Police Arrest Briton Wanted By U.S. Over Iraq Oil

John Irving, 52, from Basingstoke, southern England, was arrested under a U.S. extradition warrant.

British police arrested a British citizen on Thursday who the United States accuses of involvement in a scheme to pay kickbacks to Iraq in connection with the scandal-plagued U.N. oil-for-food programme.

John Irving, 52, from Basingstoke, southern England, was arrested under a U.S. extradition warrant, London police said.

Irving was charged by U.S. authorities in April 2005 following an investigation into the $67 billion oil-for-food programme which allowed the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein to sell oil to finance purchases of civilian goods for its people living under U.N. sanctions.

The programme ran from December 1996 until after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

U.S. authorities accuse Irving of agreeing with Texas businessman David Chalmers and Chalmers' firm Bayoil Inc. to defraud U.N. officials by "persuading them to select a deflated official selling price in order to permit the payment of illegal and secret commissions ... to officials of the government of Iraq," British police said.

Chalmers and Bayoil were charged with paying secret kickbacks to Iraq. They have pleaded not guilty and Chalmers is awaiting trial.

Iraq has released papers documenting bribes, kickbacks and oil smuggling in connection with the oil-for-food programme.

From mid-2000 to March 2003, Iraq required recipients of allocations of oil to pay a secret surcharge to front companies and bank accounts controlled by the Iraqi regime. The requirement violated U.N. sanctions and U.S. criminal law.