RSSOscar Wyatt, Former Coastal Corporation in Aruba Executive, Due in Court on Oil for Food Bribery Charges with Saddam Hussein Regime
Oscar Wyatt, the former owner of Coastal Corporation and the then Coastal refinery in 
Aruba goes on trial September 5, 2007 at federal court in Manhattan. Who knew the UN “oil for food” bribery scandals had roots in Aruba as well?
“Coastal Corp. (forms Coastal Petroleum NV),” Oil and Gas Journal, vol. 90, pp. 30, July 13, 1992. Coastal formed subsidiary company to market products from its Aruba refinery off the coast of Venezuela and to buy and sell products in international markets.
Oscar Wyatt is accused of paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to Iraq to win oil contracts and corrupting the United Nations oil for food program.
On the eve of Wyatt’s trial in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin also allowed evidence that defense lawyers said unfairly suggested payments made by Wyatt to Iraq’s state oil marketing organization were bribes passed on to Saddam Hussein. (Washington Post)
The UN Oil for Food program had been nothing but a scam as it was supposed to let Iraq sell oil to buy civilian goods for its people living under U.N. sanctions. However, as many would later find out, the UN oil for food program was riddled with fraud, corruption and scandal. An intended humanitarian program instead turned into nothing more than a get rich quick scheme by Saddam Hussein pocketing billions.
It administered some $67 billion worth of oil, and U.S. and U.N. investigations have found that lobbyists, U.N. and Iraqi officials enriched themselves through kickbacks and bribery.
Wyatt’s former company, the Coastal Corporation, dealt in Iraqi oil and Wyatt had traveled a number of times to Iraq, meeting senior officials including Saddam. (Washington Post)
Amigoe, September 2, 2007: ORANJESTAD/NEW YORK Oscar Wyatt (83), former owner of Coastal Corporation and the then Coastal-refinery in Aruba will appear in court in Manhattan next week in connection with bribery the Sadam Hussein-regime in Iraq in exchange for oil-export contracts. Also a document was found in which he informed Iraq of data and military force of the invasion of America in 2003.
A judge decided this week that this handwritten document can be admitted in court. The trail starts on September 5th and the document can be shown to the jury. Wyatt is not being tried for treason, but for bribery with million of Sadam’s dollars at the time of the so-called Oil-for Food program of the United Nations.
Wyatt from Houston, Texas reopened the refinery in Aruba in 1991 under the name Coastal El Paso Oil Refinery Company. The Lago-refinery (Exxon) closed her doors in Aruba in 1985. Wyatt’s Coastal sold the refinery to Valero Oil Corporation in March of 2004. Oscar Wyatt has always maintained good ties with the then and current premier of Aruba, nelson Oduber (MEP). He also had close contacts with other (former)-politicians, like former Justice-minister Hendrik Croes (MEP) and also former minister Glenbert Croes (OLA). Wyatt is also father-in-law of the current State Secretary of Aruba, Mervin Wyatt-Ras (MEP).
Posted September 2, 2007 by Scared Monkeys Amigoe, Aruba, Corruption, Crime, Energy, World | 23 comments |
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23 Responses to “Oscar Wyatt, Former Coastal Corporation in Aruba Executive, Due in Court on Oil for Food Bribery Charges with Saddam Hussein Regime”
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This man is from Houston.
Houstonian Oscar Wyatt is one of three individuals and four companies that federal investigators are focusing on for who allegedly receiving vouchers for oil from Saddam Hussein as he sought to flout United Nations sanctions. The Times article notes the close relationship between Mr. Wyatt and Saddam:
Mr. Wyatt . . . traveled to Baghdad as recently as early 2003, as the United States was preparing for war, to meet with officials in Mr. Hussein’s government. Mr. Wyatt – once called in Texas Monthly magazine “the most hated oilman in Texas” – met Mr. Hussein in 1972, just after Iraq’s oil industry had been nationalized, and eventually became one of the biggest United States importers of Iraqi oil.
The two met again in 1990, after Iraq invaded Kuwait and Mr. Wyatt flew to Baghdad on a company jet to help negotiate the release of nearly two dozen American oil workers whom Mr. Hussein had turned into “human shields.”
The relationship was so close that when the United Nations authorized Iraq in 1996 to begin selling oil again, under the Oil for Food program, Mr. Wyatt and Coastal secured the first tanker shipment to leave the country.
This has nothing to do with the country of Aruba and everything to do with an AMERICAN executive.
Birds of a feather.
#2, no it has to do with a pattern of where there is a connection to. Of course he is from Houston, TX … the post states that plain as day.
Why is it that every time we turn around there is a reference of a corruption story with Aruba’s name in it. The US is how big? With how many 100′s of millions of people? Aruba is how small and with 100K in population.
The fact that he could have owned a refinery in any other country in the world … but he didn’t now did he?
Don’t tell us that there is not a connection,
Its like a corrupt company in the US with a bad “corporate culture”. Thats the comparison.
