government was allowed to sell oil in exchange for food, medical supplies and essential mechanical equipment.

The Volcker report found that Hussein insisted that kickbacks be paid to secure oil contracts.

Dabbagh said the government would set up a process to work with companies or individuals named in the U.N. inquiry that chose to "resolve their accountability" out of court.

He said the move was intended to assure foreign investors that "business in and with Iraq will be conducted transparently and in accordance with existing laws."