May 8, 2007
Chevron to Come Clean?
Chevron, the US’s second largest energy group, is close to admitting it should have known kickbacks were being paid to Saddam Hussein, during Iraq’s oil-for-food programme with the United Nations, Claudio Gatti of Il Sole 24 Ore, the Italian newspaper, reports. For an English version, picked up by the New York Times, go here. Chevron will pay $25m-30m in fines, about how much it earned in half a day’s work last year. But if the settlement with US attorneys goes ahead, it sets a precedent for other major oil companies, almost all of which, were accused in a report by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserves, of having bought Iraqi oil through middlemen who paid kickbacks on their behalf.
