Depressed Annan close to quitting over UN scandals

[JasonF]

Depressed Annan close to quitting over UN scandals
Sarah Baxter

KOFI ANNAN, the United Nations secretary-general, is said to be struggling with depression and considering his future. Colleagues have reported concerns about Annan ahead of an official report this week that will examine his son Kojo’s connection to the controversial Iraqi oil for food scheme.
Depending on the findings of the report, by a team led by the former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, Annan may have to choose between the secretary-generalship and loyalty to his son.

American congressional critics of the UN are already pressing him to resign over the mismanagement of the oil for food programme, and even his supporters have been dismayed by the scandals on his watch, including the sexual abuse of children by UN peacekeepers in Congo.

One close observer at the UN said Annan’s moods were like a “sine curve” and that he appeared near the bottom of the trough.

Kojo, 29, was employed by a Swiss company, Cotecna, but left before it won one of the contracts under the oil for food programme. Last week it emerged he received up to $400,000 from the company. The UN confirmed that Kofi Annan three times met executives of the firm, twice before the award of the oil for food contract and once afterwards.

Mark Malloch Brown, Annan’s British chief-of-staff, said the meetings were brief and had nothing to do with Cotecna’s contract. If some of the allegations against Kojo were confirmed, that would create “a very different situation, but for Kojo — not the secretary-general”.

Kojo and Cotecna insist he had no part in securing the oil for food contract and that his work related to activities in Nigeria and Ghana.

New scandals continue to erupt, however. One revelation last week was that the UN had agreed to pay legal fees for Benon Sevan, the disgraced head of the oil for food programme, out of the funds raised from the Iraqi oil sales.

“Kofi Annan is going to find his position increasingly untenable,” said Nile Gardiner, an expert on the UN at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “There is a strong possibility he will resign voluntarily because of his declining credibility.”

In the end Annan’s feelings may be more decisive than the facts.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1543360,00.html

Mr. Annan may be depressed, but I bet this makes a lot of other people very happy.

[Chew]

Does the Bill Clinton campaign start now? ;)

[classicman2]

Clinton would make an ideal Secretary General.

[Myster X]

long overdue

[bhk]

Didn't hear about Anan being depressed over hundreds of thousands of people being killed in Rwanda or the Congo.

[Giantrobo]

That'll be one Kofi <i>to go</i> please...

[Ranger]

Clinton would make an ideal Secretary General.
And realistically, his health wouldn't let him take the job.

[eXcentris]

Didn't hear about Anan being depressed over hundreds of thousands of people being killed in Rwanda or the Congo.


Neither did you, me, or the rest of the planet.

[DVD Polizei]

Everytime I read a thread about this dumbass, I always have Billy Ocean songs in my head...and the MTV videos of long since as well.

[Myster X]

Neither did you, me, or the rest of the planet.

I did and most around the world did also. People who were in position to make the dicision didn't take actions sooner. They simply fucked up. God bless the UN.

[eXcentris]

I did and most around the world did also.


Excuse me but that's utter bs. Nobody gave a damn in 1994 about Rwanda. Not you, not me, not the UN, not the US, not any other bloody country on the planet. So to try and blame Rwanda on the UN only is thoroughly idiotic. Have you read any books on Rwanda? See any documentaries? There's a reason that General Dallaire's book talks about the failure of humanity in Rwanda. That's because nobody gave a damn.

[Ranger]

I thought the UN did send a peace-keeping team,but it was so small due to the lack of military contributions from UN members.

[darkessenz]

I did and most around the world did also.

B.S. All you have to do is look at the collective yawn that the US gave, including our amusing efforts to AVOID calling the tragedy a genocide. Africa is the continent that time and white people have forgotten, and only when its strategic importance escalates will we see a meaningful financial and military contribution to its future.

[darkessenz]

but it was so small due to the lack of military contributions from UN members

Yes, and the sad thing is that when there were UN troops available the slaughter stopped.

[bhk]

Neither did you, me, or the rest of the planet.
:lol:
Ah yes, the old moral relativism excuse. The people you named above aren't the head of an organization which is there specifically to stop this sort of thing.
Perhaps he's depressed his son didn't hold out for a bigger bribe like ol dad taught him.

[island007]

:lol:
Ah yes, the old moral relativism excuse. The people you named above aren't the head of an organization which is there specifically to stop this sort of thing.



Exactly.
The sooner Kofi is gone the better.

[eXcentris]

:lol:
Ah yes, the old moral relativism excuse. The people you named above aren't the head of an organization which is there specifically to stop this sort of thing.


You do realize that the UN is made of of nations now don't you? The US, France, and Belgium among others were just as guilty as the UN.

