Poor Old Oscar, The Feds Are Out To Get Him
I hadn't paid any attention to the trial going on in New York of Houston oil man Oscar Wyatt until I saw a headline on the first section of Friday's Houston Chronicle that read: "Witness first to tie Wyatt to kickbacks." Hmmm..., I thought, interesting. So I started reading and have kept up with the paper's version since.The government has charged Wyatt with illegally making money, millions even, by paying Saddam's government oil marketing outfit, SOMO for short, secret kickbacks to obtain oil at the UN set price which was below market. This was all part of the "Oil-for-Food program" the UN had with Iraq that became quite a scandal.
The witness referred to in the headline is Mubdir Al-Khudhair, a former SOHO manager. Yesterday Al-Khudhair admitted that SOHO sold oil to Turkey "outside the Oil-for-Food program." I would guess in the eyes of the UN, at least, this would make him a criminal.
But his most interesting admission of his on the stand was that, in exchange for his testimony, the United States government settled himself and his family in the US and paid him $115,000 in cash.
So, the Feds out-and-out bought themselves a witness. And one from SOHO to boot, the outfit demanding illegal kickbacks-- not a real upright guy. Were I a juror, I would attach exactly zero weight to anything that came out of his mouth.
Going back to the business section from last Thursday, I read the account of Samir Vincent's four days of testimony. Vincent is described in the article as "an Iraqi-American consultant."
Here's another quote from the article: "Vincent has pleaded guilty to charges he worked as an agent for the government of Iraq without reporting that role to the U.S. government, and to tax evasion and other crimes. He is cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of getting a lighter sentence.
"Vincent conceded he tried to hide hundreds of thousands of dollars in an offshore bank account. Eventually he was forced to pay nearly half a million dollars in back taxes, interest and penalties."
Vincent is a real criminal hoping against hope to gain leniency by testifying against Oscar Wyatt. Again, as a juror I wouldn't believe a single thing he said. I'd be very angry, though, for having to listen to seven irreplaceable wasted days of crap from these two.
For some reason it appears our so-called Justice Department is out to get Oscar Wyatt and are completely willing to buy or pressure "witnesses" to get it done.
UPDATE: Monday, October 1
Another ex-SOMO official testified for the prosecution last Thursday and Friday. This one's name is Yacoub Y. Yacoub, and like the previous guy, Mubdir Al-Khudhair, our fed's negotiated his testimony by relocating Yocoub and his family to the U.S. also plus paying him "more than $150,000 for relocation costs." I'll bet Al-Khudhair is jealous as hell. Poor jurors. Another two or more days wasted listening to worthless, bought and paid for testimony.
FINAL UPDATE: Friday, October 12
Last week Oscar Wyatt was offered and accepted a deal. He pled guilty to one of the five charges against him. He will be sentenced next month. Was he actually guilty of this? Likely so. Could the Feds prove it to a jury's satisfaction? Not so likely. More likely loomed a hung jury. If so, the government was determined to try him again. Going through it all again was about the last thing that Wyatt, at 83, wanted.
posted by Burt @ 11:25 AM
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