PARIS, April 7 (UPI) -- French oil giant Total said there is nothing new to a probe into its activity under the abandoned oil-for-food program for Iraqi oil.
Total was charged Tuesday in a Paris court with corruption regarding its role in the Iraqi oil-for-food program. The program ran from 1996 through 2003 to let Iraq sell limited oil quantities in exchange for humanitarian supplies. U.N. employees, however, were accused of corruption and mismanagement in a scandal involving more than 2,000 companies.
Total maintains the latest claims are not part of a new case. "The public prosecutor has already stated that earlier allegations against Total executives in this matter were unfounded and, in September 2009, asked that the case be dismissed," the company said.
Lawyers for Total said the company is accused of bribing officials in Iraq who were working for the government of dictator Saddam Hussein, London's Independent newspaper reports. Total raised the charges in its February annual report and mentioned a number of employees were indicted.
The company, however, said that "no corruption had occurred" and that it was "confident" it would be cleared of the latest allegations.
