Today most of the 2,200 companies and politicians accused of paying bribes to Saddam denied the allegations in the UN Oil-for-Food programme report.

Several Russian politicians - notably Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov and Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party - have been among those accused of profiting from illegal oil-for-food contracts in return for support for Saddam's regime.

Some of the documents transmitted to Russia by the independent commission bore false signatures, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying today.

Lavrov added. "But I think the facts that may be in it need to be studied very carefully. I say ’may be’ because we have been in contact more than once with the Volcker commission, at its request, and the documents that they have shown us were falsified."

Thousands of companies worldwide, including household names such as Siemans and Volvo, have been accused of giving a total of $1.8 billion in handouts to the former regime of Saddam Hussein in an independent inquiry report, led by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

Only 27 of the 4,000 names implicated in buying oil or supplying humanitarian goods under the plan have admitted doing so.

The others have either denied the accusations, ordered investigations, or refused to comment.

The Brussels-based Construction Equipment unit of the firm Volvo was accused of paying $317,000 in extra fees to Iraq on a $6.4 million contract.Today, it said it was "seriously concerned" about the claims, and vowed to "take action" if they are proved correct.

The company's Chief Executive Leif Johansson said in a statement: "Our rules are perfectly clear to ensure that improprieties shall not occur. Nevertheless, we cannot exclude that someone or some people in our organisation, or our sales agent in Iraq, have breached the code."

Volvo, which sold its car division to Ford in 1999, said it is investigating the matter more closely to determine what has happened.

Swedish prosecutors also said that they would review the UN report to determine whether any of the other Swedish companies listed, including engineering company Atlas Copco AB, had broken national laws.

Foreign Minister Leila Freivalds said that it was "completely unacceptable" if Swedish companies had paid bribes.

German engineering group Siemens disputed allegations made against it in the report, saying "we know of no kick-back payments initiated or tolerated by Siemens to seal contracts related to the oil-for food programme".

The panel said three Siemens units had paid bribes totalling $1.6 million to the former Iraqi administration.

Atlas Copco today, said its own internal probe had "verified that there were no payments made to the Iraqi government".

"Atlas Copco has strongly objected to the assumption made by the Committee indicating responsibility for the activities of the agent in Iraq at the time," the firm said in a statement.

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