Profits confiscated from British engineering firm Weir for paying illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime are to be ploughed into Iraqi good causes, the Scottish government announced Sunday. Some 1.4 million pounds ($2.25 million, 1.65 million euros) of the 13.9 million pounds of forfeited profits will support water development and other humanitarian causes.
The Glasgow-based firm, which makes pumps and valves for the oil and gas industry, handed over the money at the High Court in Edinburgh last December for breaching United Nations sanctions imposed on Iraq before the 2003 invasion.
Weir were also fined three million pounds. Of the money heading to Iraqi good causes, one million pounds will go to Scottish aid groups to work with Iraqi partners. Some 300,000 pounds will go towards water development, while the Iraqi Youth Orchestra will be given 100,000 pounds to tour the Edinburgh Festival.
"A top priority is support for water projects in Iraq," said Scotland's External Affairs Minister Fiona Hyslop. "We are working with the UN to develop proposals that will tackle water development based on the needs identified in the country. "Scotland has always been a responsible nation and our distinctive approach to international development has made a difference to some of the most vulnerable people in the world."
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