Sen. Coleman's opening statement at this morning's UNSCAM hearing

.....The evidence obtained by the Subcommittee shows that the Hussein regime granted Russian Presidential Council allocations for 90 million barrels of oil. The allocations were given to Voloshin, and his close confidant, Sergey Issakov.
- The Iraqi Ministry of Oil estimated that the Council’s allocations, granted from 1999 to 2003, were worth in excess of $16 million.
- Vice President Ramadan recognized Mr. Voloshin as the head of Russia’s presidential administration and stated that the oil allocations awarded to him had been approved by Saddam Hussein.
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- The Hussein regime granted Russian official Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his political party (the LDPR) allocations for 75.8 million barrels of oil – enough to supply the entire U.S. for 4 days.
- The Iraqi Ministry of Oil estimated that Zhirinovsky’s allocations were worth $8,679,000.
- Saddam Hussein’s Vice President, Taha Yassin Ramadan, confirmed to the Subcommittee that Zhirinovsky did receive oil allocations from the Hussein regime. Another senior official of the Hussein regime that was interviewed by the Subcommittee confirmed not only that Zhirinovsky received oil allocations, but that he profited from the transactions, saying: “Of course Zhirinovsky would make a profit. That’s the whole point.”
- Among the evidence are 6 letters signed by Zhirinovsky himself that openly discuss the allocations and more than 30 documents of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil that expressly identify Zhirinovsky and his political party, the LDPR, in connection with oil allocations.
- The evidence shows that the Hussein regime granted Charles Pasqua allocations for 11 million barrels of oil and George Galloway was allotted 20 million barrels.
- Saddam Hussein’s Vice President, Taha Yassin Ramadan, verified that Pasqua received allocations and that Galloway was granted allocations “because of his opinions about Iraq” and because he “want[ed] to lift the embargo against Iraq.”
- Among the evidence are documents of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil that expressly identify Pasqua and Galloway in connection with oil allocations. One document shows that Saddam Hussein personally approved an allocation to Pasqua and also indicates that Pasqua refused to write a letter to the Iraqis about the allocation because he “fear[ed] political scandals.”
- The process of monetizing the Pasqua and Galloway allocations appears to have followed the same pattern as the Zhirinovsky and RPC allocations – the allocation recipient would nominate a purchasing agent to sign contracts for the allocation, that company would sell the oil to an oil company and the oil company would pay a hefty commission – typically amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars – to the nominal purchasing agent for the benefit of the allocation holder.
- In one of Mr. Galloway’s transactions, surcharges of more than $300,000 were paid to the Hussein regime. Senior Hussein regime officials informed the Subcommittee that the allocation holders – in this case, Galloway – were ultimately responsible for the surcharge payment and therefore, would have known of the illegal, under-the-table payment.
This Subcommittee is not a court of law. This Subcommittee has a long history of bi-partisan, thorough and substantive factual investigations. The reports released over the past week contain 99 pages of text and 452 footnotes that detail compelling evidence describing how Saddam abused the Oil-For-Food Program to garner political influence around the globe. I want to thank my friend and ranking member Carl Levin for participating in and supporting this investigation.