R
The real question is what kind of person does business with Aruba. Now if your expectation is to deal with a criminal element and know that your actions will be covered up (regardless of what you do) than Aruba is the place for your business
Well it might behoove you all to educate yourselves first instead of quickly claiming Aruban corruption every time you happen to see the name Aruba. Actually the holdings were worldwide yet all you care to discuss is one refinery in Aruba? Wonder why Aruban officials aren’t a party in the US case against him? And why aren’t you focusing on the US govt officials involved in this?
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/CC/doc5.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/21/AR2005102101843.html
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2005-12-21-wyatt-cover_x.htm
_____________________
SM: The story was published in Amigoe, thus bringing Aruba to the attention of others in this scandal (klaasend)
Uhm actually, the Washington Post is cited as a source as well.
And the title was intentionally worded to try to give the impression that Aruba is tied to this. The Aruba refinery was a small portion of the company’s holdings which were vast and worldwide. He also sold it in 2004 to Valero.
#2…ostrich!!!
Aruba is small yet always has a part in trouble it seems. Amazing how a place so small can be so large in the trouble world.
Since Natalee all we see out of that awful place is corruption and horrors…SATANS ISLAND and all his spawns live there…Clean up your act LIERUBA…get rid of all the rifraft. STOP believing what you are told on your TV that only gets one station…talk about your heads up your butts…or in the sand…you have mobsters running your Island…Get rid of them….GET BACK YOUR ISLAND AND CLEANSE IT.BY the way, the NEWS here is reporting that you are no longer free of hurricanes…..if you ever were..WHO can believe anything your ATA were reporting..
OK, Vicki….., first of all we just don’t get one station on our TV. We are familiar with something called Cable and DirecTV. As for the hurricanes, there was always a risk. Oh and by the way that means when you die, will I be seeing your soul here spending eternity??? If my island is where Satan spend his holidays, than your country must be Satan’s Corporate Offices.
Vicki you really believe ATA just made up the fact that Aruba isn’t in the hurricane belt?
Guess the CIA is on on the lie too
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/aa.html
How about geography IQ
http://www.geographyiq.com/countries/aa/Aruba_geography.htm
Or Nationmaster facts and statistics
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/geo_nat_haz-geography-natural-hazards
Or Intute World Guide
http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/worldguide/html/814.html
____________
SM: Who exactly do you think puts out the information to be diseminated?
Get a clue.
R
Quote SM: Who exactly do you think puts out the information to be diseminated?
Get a clue.
R
Uh scientists? Oh wait, You’re not really saying that the entire world takes the word of a tourism board when it comes to hurricane studies are you?
Nasa?
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/main/index.html
NOAA?
ttp://www.noaa.gov/
All of these agencies?
American Association for Wind Engineering
American Radio Relay League, Inc.
American Meteorological Society
American Public Works Association
American Red Cross
Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency
Coastal States Organization
Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services
Florida Division of Emergency Management
Florida Shore & Beach Preservation Association
Insurance Information Institute
Institute for Business and Home Safety
International Association of Emergency Managers
International Code Council
LSU Hurricane Center
National Emergency Management Association??Next of Kin Registry (NOKR)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Weather Service and the Tropical Predicition Center
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
USAID/OFDA, U.S. State Department
U.S. Geological Survey/Coastal and Marine Geology Program
Duh, #13, another brain fried TROLL that can copy and paste.
thanks Dave, these trolls just dont get it…face it LIERUBA you are done for….and just to clsrify for the TROLLS in the NOSEBLEED section…that means the EVIL ppl on your Island….just so I am not misquoted on other BLOGS…
It seems that Aruba plays a disproportionate part in the drug and financial scandals that beset the world. Nothing like a Mafia-run banking system….
We’re told that Arubans are a proud people. And justly so … they are the apple of the Mafia’s eye.
When in the hell are they going to court and prosecute Joran, Paulus and Pimps? Everybody knows they are guilty while Aruba, Dutch does nothing. Damn, what is wrong with Aruba?
…#15…Vicki…NOSEBLEED section…that was hilarious!!!!! You go girl!!!!
#14
Actually brain fried would be anyone that believes Aruba not being located in the hurricane belt was something made up by ATA.
that was funny vicki!~ lol
Richard did you bother to even read the articles? How exactly is Aruba involved in this scandal? And why are you not outraged at out govt officials involved in this particular scandal?
Do you seriously DOUBT that some money relevant to these proceedings was laundered through Aruba?
They do it for the drug lords; why not crooks?
All Spin Zone
Oscar Wyatt – Saint or Sinner?
Oscar Wyatt, an oilman from Texas, was never the Bush Crime Family’s favorite guy. Wyatt has crossed swords with the elder George H.W. Bush (and his own Texas oil cronies) quite a few times in the past. Today, Wyatt pleads guilty to one count in connection with the U.N.’s Oil for Food program in Iraq. But, is Wyatt a hero or a goat?
