WASHINGTON, Jan 14: The United States confirmed on Thursday that it had been informed nearly two years ago of a major scheme to smuggle Iraqi oil outside UN constraints, but insisted it took prompt action.

The State Department was responding to reports by a British and an Italian newspaper that the boldest effort to circumvent the UN "oil-for-food" program was carried out with Washington's knowledge.

Spokesman Richard Boucher said the US mission to the United Nations was told about the scheme in Feb 2003 and promptly conveyed the information to the State Department. "The department then passed its information to the maritime interdiction force for investigation," Mr Boucher said, adding that US officials were still looking into the matter.

"I remind you we had a very active program of passing information and then taking real action on the high seas to stop this kind of oil export," Mr Boucher said. He said the maritime interdiction force, backed by some 20 nations, boarded and inspected more than 15,000 vessels and diverted more than 1,000 of them.

Under the oil-for-food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, the United Nations monitored the sale of Iraqi oil to ensure revenues were used to buy food, medicine and other essential humanitarian supplies.

A broad investigation has been launched into allegations the program was rife with abuses that allowed the government of Saddam Hussein and intermediary countries to pile up enormous profits.

According to an investigative report by the Financial Times of London and the Italian newspaper Il Sole-24 Ore, the United States and Britain turned a blind eye to a massive smuggling scheme in early 2003. -AFP