Texan oilman in dock over Iraq oil-for-food scam

AN 81-year-old Texas oilman and two Swiss business executives have been charged with directing the payment of several million dollars in illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime to benefit from the United Nations oil-for-food programme.

Oscar S Wyatt Jr, former chairman of Coastal Corp, was arrested yesterday morning at his home in Houston.

The US government, meanwhile, was seeking the extradition of Catalina del Socorro Miguel Fuentes and Mohammed Saidji from Switzerland.