You might want to start by reading this:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/evil/etc/slaughter.html

[sracer]

Excuse me but that's utter bs. Nobody gave a damn in 1994 about Rwanda. Not you, not me, not the UN, not the US, not any other bloody country on the planet. So to try and blame Rwanda on the UN only is thoroughly idiotic. Have you read any books on Rwanda? See any documentaries? There's a reason that General Dallaire's book talks about the failure of humanity in Rwanda. That's because nobody gave a damn.
The problem with your position is that it isn't the focus of my life to look out for human rights in the world, nor yours... but it IS one of the UN's primary responsibilities. so placing the blame on the UN is appropriate.

[eXcentris]

The problem with your position is that it isn't the focus of my life to look out for human rights in the world, nor yours... but it IS one of the UN's primary responsibilities. so placing the blame on the UN is appropriate.

See above. Placing the blame entirely on the UN is ridiculous if you know anything about this subject. There are countless official reports, books, documentaries on this issue and oddly enough, they all come to the SAME conclusions.

[Ranger]

You do realize that the UN is made of of nations now don't you? The US, France, and Belgium among others were just as guilty as the UN.
Yeah, I'm no fan of the UN or Kofi, but I know he isn't all-powerful. So it is somewhat unfair to blame him for the lack of response.

[I.Flores]

All you have to do is look at the collective yawn that the US gave.


So what else is new? -ohbfrank-

[Mutley Hyde]

So what else is new? -ohbfrank-

Cheap.

Like the US is the only nation in the UN, the world? The UN yawned - why don't you comment on that? Or is that not sexy enough?

UN bashing = uncouth
US bashing = hip, sexy - makes one cozy at night, all warm and fuzzy-like

[darkessenz]

The problem with your position is that it isn't the focus of my life to look out for human rights in the world, nor yours... but it IS one of the UN's primary responsibilities. so placing the blame on the UN is appropriate

Like the US is the only nation in the UN, the world? The UN yawned - why don't you comment on that? Or is that not sexy enough?



Saddam is a madman, a danger, a threat to all for his mini-genocide and his repression...but we refuse to express regret that we didn't stop the WORST and fastest genocide in 7 decades?

So...are we saying that humanitarian concerns are not our concern? That the UN will take care of it ? I hold Clinton and his staff partly responsible for this evasion of international duty (not that I think Bush would have done much differently). I know the last African fuck-up was still fresh in the minds of Americans...I guess domestic politics won out.

It would have required minimal political effort, minimal troop placement and minimal funds to have stopped the genocide...yet somehow we don't question the placement of 100,00 troops in Iraq, the 500 billion dollars of spending. Sheesh, have tunnel vision much?

[darkessenz]

UN bashing = uncouth
US bashing = hip, sexy - makes one cozy at night, all warm and fuzzy-like


Who can act with more ease regarding these situations ? Emergency situations require nation-state action...

The reason why people bitch about the US not working with the UN for the Iraq invasion is that it wasn't an emergency situation, it wasn't an immediate threat, and there was no escalation on the part of the bad guy (except a refusal to step down). He was out of terms with the treaty...but he obviously wasn't building up arms to invade a country.

[Mutley Hyde]

Who said a thing about Saddam?????? :hscratch:

Can't defend the fact that you give the UN a pass on Rwanda, so you decide to change the subject to Iraq? Nice try.

[DVD Polizei]

Maybe Kofi can be a CNN or FOX News political analyst. :up:

[darkessenz]

Can't defend the fact that you give the UN a pass on Rwanda, so you decide to change the subject to Iraq? Nice try.


Not a pass, just a reasonable assessment of which party that had the most reasonable political opportunity/capability to stop the genocide.

Should the UN have done something? Yes.
Should the US have done something? Yes.
Are they both culpable? Yes

Which is a more reasonable party for effective, last minute, emergency military help? I think you know the answer.

[Venusian]

What about Sudan now? The UN won't call it a genocide and there are certain people on this board who agree with that just because it would require them to do somethign

[Venusian]

http://dvdtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5767227&postcount=22

its okay to not call it a genocide so the parties involved can avoid looking like they skirted their responsibilities?

[classicman2]

Should the UN have done something? Yes.
Should the US have done something? Yes.
Are they both culpable? Yes

As long as the U.N. didn't involve the U. S.

No

No

[Giantrobo]

Excuse me but that's utter bs. Nobody gave a damn in 1994 about Rwanda. Not you, not me, not the UN, not the US, not any other bloody country on the planet. So to try and blame Rwanda on the UN only is thoroughly idiotic. Have you read any books on Rwanda? See any documentaries? There's a reason that General Dallaire's book talks about the failure of humanity in Rwanda. That's because nobody gave a damn.


