The U.S. government has indicted a Texas oil executive and his British and Bulgarian associates in connection with the U.N. oil-for-food humanitarian programme in Iraq, authorities said Thursday. David Chalmers, who heads the Texas-based company Bayoil USA Inc., John Irving of Britain and Ludmil Dionissieve of Bulgaria face charges of paying kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime for Iraqi oil, U.S. Attorney David Kelley said in New York. Charges were also filed against South Korean Tongsun Park for illegally acting as a representative of Saddam's regime by negotiating oil sales in the United States, Kelley said. Chalmers, Irving and Dionissieve are charged with making financial deals with a regime that was designated a sponsor of terrorism, violating international sanctions against doing business with Iraq and illegally marking down the actual cost of the oil to make room for the kickbacks in the overall price, Kelley said. The U.S. government intends to seek 100 million dollars in forfeitures from the three men, representing the value of the oil they purchased, Kelley said. --More 0003 Local Time 2103 GMT
