That was fast!
Closing arguments were given just this morning in the New York City trial of Tongsun Park, who'd been accused of being a Oil-For-Food bagman for Saddam. This afternoon, the jury found him guilty.
Park, 71, is facing a possible 12-year sentence, but I don't think he's going to be spending much if any time behind bars.
As Claudia Rosett pointed out here, Park knows how the system works:
[I]n 1977 [Park] was indicted in a U.S. District Court on 36 counts . . . [including] conspiracy for a political payoff scheme, "bribery, illegal campaign contributions, mail fraud, racketeering, and failure to register as an agent of the KCIA" (KCIA being the Korean Central Intelligence Agency). Park was outside the U.S. when the indictment was issued, and after some negotiation, finally came back to testify in exchange for immunity.The first trial involving the UN's Oil for Food scandal may be over but with so many bigger fish still out there to
Barring falling down an elevator shaft, of course.
posted by doyle at 6:56 PM
2 Comments:
It's a start .. I really wish they would throw Strong in the pan. He's the architect of the whole thing, and lies through his teeth. I Wonder if Park will be rattled enough to testify against him.
Rosett's only added a couple of pics to her court blog since the verdict. She has however written elsewhere, however, that the second trial is already scheduled for the fall. Same jurisdictional area (meaning NYC because of the UN's location) and the same judge presiding, but this time involving some of those connected to Park.
Any news up your way, AB, on Canada bringing its own charges against its citizens (like Strong) who were involved in O.F.F. now that Harper's P.M.?
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