Millionaire US oilman faces jail for illegal Iraqi deals

A MILLIONAIRE Texan oilman yesterday pleaded guilty to paying millions of dollars to Iraqi officials to illegally win contracts connected to the UN’s oil-for-food programme.

Oscar Wyatt Jr, 83, told a federal judge in Manhattan that he agreed in December 2001 to advise others to pay a surcharge into an Iraqi account in Jordan in violation of a rule calling for no direct payments to Iraq.

“I didn’t want to waste any more time at 83 years old fooling with this operation,” Wyatt said outside court. “The quicker I get it over with the better.”