Russian firms bought about 30 per cent of the oil sold under Iraq's now-defunct oil-for-food program, according to a UN investigator's extensive list of companies that did business with Saddam Hussein's government.
Paul Volcker, the former US Federal Reserve chairman who heads the probe, released on Thursday a 300-page roster, the most comprehensive to date, of 4,500 firms that either sold goods to Iraq or bought its oil.
Volcker told a news conference that the names on the list did not reflect on the legality of their transactions. However, he said this did not mean "that some of those companies were not corrupt".
Russia had dominated a separate US-compiled list released last month that identified companies and individuals suspected of corruption in the Iraqi oil trade.
Mr Volcker also told reporters he could use further help from BNP Paribas, the French bank that handled most of the program's revenues.
Volcker and his panel were appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last April to probe corruption charges in the program. He said he would submit a final report in mid-2005 but would release interim reports earlier.
The oil-for-food program began in December 1996 to allow Iraq to sell enough oil to provide civilian goods and alleviate the impact of sanctions on ordinary Iraqis. The embargoes were imposed in 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait.
Since the US-led invasion in March 2003, documents from Iraq have emerged on how Saddam, the ousted Iraqi leader, obtained illegal funds before and during the UN programme.
Mr Volcker's list included 3,545 companies that sold supplies to Iraq and 250 firms that bought oil through the UN programme. Another 941 companies exported goods to northern Iraq, which was under a separate plan administered by UN agencies.
Russian firms and traders buying Iraqi crude were in first place with $19 billion worth of contracts among 64 nations.
Companies in France were a low second with $4 billion. Switzerland and Britain were next with over $3 billion. US companies were 26th place. The United States consumed some 40 per cent of Iraqi oil but bought it through its own foreign affiliates or foreign traders.
Two weeks ago Charles Duelfer, the top US investigator for the CIA, also published a list of companies, individuals and political parties that allegedly received kickbacks or paid surcharges on oil that was under priced.
His list from Iraqi sources, still to be verified, showed more than 25 per cent of the allocations or vouchers going to Russian individuals, political parties and government ministries. About 15 per cent went to people and entities in France.
Mr Duelfer, who is to meet Mr Volcker at an unspecified time, has said Saddam's government collected an illegal $2 billion associated with the $65 billion UN programme and another $8 billion in smuggling or direct agreements with governments breaking UN sanctions.
Mr Volcker said Paribas had cooperated "up to a point" but he wanted more information.
"They are clients of the UN We are entitled to have information that they have relative to their account," he said.
Mr Volcker also indicated some difficulties in dealing with the accounting firm Ernst & Young, which the Iraqi government has engaged. But he said this too depended on how agreements made with his panel were interpreted.
He expressed irritation at news reports fingering the UN secretariat Mr Annan heads as the main culprit in the fraud allegations. He pointed to the 15-nation UN Security Council, which monitored the sanctions, and said there were "clear indications" of smuggling well before the UN programme began.