But the donations — each worth several hundred thousand dollars — are being looked at by law-enforcement agencies and at least one congressional panel to determine whether they were part of a broader effort by Wyatt and Vincent to curry favor with Saddam's regime as well as influential opinion makers in this country who opposed U.S. sanctions on Iraq.

The shipments were made at a time when Vincent, a former Iraqi Olympic athlete and Virginia-based geophysicist, was being paid $5 million in cash and sweetheart oil deals by Saddam to act as a secret agent inside the United States to influence American policymakers and undermine sanctions, according to his recent testimony in Manhattan federal court, where he pleaded guilty to criminal charges.

Friendship Force, started in 1977 by President Carter and the late Wayne Smith, a former U.S. diplomat and pal of Carter and Vincent's, seemed an ideal target for Vincent's secret operation.

Boxers Muhammad Ali and Max Schmeling, actor Kirk Douglas, media mogul Ted Turner and former Soviet Foreign Minister and Georgian President Eduard Schevardnadze were on the group's advisory council. Rosalynn Carter is the honorary chairwoman.

Wyatt also may have had an ulterior motive for these donations.

Sources close to the probe told The Post he "scored points" with Saddam's government with the shipments.

Iraqi Oil Ministry documents released last fall indicate that Wyatt was the largest U.S. recipient of Iraqi vouchers that enabled him to buy Iraqi oil at below-market prices.

Wyatt made a $23 million profit from these deals and is among about 20 American individuals and companies involved in oil-for-food deals that are now subject to an investigation by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan.