Sep 27, 4:48 PM EDT
French Bank in Oil-For-Food Program Probe
By DESMOND BUTLER
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Congressional investigators examining "a semitrailer truck load" of subpoenaed documents are trying to determine whether lax monitoring at a French bank that held more than $60 billion for the U.N. oil-for-food program facilitated illicit business deals by the former Iraqi government, officials told The Associated Press.
Although BNP Paribas isn't the target of the probe involving companies and individuals in 50 countries, the documents could provide a road map to alleged corruption at the United Nations and by politicians from France, Russia, Britain, Indonesia and Persian Gulf states who have been implicated.
The three congressional panels that subpoenaed BNP Paribas documents are looking into whether the bank met minimum standards that require financial institutions to identify customers, partly to prevent money laundering. The committees are among at least five in Congress investigating allegations of U.N. corruption and reports that Iraqis skimmed billions of dollars in kickbacks through deals administered by the United Nations.
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The BNP bank, which held the escrow account through which all of the U.N. program's oil money flowed, maintains investigators sought its documents as evidence targeting other companies and individuals. But several congressional panels say the bank also is under scrutiny.
"The subpoena for BNP Paribas stems from concerns expressed about the bank's compliance with existing 'know your customer' rules and similar laws enacted as part of the Patriot Act," said a spokesman for Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who chairs the House International Relations Committee.
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"There is substantial evidence" of corruption, said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, who is leading one of the investigations at the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
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