Say it ain't so, Jö!

U.N. report: Volvo, DaimlerChrysler paid illegal surcharges to Iraq in oil-for-food program

ASSOCIATED PRESS

UNITED NATIONS — About half of the 4,500 companies in the U.N. oil-for-food program, including Volvo and DaimlerChrysler, paid a total of $1.8 billion in kickbacks and illicit surcharges to Saddam Hussein’s government, a U.N.-backed investigation said in a report released today.

The report from the committee probing claims of wrongdoing in the $64 billion program indicates that about 2,200 companies participated in extensive manipulation of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq. [...]

Must I now divest myself of my lump of iron so as to remain ritually pure from the taint of corruption!? Maybe not--

[...] The report said, for example, that Brussels-based Volvo Construction Equipment paid $317,000 in extra fees to the Iraqi government on a $6.4 million contract. Volvo Construction is part of Swedish-based Volvo Group, which referred all questions to Volvo Construction Equipment’s headquarters in Brussels. The group is separate from Volvo automobiles, which is owned by Ford. [...]

Danged Belgians.