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US Probes Exxon, Chevron Over Iraqi Oil Deal Oil majors ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco have confirmed that they were among companies receiving a subpoena from the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York investigating alleged improprieties in the United Nation's oil-for-food program in Iraq. A spokeswoman for ExxonMobil said the subpoena from the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York requested documents related to the program, and that 'we are responding appropriately.' A ChevronTexaco spokesman also said the company is cooperating "to the extent that we are able." Neither company would comment further on the subpoenas, which are requests for information and don't indicate wrongdoing. US refiners Valero Energy Corp., San Antonio, and Premcor Inc., Old Greenwich, Conn., which also are big purchasers of Iraqi oil under the U.N. program, said yesterday that they haven't received subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney's office. The criminal investigation adds to a number of probes into allegations that Saddam Hussein siphoned billions of dollars from the humanitarian program through a system of overcharges, bribes and kickbacks. The oil-for-food program was established in 1996 to allow Iraq to sell oil to pay for food and medical supplies as a compromise to lifting economic sanctions against the country. The program was shut down last year after the US-led interim government took over in Iraq. The US General Accounting Office recently reported to Congress that the Hussein regime skimmed $10.1 billion from the programme in 1997 to 2002. Among the allegations: that contractors overcharged or never delivered promised goods and services, and that U.N. employees took kickbacks. The U.N.'s program director, Benon Sevan, has denied wrongdoing. U.N. officials already are concentrating on their own investigation, commissioned by its Security Council and led by Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman. Other probes have been launched by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and the Coalition Provisional Authority, led by U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer. Who Are We ? | About THISDAYOnLine.com | THISDAY People | Contact Us © Copyright 2000 Leaders & Company Limited

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