Scott Garrett: “recently in a Manhattan Federal Court, we saw the first conviction worldwide in the Iraqi Oil- for-Food scandal.…”

“recently in a Manhattan Federal Court, we saw the first conviction worldwide in the Iraqi Oil- for-Food scandal. Billions of dollars illicitly passed between one of the world's most notorious dictators, Saddam Hussein, over 2,200 companies worldwide, and top officials of the U.N. Now, more than 3 years after the scandal was brought to light, Tongsun Park, a Korean national, is now the only individual who has been tried for those gross crimes. Mr. Park is a familiar player in the game of corruption, having been heavily involved in the 1970s Congressional bribery scandal known as Koreagate. In that case, he saved himself from prison by turning States evidence, but instead of taking this near miss as a lesson, 20 years later, he became involved again in a decidedly more devious scheme that kept a murderous dictator living in high style with his millions of dollars from Saddam Hussein to take care of his ``expenses'' and his ``people,'' as he called them. During this time that he was on Saddam Hussein's payroll, Park met 20 times with U.N. Secretary General Boutros-Ghali at his personal residence. Apparently, despite his corrupt past, his friendship and guidance were sought by Boutros-Ghali and his Under Secretary, Maurice Strong. The Oil-for-Food program was the brain child of Boutros-Ghali and Strong. And shortly before the program was finalized, Strong took nearly $1 million from Park. A payment that Strong forgot until he was shown the check. Mr.…”