criminal indictment in the

Oil-for-Food scandal, NEWSWEEK has learned.

Kemp today confirmed that the FBI interviewed him last October about his contacts with Samir A. Vincent, a Northern Virginia oil trader who on Tuesday pled guilty to four criminal charges, including violating U.S. sanctions against Iraq and failing to register with the Justice Department as an agent of Saddam Hussein.

Specifically, the indictment states that Vincent illegally lobbied U.S. officials on behalf of the Iraqi government and received in exchange, along with unidentified co-conspirators, "millions of dollars in cash" as well as allocations for more than 9 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil under the Oil-for-Food program.

Sources familiar with the investigation say that Kemp, who was Bob Dole's running mate in the 1996 presidential election, had a number of contacts with Vincent, which have been closely scrutinized by federal prosecutors. The contacts began in the late 1990s when Vincent--who Justice officials say was secretly acting as an Iraqi government agent--approached Kemp and offered to work with him on a plan that could have led to the easing of sanctions on Saddam's regime.