Editing Oil-for-Food Programme (section)

===''Al Mada'' list===
One of the earliest allegations of wrongdoing in the programme surfaced on 25 January 2004, when ''[[al Mada]]'', a daily newspaper in Iraq, published a list of individuals and organizations alleged to have received oil sales contracts via the UN's Oil-for-Food Programme. The list came from over 15,000 documents which were reportedly found in the state-owned Iraqi oil corporation, the [[Iraq National Oil Company]], which had close links to the [[Iraqi Oil Ministry]].

Named in the list of beneficiaries were [[George Galloway]], then a British [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP), and his charity, the [[Mariam Appeal]]; former French [[Minister of the Interior (France)|Interior Minister]] [[Charles Pasqua]]; [[Shaker al-Kaffaji]], an Iraqi-American businessman; Indian Foreign Minister [[Natwar Singh]], and Bheem Singh. Many prominent Russian firms and individuals were also included on the ''al Mada'' list. Even the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] was supposedly involved in illegal oil trading.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Arnone |first1=Marco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FyOeAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA186 |title=Corruption: Economic Analysis and International Law |last2=Borlini |first2=Leonardo S. |date=2014-05-30 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |isbn=978-1-78100-613-9 |pages=186 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Corruption Watch: February 16, 2004 |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1342334.html |access-date=2022-08-30 |newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date=11 November 2008 |language=en |quote=According to the "[[Vremya novostei]]" interview with "Al-Mada" Editor Karim, an unspecified company connected to the Russian Orthodox Church received two donations of oil, one in the amount of 3 million barrels, the second of 10.2 million barrels. The dates of those purported transactions were not provided. (It is worth noting that this combined total does not jibe with the figure of 5 million barrels allegedly given to the Russian Orthodox Church that was published in "Al-Mada" on 25 January.) / Russian Orthodox Church delegations visited Baghdad often, and one such delegation delivered a message of support for the Hussein regime from the head of the church, [[Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow|Metropolitan Aleksii II]]. The metropolitan, it should be noted, had issued a number of statements supporting Hussein over the years.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Oil-for-food aided Russians, report says |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7857167 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529083653/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7857167 |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 May 2022 |access-date=2022-08-30 |website=NBC News |date=16 May 2005 |language=en}}</ref> The former assistant to the [[Cardinal Secretary of State|Vatican secretary of state]], Reverend [[Jean-Marie Benjamin]], is said to have received the rights to sell {{convert|4.5|Moilbbl|m3}}. George Galloway subsequently won two [[libel]] actions against the ''[[Christian Science Monitor]]'' and ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'', which had reported the allegations.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3549679.stm | work=BBC News | title=Galloway accepts libel damages | date=19 March 2004 | access-date=2010-05-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Washington |first=The |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20040422-114353-8420r.htm |title=World leaders on list of oil recipients |work=The Washington Times|date=22 April 2004 |access-date=7 December 2011}}</ref>

The president of [[Oilexco]] Ltd, Arthur Millholland, whose name also appeared on the ''al Mada'' list, denied wrongdoing but confirmed that illegal surcharges were being paid to the Iraqi government by contractors.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040423/ROIL23/TPBusiness/TopStories |location=Toronto |url-status=dead 
|title=Executive says UN oil-for-food program was rife with corruption |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040515230419/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040423/ROIL23/TPBusiness/TopStories |archive-date=15 May 2004 }}</ref> Few deny{{Ww|date=January 2025}} that in Iraq, like in many third-world countries, bribes and [[Kickback (bribery)|kickbacks]] were regularly paid to the leadership in order to get contracts; however, the ''al Mada'' list does not discuss bribes paid to Iraq – it discusses bribes paid to individuals to support Iraq.