THE secrets of Saddam Hussein’s overseas business networks have been uncovered in the records of his eldest son, Uday, whose diary also reveals that he spied on his father.

British intelligence got its hands on some of Uday’s prolific collection of records before looters could make off with them. They are hopeful that the diaries will identify businessmen in Britain who helped to keep the regime in Baghdad afloat.

A vain and temperamental figure, Uday insisted that every order he gave should be meticulously recorded in his office diaries, whether it be the Hollywood videos that he wanted to watch or the young women his aides had to procure.

Jealous of his younger brother, Qusay, who was his father’s favourite, the diaries reveal that Uday had embarked on a dangerous scheme of revenge by setting up a business empire to rival Saddam’s, which involved blackmailing and threatening some of the former Iraqi leader’s own emissaries.

He had spies in his father’s office and, just like Saddam, his diaries show how ruthless he was at playing off political rivals against each other, plotting against military commanders and using torture and murder to scare his own family, as well as close aides.

The diaries show that he had discovered the identities of businessmen working abroad who were used by his father to flout United Nations sanctions. Some are understood to have homes and bank accounts in Britain.

Inevitably, for a man regarded as a cruel playboy, his diaries devote a lot of space to his pornographic pursuits. While that will make compelling reading for investigators, of more value to them is the insight that these records give into how the regime maintained control for 30 years.

Uday clearly shared Saddam’s obsession with writing everything down. Some of this incriminating material was snatched by looters, although fortunately there was too much to carry and US troops reached this compound in time to save vital files.

Some of the records now in British hands could prove to be embarrassing to influential figures in the Arab world. There are notes from members of royalty from the Gulf and ministers in the Emirates, who were meant to be sworn enemies of Iraq and yet here they were arranging business deals or hunting trips with Uday.

Some of Uday’s e-mails, which are also faithfully kept in these records, illustrate how he had paid informers working in sensitive departments of governments in the region.

It is, however, Uday’s own brutal behaviour that first catches the attention in these diaries. Never a day goes by without him threatening at least one of his key aides. He threatens in one note to have one of his three personal chefs shot because a meal was unsatisfactory.

The diaries were compiled in immaculate handwriting by Jassem Sabah Aly, his most-trusted aide, who apparently left them behind as he abandoned his office in what has been called Uday’s “love palace”. Aly never refers to his employer by name, calling him al-Ustaz (respected teacher).

The contents of the diaries show how much sex was a driving force in Uday’s life, more so in latter years as he tried to refute popular stories in Baghdad that he was left crippled and impotent after a botched assassination attempt.

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