Iraq sues firms over oil-for-food kickbacks

The Iraqi government sued dozens of companies, including oil giant Chevron Corp, for more than $10 billion on Monday, saying they paid kickbacks to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's government under the UN oil-for-food program.

The civil lawsuit, filed in US federal court in Manhattan, seeks to recover damages from companies investigated by a UN-commissioned inquiry, claiming they cheated the Iraqi people out of benefits of the $67 billion UN program.

The UN oil-for-food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, was created to help Iraqis cope with UN sanctions after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. The program allowed Baghdad to sell oil in order to buy humanitarian goods.