US Congress To Investigate Martin's

[rbacon]

Amongst all the hub bub about Martin banning disease, guns and doo-doo flies, this was announced in the US on the same day as his big announcements on his bans. I wonder why, could it be the noose is finally closing in on Powercorp/Desmarais/Trudeau/Chretien/Strong/ and Martin in the Oil For Food Billions. The Billions that were skimmed off the backs of Iraqi children by Martin's mentors and controllers, Powercorp of Quebec.--Strong evidence for an investigation

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Font: * * * * Danielle Smith, Calgary Herald

Published: Saturday, December 10, 2005

If Michael Moore was a Republican, he would have already produced a film on the Iraqi oil-for-food program, and a senior adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin would have held a title role.

In all the rush of election promises, a key news story was missed this week. If Martin's team hadn't leaked out news on Wednesday that he would be proposing a ban on handguns, Canadians might have seen this headline in national newspapers instead: "U.S. Congress Committee calls for Examination of Maurice Strong's Role in the UN Oil-For-Food Scandal."

Page 35 of the report, issued by the U.S. congressional Committee on International Relations, recommends following up on disciplinary action taken against UN officials named in Paul Volcker's September report, and that "Maurice Strong should be examined for his role in the (oil-for-food program)."

There is enough smoke surrounding a $1-million payment Strong received from Saddam Hussein's regime to warrant a full-blown investigation by Canadian authorities.

The circumstances surrounding the payment are this:

In the mid-90s, Strong met Korean businessman Tongson Park, who, it has been determined, was on Saddam's payroll charged with the task of currying favour with top UN officials. Since 1997, when Strong wasn't moonlighting as adviser to Martin, he served as the senior adviser to Secretary General Kofi Annan. It made him a prime target for Park's efforts.

Park arranged meetings between Strong and Iraqi officials, who encouraged Strong to visit Iraq to witness first-hand the effect of Iraqi sanctions. Strong declined the invitations.

However, even though Strong knew of Park's close ties to Saddam's regime, it didn't stop him from doing business with him.

Strong's son owned a company called Cordex Petroleum Inc. (A 2003 asset declaration by Paul Martin indicated he had a 4.6 per cent ownership stake in Cordex.)

Strong had persuaded his friend Theodore Kheel to invest $1 million in Cordex, giving him a personal guarantee to repurchase the shares a year later. When Kheel wanted out of the company, it was up to Strong to arrange a buyer.

That's where Park came in.

Park made his first trip to Iraq in July 1997, where he met with Saddam's former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz to discuss business. Park left Baghdad with $1 million in cash in a cardboard box and a personal escort to the Jordanian border. In Amman, an expatriate Iraqi citizen helped him convert his cash into a bank cheque, in the amount of $988,885, made payable to "Mr. M. Strong."

Park delivered the cheque to Maurice Strong, who immediately endorsed it to pay to Kheel, and was thereby released from his personal guarantee, while Park became the new owner of the Cordex shares. (Cordex ultimately failed and Park lost his investment.)

Strong's recollection of this transaction was about as fuzzy as the ad executives paraded before the Gomery inquiry.

He first told the Volcker committee the money came through a wire transfer from London and he never touched it. Then he said it must have gone through his son. Only when he was shown his own signature on the back of the cheque did he acknowledge he must have ha

[rbacon]

Maybe when he is faced with a life sentence in a US jail with Bubba who wants him to play the role of Mommie all day, everday for the rest of his life. He will start to sing like a 250lb. Canary on his friends at Powercorp, the Desmarais and his friends in the Liberal Party of Canada. http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=34934

[Montgomery Burns]

I also read an article a bit back in the Wall Street Journal about some female Liberal Party member who was a higher-up in the Oil For Food Scandal that was being investigated by US authorities. Unfortunately, I forget her name.

[sharkman]

This is actually pretty serious. Can you imagine the scream mode the Liberals will go into if info starts coming out about this investigation, specially if it is damning.