'No jail' for oil-for-food Briton

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A UK businessman accused over illegal payments to Saddam Hussein's regime could escape jail after reaching a deal with US authorities, his lawyer says.

John Irving, 52, faces trial over claims that oil firm Bayoil flouted UN sanctions.

He will plead guilty to one charge in return for a "lenient" sentence, according to his lawyer Andrew Preston.

Mr Irving, of Sherborne St John, Hampshire, will appear in court in New York on 21 April.

Mr Preston said: "Following discussions a plea bargain was reached."

Secret commissions

Prosecutors say that as a trader with Bayoil, he manipulated the oil-for-food programme, designed to allow Iraq to export crude oil in return for humanitarian imports.

He and other oil traders have been charged with fixing an artificially low selling price for oil between January 2000 and the start of the Iraq war in March 2003.

It is also claimed that they paid secret commissions and surcharges illegally to Iraqi officials.

Mr Irving is also accused of lying when he claimed that no illegal payments were made.

The charge he is expected to agree to comes with a recommended sentence of up to six months.

But Mr Preston said he was not "anticipating" any jail time for his client.

The lawyer added: "The sentencing is within the discretion of the court.

"But our discussions with prosecutors have been very cordial and we would expect a sentence on the lenient side."

When the investigation was revealed in 2005, Mr Irving insisted the claims were "entirely without foundation".