March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly funded a trip to Iraq by three U.S. congressmen in 2002 before the U.S. invaded the country, according to charges filed in a Michigan case.

An indictment, unsealed today, accuses a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Iraq of organizing the trip. Muthanna al-Hanooti was charged by federal prosecutors in Detroit with conspiring to act as an Iraqi agent without notifying the U.S. He received 2 million barrels of oil in payment for bringing the lawmakers to the country, the indictment said.

In 1999 or 2000, according to the court papers, al-Hanooti was contacted by an Iraqi intelligence officer who wanted him to publicize within the U.S. the harm Iraq believed was caused by international sanctions against the country. The officer also asked al-Hanooti to bring members of Congress who might favor lifting the sanctions to the country for a visit, court papers said.

Al-Hanooti worked at the time for Life for Relief and Development, a charity group based in Southfield, Michigan, according to the indictment. The organization, whose Web site says it was formed in 1992 to respond to a humanitarian crisis in Iraq, wasn't charged.

An intermediary in Michigan, not identified in the indictment, paid $34,000 to Life for Relief and Development for the delegation's travel expenses, the government said.

Three Members

The indictment didn't identify the three members of Congress it said traveled to Iraq with al-Hanooti. The Associated Press reported that the timing coincided with a trip taken by Democratic Representatives Jim McDermott of Washington, Mike Thompson of California and David Bonior of Michigan. McDermott and Thompson are still serving in the House of Representatives. Bonior didn't seek re-election in 2002.

Thompson and a spokesman for McDermott said the congressmen had no knowledge that the trip was funded by the Iraqi intelligence agency.

McDermott spokesman Mike DeCesare said the congressman was invited by a church group to see the plight of Iraqi children living under international sanctions. The lawmaker wouldn't have made the trip had he known who financed it, DeCesare said.

Thompson said in a statement that he went to ``learn as much as I could before voting on whether or not to commit U.S. troops to war.'' He said the trip was approved by the State Department and that he wouldn't have gone ``had there been any question at all regarding the sponsor of the trip.''

Lawmakers Not Implicated

Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, said that while he couldn't confirm the identities of lawmakers who went on the trip, they weren't implicated in the case.

``None of the congressional representatives are accused of any wrongdoing, and we have no information whatsoever that any of them were aware of the involvement of the Iraqi Intelligence Service,'' Boyd said.

The vice president of Iraq directed the country's oil minister to give al-Hanooti the 2 million barrels of oil, the court papers said.

A federal judge today released Al-Hanooti on $100,000 bond, revoked his passport and ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring device, the Justice Department said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Schmidt in Washington at rschmidt5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 26, 2008 19:49 EDT