HC Deb 29 April 2004 vol 420 cc1210-2W
Mr. Dismore

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance the Government are giving to the tribunal and its staff investigating crimes by Saddam Hussein; and if he will make a statement. [168934]

Mr. Rammell

Our secondees in the Coalition Provisional Authority Office of Human Rights and Transitional Justice have provided assistance with the drafting of the Statute, Rules of Procedure and Elements of Crime for the Iraq Special Tribunal (IST). They have also developed the investigations strategy and mass grave action plan for the IST. We have agreed to Iraqi requests to provide further assistance, possibilities for which include: forensic expertise; judicial training; judicial advisers; and public education and outreach. And we have agreed to provide the IST Administration Department with a list of international investigators and analysts to support Iraqi capacity. We are also encouraging other EU partners to consider favourably requests for assistance from the Iraqis.

Sir Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what period of production is represented by the $7,855,209,215.35 received from oil proceeds by the Development Fund for Iraq up to 16 April 2004; and if he will make a statement. [169157]

Mr. Straw

The $7,855,209,215.35 received from oil proceeds by the Development Fund for Iraq up to 16 April represents the period of production from 28 May 2003 to mid-March 2004.

Sir Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the future role of the International Advisory Monitoring Board in monitoring and auditing the Development Fund for Iraq after 30 June 2004. [169158]

Mr. Straw

The International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB), as specified in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483 and the IAMB Terms of Reference, wall cease to be responsible for the auditing of the Development Fund for Iraq once a fully sovereign Iraqi Government has been established. The UK Government would like to see arrangements put in place acceptable to the Iraqi interim administration for the independent and credible audit of Iraqi's oil revenues following the transfer of sovereignty. We are currently in discussion with the Iraqi authorities, the UN international financial institutions, and other countries on how this objective might be best achieved.

Sir Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the proposed appointment of voting Iraqi members to the Board of the International Advisory Monitoring Board. [169159]

Mr. Straw

We are not aware of voting Iraqi members being appointed to the Board of the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB). The IAMB comprises voting members from the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development and the World Bank.

The IAMB, after consulting with the Coalition Provisional Authority administrator, may appoint up to five observers to IAMB meetings, including Iraqi nationals nominated by the Governing Council of Iraq. The IAMB in its press statement of 24 April 2004 welcomed Iraqi Governing Council observer Professor Mandi Hadi Al-Kafari, and Mr Ihsan Ghanim representing the Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit, to the IAMB. Other Iraqi observers have been invited to IAMB meetings in the past. IAMB observers are not members of the IAMB and have no voting rights.