Commentary By: Richard Blair
For the purposes of this blog post, let’s stipulate a couple of things:
* Saddam Hussein was a bad guy.
* In the 1990’s, Saddam was playing the U.N. Oil for Food program in Iraq for everything he could personally milk from this well intentioned, but fatally flawed humanitarian effort.
* George H.W. Bush’s oil industry bagmen were not a bunch of happy campers – they wanted easy (and unfettered) access to the oil in Iraq, and were somewhat pissed when Poppy listened to Colin Powell and didn’t take the final step into Baghdad during the first Gulf War.
With those stipulations out of the way, let’s talk about oil man Oscar Wyatt, and his guilty plea today to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, relative to the Oil for Food program. Mark Nestmann provides a bit of context:
Throughout its existence, critics accused U.N. officials and others of helping to unlawfully divert oil-for-food revenues to the Iraqi government. These payments occurred on a massive scale: a 2005 report from a commission headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker concluded that approximately 2,000 firms paid bribes and surcharges. As a result, the Iraqi government received an estimated US$1.8 billion in “illegal”—non-U.N. approved—revenues.
Very few executives of these 2,000 firms been indicted for as much as petty larceny…
And yes, Wyatt’s Coastal Oil company was one of the thousands of firms that may have used a little “long green” to grease the skids for some preferential treatment from Hussein’s oil ministry. So, why is the octogenarian Wyatt the target of federal prosecutors? Because he crossed the Bush Crime Family™:
But Wyatt made many enemies along the way, among them George Bush, Sr. Not only did he successfully compete against the Bush family in the Texas oil-patch, but Wyatt, a life-long Democrat, supported many of the Bushes’ political rivals. Then in 1990, when George Bush, Sr. was president, Wyatt personally negotiated with Saddam Hussein to win the release of 21 U.S hostages held in Iraq. Wyatt’s success in obtaining the hostages release, after months of fruitless negotiations by the Bush administration, deeply embarrassed George Sr., and earned Wyatt the lifelong enmity of the Bush family…
If you want to read about the real Oscar Wyatt, and his absolute selflessness in working for the release of the American human shields that Hussein was holding, you need look no further than a recent Houston Chronicle op-ed, written by the wife of one of the hostages (here’s an excerpt):
…We arrived in Baghdad in early December and started the official protocol, which would allow us to appeal directly to the Iraqi Parliament. Every day, there would be a dribble of hostages released and it was a slow process. However, unbeknownst to us at that same time, an American businessman named Oscar Wyatt was meeting with Saddam Hussein and successfully negotiated the release of all of the hostages.
After a joyful reunion with my husband, we were contemplating how to get out of Iraq — there were no commercial flights — when we were informed that this same American businessman had a list of persons for whom he’d secured exit visas. Kevin and I were on Oscar’s list, along with 22 other Americans, and there was a plane ready at the airport.
Oscar would gladly have taken more but was unable to obtain any more exit visas. During the long flight home, I became acquainted with our benefactor, who’s a wonderful man. He was happy to be helping his fellow Americans and, thanks to him, our ordeal was over when we landed in Houston on Dec. 9, 1990.
That was the last we saw of Oscar Wyatt. We tried to reimburse him for the expense of rescuing the two of us, but he wouldn’t hear of it. We sent a thank-you card and he reciprocated, but that was the last we heard from him…
Oscar Wyatt is a hard-nosed businessman. Always has been, probably always will be, and was perhaps playing fast and loose with the rules of the program. But why Wyatt and very few other oil industry shills and flacks? And as Nestmann notes in his article:
Now it’s payback time. The U.S. government, with George Bush, Jr. as president, is spending millions of dollars and promising U.S. citizenship to paid informants to insure that a sick old man spends the remainder of his life in prison…
Yeah, the Bush DOJ is using a lot of “curveballs” who will say anything to get out of the country and get permanent residence in the U.S. – even some of Saddam’s henchmen who have absolutely nothing to lose, and a lot to gain, by saying whatever the government wants.
Does anyone find it remotely interesting that during this same period of time, when G.H.W. Bush’s envoy in Iraq, April Glaspie, basically bailed out of Baghdad, Joe Wilson (as the ranking member of the U.S. diplomatic corps in Baghdad) was holding press conferences with a suit tie around his neck in the shape of a noose (and threatening Saddam)? And that public and private diplomacy worked to free the hostages, both those being held remotely and those in Baghdad directly?
There are stories from the last 30 years to which we’ll never see a satisfactory ending. History marches on, and the documentation from this period of history are so muddied by this time with spin and counter-spin that we’ll probably never know the full truth.
It’s clear that Oscar Wyatt pulled off some pretty amazing “diplomatic negotiations”. It’s equally clear that he was able to do so because he spoke a language common to both Saddam and the Bush Crime Family™:
Money.