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Russia Says Some Documents Forged in Oil-For-Food Fraud Allegations


Russia says some of the documents submitted in the United Nations oil-for-food investigation are forged.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Russia must study the Volcker Report carefully, because he says some of its documents bear false signatures of Russian officials.

Investigators of the oil-for-food program said 2,200 companies from 66 countries made illegal payments to Saddam Hussein's government.

The commission report Thursday said nearly half of the companies in the oil-for-food program made illegal payments totaling $1.8 billion.

It named such companies as Daimler-Chrysler and subsidiaries of Siemens, as well as politicians in France, Britain, Italy and elsewhere.

Under the plan, which ran from 1996 to 2003, Iraq was allowed to sell oil in order to buy humanitarian goods during the period of U.N. sanctions.

Former U.S. central bank chief Paul Volcker, who led the investigation, said better U.N. management could have lessened the corruption.

Some information for this story provided by AFP and Reuters.

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