France oil company acquitted in Iraq oil-for-food scandal
[JURIST] A French court on Monday acquitted French oil company
Total [corporate website], its CEO Christophe de Margerie [WSJ
profile] and several other defendants on corruption charges in
connection with a scandal involving the UN's Iraq Oil-for-Food
program [official website; JURIST news archive]. The oil-for-
food program allowed the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein
[JURIST news archive], which was under UN sanctions in the wake
of the first Gulf War, to sell limited stocks of oil in return
for foodstuffs and other humanitarian supplies. Total was
accused of bribing Iraqi officials to secure oil illegally.
Among the defendants acquitted were also Swiss oil trader Vitol
and former French interior minister Charles Pasqua. Prosecutors
have 10 days to appeal the verdict [Reuters report].  The oil-
for-food program, established in 1996, was mired with
controversy. In February a judge for the US District Court for
the Southern District of New York [offic