EDINBURGH, Scotland, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Scottish engineering company Weir Group Plc. admitted to two counts of paying off the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein for contracts.
Weir officials told a Scottish court in Edinburgh that they paid about $4.8 million to the Baathist government to secure contracts worth about $55 million, Scottish newspaper The Herald reports.
The controversial U.N. program was meant to give the former Iraqi government the means to export oil provided the revenue was used for food, medicine and non-military needs.
Richard Keen, an adviser representing Weir in court, said the company was "very different" than the one that violated the U.N. program in 2001. The company, he said, "betrayed the confidence" of the public, Weir employees and its shareholders.
"The directors of Weir Group Plc wish to apologize for this chapter in the company's history and it is hoped that the company's prompt and unqualified plea will bring matters to a conclusion and remove uncertainty for its present employees and shareholders," he was quoted as saying.
Scottish officials said the conduct of the company "was wrong" and extremely disappointing.
The revelation comes as the U.N. Security Council considers lifting sanctions that end the oil-for-food program. A separate resolution, according to Iraq's al-Sumaria news station, would lift sanctions that prohibited Iraq from pursuing civilian nuclear program. UPI
