Next in the Oil-for-Food Saga: Oscar Wyatt on Trial

Opening arguments are expected today in the trial of Texas oil tycoon Oscar S. Wyatt, charged with conspiracy to pay millions in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein on deals done under the UN Oil-for-Food Program.

But oddly enough, even before the arguments had begun, this case was already playing in the press as one more potential example of Bush administration overkill on Iraq. Wyatt has been contending for some time that he’s been singled out for prosecution due to his criticisms of both Bush administrations, and both wars in Iraq. Last week, while jury selection was underway, articles highlighting this line appeared in The New York Times (“Texas Tycoon, Prosecuted for Iraq Dealings, Says He’s a Target“) and the Wall Street Journal (“Politics Figures in Wyatt Trial“).

That’s a curious line for these titans of the press to pick up on, because the public record shows that in facing Oil-for-Fraud charges, Wyatt is far from alone. To date, in the U.S. alone, eight others have already pleaded guilty or been convicted, and charges are pending against five more. In both articles, this was reduced to a brief mention, low in the story.

So let’s review a few of these cases. Among the guilty are Iraq-born U.S. citizen Samir Vincent, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to receiving Oil-for-Food contracts in exchange for working as an unregistered agent of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Vincent then testified as a government witness at the jury trial in 2006 of a South Korean businessman, Tongsun Park, who was convicted and received the maximum sentence of five years for conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the government of Iraq in trying to bribe UN officials (none specified) to rig Oil-for-Food from the start. And last month, another Texas Oilman, David Chalmers, plus two of his Bayoil companies, pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay kickbacks to the government of Iraq. A business associate of Chalmers, Bulgarian national Ludmil Dionissiev, pleaded guilty to related smuggling charges.

Among those described by federal prosecutors as fugitives, under indictment in New York, are the former head of the Oil-for-Food program, Cypriot national Benon Sevan (who says he is innocent); and two business associates of Wyatt who worked out of Switzerland.

Oscar Wyatt is entitled to a full presumption of innocence, but one might suppose that is rather a different story angle from the claim of being singled out.

As for the photograph above, released last year — it may play no part in the current case, but perhaps it offers a window on Saddam’s busy social schedule under UN sanctions, and it shows some of the cast of characters. It was introduced as a government exhibit at the trial in 2006 of Tongsun Park, during the testimony of cooperating witness Samir Vincent (it’s a good bet he’ll be testifying at the Wyatt trial as well). It was a souvenir of a trip by Vincent and Wyatt to Iraq, taken in early April, 1995, in Baghdad. According to Vincent, they flew on Wyatt’s private jet from Washington via Geneva to Amman, then drove to Baghdad — where they had a lengthy meeting with Saddam Hussein himself. On the far left is Samir Vincent, next to him is Saddam’s former deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, then Oscar Wyatt, and Saddam…. But let us now sit back and wait for the arguments to begin.