Engineering Group Weir said it was unlikely to track down £4.2 million in irregular payments it made while working with the United Nations oil- for- food programme in Iraq. The company made the admission yesterday as it showed a significant improvement to its order book on the back of new products and a stronger economic outlook. The Glasgow-based group, which has an 8,000-strong workforce mainly making valves and pumps, said order input increased by 25.4 per cent to £451.6 million in the six months to June 30. Pre-tax profits rose by 4.2 per cent to £25.5 million and Weir said stronger performances at three of its divisions --engineering services, minerals and a large scale projects arm - meant it was hopeful of a strong second half. Chief executive Mark Selway said: "We were pleased with the first-half results and have got an order book now to take us forward into a stronger second-half this year." But Mr Selway said it was unlikely to discover where money went missing in Iraq. The company said in July its Wesco Dubai business paid the extra money to an agent in the field, on top of normal commissions, and it was possible the money had returned to Iraq. Mr Weir said that an investigation by law firm Herbert Smith into the payments continued, but indicated it was unlikely to find out who was to blame. "I'm not sure it is going to really outline terribly much more than we already know," he said. "It is going to be virtually impossible, in my view, to track down where the cash finally ended up." But Mr Selway said the investigation had not uncovered any additional irregular payments on top of the 15 contracts already announced. The defunct oil-for-food programme, set up by the United Nations to shelter ordinary Iraqis from the worst hardships of sanctions by providing food, medicines and other goods paid for by oil sales, has been dogged by controversy. There are several investigations looking into whether money was skimmed off the billions of dollars of goods that flowed through the programme. It was reported earlier this year that Weir paid bribes to the government of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein under the programme, which ran from 1996 to 2003. Weir, which was founded in 1871, includes BP, Shell and mining groups Anglo American and BHP Billiton among its customers. There are operations around the UK, including at Manchester, Huddersfield and Bristol. It carries out work worldwide and is currently involved in water treatment and powerbased projects in Iraq. Shares in Weir closed down 4.25p at 273.75p. | 
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