The United Nations’ massively corrupt oil-for-food program is finally being exposed, and the estimated amount of stolen money has doubled—to more than $20 billion, which makes it possibly the biggest scam of all time.

And for those who continue to squawk, like robotic parrots, that Saddam Hussein had no connections to terrorists: Probe: Iraq U.N. Cash Sent to Bombers’ Kin.

NEW YORK - Saddam Hussein diverted money from the U.N. oil-for-food program to pay millions of dollars to families of Palestinian suicide bombers who carried out attacks on Israel, say congressional investigators who uncovered evidence of the money trail.

The former Iraqi president tapped secret bank accounts in Jordan — where he collected bribes from foreign companies and individuals doing illicit business under the humanitarian program — to reward the families up to $25,000 each, investigators told The Associated Press.

Documents prepared for a Wednesday hearing by the House International Relations Committee outline the new findings about how Saddam funneled money to the Palestinian families.

Investigators examining the oil-for-food program felt it was “important for us to determine whether the profits from his corruption were put toward terrorist purposes,” committee chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., said of Saddam’s well-known financial support of suicide bombers.

Wednesday’s hearing, however, will focus on a French bank that handled most of the money for the program. An audit by a U.S. regulatory agency of a small sample of transactions out of the $60 billion U.N. escrow account managed by BNP-Paribas has raised serious questions concerning the bank’s compliance with U.S. money laundering laws, the investigators said.

“There are indications that the bank may have been noncompliant in administering the oil-for-food program,” Hyde said in his statement to AP. “If, true these possible banking lapses may have facilitated Saddam Hussein’s manipulation and corruption of the program.”

While acknowledging that U.S. regulators have raised routine issues with BNP on compliance with banking laws, a lawyer for BNP said Hyde’s statement was unfair to the bank.

“No departure from any standard caused or contributed in any way to the abuse at the oil-for-food program,” the bank’s lead council Robert S. Bennett said. “There are simply no connections.”

The humanitarian program that let Iraq trade oil for goods was set up in 1996 to help Iraqis get food, medicine and other items that had been scarce under strict U.N. economic sanctions imposed after the Gulf War. But investigators say Saddam made more than $21.3 billion in illegal revenue under the program as well as by evading the sanctions for more than a decade.

Iraq had thousands of secret bank accounts throughout the world, including over 1,500 in Jordan. Money from kickbacks on oil-for-food deals, illegal oil payments from the Jordanian government and other illicit funds were paid into accounts held by a Jordanian branch of the Iraqi government owned Rafidain Bank, investigators said.

According to employees of the Iraqi Central Bank and the Rafidain Bank, the former Iraqi ambassador to Jordan, Sabah Yassen, personally withdrew money from the accounts to make payments ranging from $15,000 to $25,000 to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, Hyde said.