-Caveat Lector- http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,921154,00.html
Brown rejects US bid for Iraqi cash David Leigh, The Guardian (UK) Tuesday March 25, 2003 The chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, is unwilling to comply with a US demand that he should turn over £200m Iraqi assets frozen in Britain to an American-controlled account. Britain wants the UN to control the funds, which have been frozen since the first Gulf war began 12 years ago. The Treasury said yesterday that Mr Brown has been in talks with his US opposite number, the treasury secretary John Snow, and wanted the money to be "used for the benefit and welfare of the Iraqi people". Cash totalling more than £400m has been frozen in British bank accounts under UN resolutions since 1990. The British stance is that both in the UK and the Cayman Islands, which have also been the subject of a US demand, there is no legal authority to hand the cash over to the US. The British government is still owed more than £1bn for defaults on credit sales to Iraq backed by the export credit guarantee department on the orders of the then Conservative government. The US government has ordered 17 banks in the US to hand over $1.7bn in frozen Iraqi government money, saying it will use it for humanitarian purposes. They include both US banks such as Citigroup and Bank of America to American subsidiaries of foreign banks, such as Deutsche Bank, the Arab Banking Corporation and the Commercial Bank of Kuwait. The cash is to be transferred to a new account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The US asked eight countries to seize $600mn (£380m) in frozen Iraqi assets and turn it over to the American fund. US officials say the offshore Caribbean tax havens of the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands hold sizeable deposits. The Bahamas, whose administration remained silent last night, are independent and not under British control. White House officials have threatened to prevent foreign banks doing business in the US if they refused to turn over Iraqi government money and what they called "blood money" belonging to President Saddam or his associates. Saddam Hussein is alleged to have spirited away more than $6bn for his own benefit. The Swiss bank UBS said yesterday that it would hand over some money in blocked accounts at its US branches. "The funds stem from payments of US oil companies to Iraqi ones for deliveries ahead of the implementation of sanctions against Iraq in 1990," its spokesman Serge Steiner said. But officials in Switzerland said they would be unable to hand over $364m from Swiss accounts without a security council resolution. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,921154,00.html <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http://archive.jab.org/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://archive.jab.org/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
