Shakir al Khafaji (born 1955) is a Detroit-based Iraqi-American businessman involved in the United Nations Oil for Food scandal. He immigrated to the United States in 1975. He graduated with a degree in architecture from Lawrence Tech University. In 2004 he was reported by the Wall Street Journal to have received funds from Saddam Hussein and to have helped bankroll the lobbying activities of former weapons-inspector turned anti-sanctions activist, Scott Ritter - notably $400,000 for a 2000 documentary In Shifting Sands on the effects of the sanctions. Al Khafaji admitted to the Financial Times to selling oil he received from Hussein's government to Italtech, an Italian company which then sold the oil to Bayoil, a Houston company. The newspaper estimated he made around $1.1m from the oil for food programme. Al Khafaji's name appears at least twice in the 2004 Duelfer Report, for oil export contracts M/8/117 and M/10/24. He was one of two Americans on the 270-name Al Mada list. He was chairman of the 17th conference of Iraqi expatriates.
References
- Dawson Bell and Tamara Audi, Detroit Free Press, April 24, 2004, "Role of Detroit area man questioned in U.N. scandal"
- Lionel Barber, Claudio Gatti and Mark Turner, Financial Times, April 13, 2004, "Money questions surround former UN weapons inspector's film: Arms expert's documentary was backed by financier who profited from the controversial oil-for-food programme for Iraq"
- Robert L. Pollock, Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2004, "Saddam's Useful Idiots"
- Duelfer Report Annex B
