Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Swiss Federal Prosecutor is investigating companies named in a United Nations report for possible violations of trade embargos against Iraq or illegal payments to Saddam Hussein as part of an aid program.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in Bern has asked the prosecutor to examine whether criminal proceedings against the companies should be opened, said Rita Baldegger, a spokeswoman for the secretariat.
``I can confirm that we got the letter and now, of course, we are looking into the matter,'' said Hansjuerg Mark Wiedmer, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in Bern, in a telephone interview. Wiedmer and Baldegger declined to name companies.
A U.N. investigation found 2,253 companies paid illegal kickbacks to Iraq to win business from the aid program, which was designed to enable Saddam's government to sell oil to pay for humanitarian needs, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who led the report, said last month.
Already before the request, the prosecutor had started ``criminal proceedings in the oil for food case having to do with money laundering and corruption,'' said Wiedmer. |