Blair's secret oil links to Mideast revealed

A watchdog in Britain has revealed that former UK Premier Tony Blair has secretly received cash from a South Korean energy company and from Kuwaiti royals.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments says Tony Blair has been receiving cash from the Kuwaiti government and the South Korean UI Energy Corporation which has oil interests in the US and Iraq.

The Advisory Committee had allowed Blair to keep details of both deals from the public for 20 months, since June 2008, as the former prime minister claimed the deals were commercially sensitive.

Blair has reportedly made some 20 million pounds since leaving Downing Street in June 2007 and approximately 1 million pounds sterling from the deal with the Kuwaiti government.

The deals emerged Friday when the chairman of the advisory committee, the former Tory cabinet minister Ian Lang, finally lost patience with Blair and decided to ignore his objections and publish the details of the hidden deals.

The committee website has now published a statement identifying Blair's job as "advice to a consortium of investors led by the UI Energy Corporation (publication delayed due to market sensitivities)."

In a further revelation, a classified memo from Blair to former US President Bush showed the full extent of his support for the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

The personal note shows that Blair wrote eight months before the Iraqi invasion: "You know, George, whatever you decide to do, I'm with you."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121261§ionid=351020601.