Yesterday Fiat acquired Chrysler thanks to the good offices of the federal government. Six months ago Fiat had some lesser-noticed dealings with the federal government, reported at the time by London’s Times:

Fiat, the Italian carmaker, has agreed to pay $17.8 million (£11.9 million) to settle claims it gave kickbacks to Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq under the United Nations’ oil-for-food scheme.

According to a complaint filed with by America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), three of Fiat’s subsidiaries paid more than $4.3 million to Iraq between 2000 and 2003, disguised as “after sales service fees”.

Fiat acknowledged that three of its subsidiaries, Iveco, CNH Italia and CNH France, made “improper payments” to the Iraqi government to obtain contracts to provide Iraqi Ministries with industrial pumps, gears and other equipment.

The payment meant that money was diverted to Iraqi-controlled accounts rather than to a United Nations third-party account set up for the purchase of humanitarian goods.

.. from James Taranto in the Wall Street Journal

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