Ukraine suspected of supplying arms to Iraq

According to the latest issue of der Spiegel, the Office of Public Prosecutor of the city of Manheim gave permission to carry out a search of two firms suspected of illegal arm exports to Iraq and of violating a trade embargo by the UN against Iraq. The illegal supplies were transported through a small commercial firm in Manheim, which worked after the so-called “Food for oil" program. The trail leads to Ukraine, Great Britain, and Switzerland.

In general, the action was brought against six persons, among whom there is a lawyer from the city of Heidelberg and an Iraqi businessman with US citizenship. Both men as well as an engineer in prison since last autumn are supposed to be organizers of arm exports to Iraq. One of the six accused is supposed to have Ukrainian roots.

Alexandr Gorobets PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/02/25/37526.html