Answers needed

ROBERTSON QUIZES STRAW OVER BILLION DOLLAR CORRUPTION SCANDAL Jack Straw has been pressed in the House of Commons to say what action the government took over a US$64 billion corruption scandal involving the UN and the oil-for-food programme in Iraq.

Some of the money is funding the current insurgency threatening British troops and threatening the elections due next January.

The question, from Faversham and Mid Kent MP Hugh Robertson, was triggered by documents that have come into the MP’s possession from the senior advisor to the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC).

The severity of the allegations is underlined because the UN Security Council was paid US$1bn to administer the programme.

They include allegations that:-

1. Saddam Hussein personally, and his regime, benefited by not less than US$ 10 bn.

2. Official government documents discovered in Baghdad identify senior government figures in France and Russia and senior UN officials.

3. Proceeds are being used to fund the current insurgency threatening British troops.

Hugh said: “These are allegations of the utmost severity and clearly pose enormous questions over the conduct of the UN, its Secretary General Kofi Annan and the key members of the Security Council, such as France and Russia, in the period immediately preceding the war.

“It is particularly important as funds raised by the corruption are being used to threaten the lives of British Soldiers.

“As a matter of urgency we need to know exactly when the Foreign Secretary was first aware of these allegations and what action he took to back the IGC and ensure a full and transparent investigation”