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The United States Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will soon make public the names of prominent individuals from several countries who received lucrative oil contracts from Saddam Hussein in violation of the United Nations sanctions regime, a media report said on Monday.
Time magazine quoted unidentified sources as saying US has warned several foreign embassies in Washington that their nationals may soon be identified as suspected wrongdoers.
The White House also urged the subcommittee, chaired by Norm Coleman, to delay airing the Russian names, at least until after President George Bush's return from his meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the report said.
Although the names of scores of rumoured recipients have been circulating for more than a year, the subcommittee is expected to begin releasing voluminous details of oil contracts to Charles Pasqua, a former French interior minister and one time close associate of French President Jacques Chirac. Pasqua has categorically denied any involvement.
Among others to be named are a member of British Parliament, a right-wing politician in Russia and a former senior aide to Putin, the report said.