Speak for yourself. I was in Christian radio back then and we were talking about it big time. I also know many groups were trying to get help, aid, and somekind of government and <i>at least</i> UN response to the horrorific Genocide war.

If I remember right all eyes were on Eastern Europe and Africa got ignored.

[eXcentris]

http://dvdtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5767227&postcount=22

its okay to not call it a genocide so the parties involved can avoid looking like they skirted their responsibilities?

Read that post again. I never said it was ok not to call it a genocide, simply that I understood why it happened.

Note that I also never said that the UN wasn't responsible for Rwanda. But to put the sole responsibility on the UN is just ridiculous.

[eXcentris]

If I remember right all eyes were on Eastern Europe and Africa got ignored.

People briefly saw Rwandans lying dead in the streets on tv, went "oh that's horrible!" for about 10 seconds and went back to their regularly scheduled O.J. Simpson trial and Nancy Kerrigan vs Tonya Harding soaps.

The sad thing about this denial of responsibility and this finger pointing is that it does prove that nobody gave a shit, and that it will happen again.

[Goldblum]

Neither did you, me, or the rest of the planet.
:hscratch: When did we all become Secretary-Generals of the UN? Someone cheated me out of my induction ceremony!

[Myster X]

OK, Kofi is not guilty so to speak. He still should resign for lack of leadership.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=1&u=/nm/20050329/ts_nm/iraq_un_oil_dc_7

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An inquiry into the U.N. oil-for-food scandal concluded on Tuesday that Secretary-General Kofi Annan had not interfered in the awarding of a contract to a firm that employed his son but faulted him for not investigating the issue properly.

[gettinbranded]

Investigators probing the U.N. oil-for-food program said Tuesday that Secretary-General Kofi Annan didn't interfere in the awarding of a contract to a company that employed his son but criticized the U.N. chief for not properly investigating possible conflicts of interest.

A defiant Annan said "Hell no" when asked at a news conference if he would resign, noting the report's findings that he committed no wrongdoing.

"After so many distressing and untrue allegations have been made against me, this exoneration by the independent inquiry obviously comes as a great relief," he said.

Although the report did not completely vindicate the secretary-general, the investigation led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said there was insufficient evidence to show that he was aware of the bid.

[Mutley Hyde]

Oil-For-Food Investigator Criticizes Volcker's Panel (http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBZN0LCW7E.html)
NEW YORK (AP) - A senior investigator from Paul Volcker's independent committee into allegations of corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program criticized his former employer Saturday for misrepresenting the grounds for his resignation earlier this month.

The investigator, Robert Parton, confirmed a report by The Associated Press earlier this week that he had resigned along with another investigator to protest recent findings by the committee that cleared U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan of meddling in the $64 billion program.

Parton's statement comes after a member of the committee discounted reports that the two investigators had left the Independent Inquiry Committee because they believed the report was too soft on the secretary-general.

"Contrary to recent published reports, I resigned my position as Senior Investigative Counsel for the IIC not because my work was complete but on principle," Parton said.

Richard Goldstone, one of the three committee members, along with Mark Pieth and Volcker, told CNN earlier this week that the two senior investigators Robert Parton and Miranda Duncan had left because their work was complete.

A person close to Parton said his contract ran until August.

A spokesperson for the Volcker Committee would not immediately comment on the statement.

[Mutley Hyde]

Oil-for-food probe has not cleared Annan, Volcker says (http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050427-120309-4065r.htm)
Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker says his investigation into the scandal-plagued oil-for-food program has not cleared U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan of wrongdoing, despite Mr. Annan's claims to the contrary.

In an interview aired yesterday with Fox News, Mr. Volcker took direct issue with Mr. Annan's insistence that he had been exonerated by investigators probing both his role in overseeing the Iraq aid program and conflicts of interest involving a key contract awarded to a Swiss firm that employed Mr. Annan's son.

"I thought we criticized [Mr. Annan] rather severely," Mr. Volcker said of his panel's interim report, released March 29. "I would not call that an exoneration."

Asked point-blank whether Mr. Annan had been cleared of wrongdoing in the $10 billion scandal, Mr. Volcker replied, "No."

Mr. Annan has faced calls for his resignation from U.S. critics in the wake of the oil-for-food scandal.

Under the seven-year program that ended in 2003, Iraq was allowed to buy food and other humanitarian supplies through tightly controlled sales of its oil.

But the congressional Government Accountability Office found that the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein stole about $10 billion during the period, either through illegal oil sales outside the program or through corrupt deals and kickbacks within it.

Senior U.N. officials have been implicated in the scandal, and Mr. Annan himself faced harsh scrutiny when it was learned his son, Kojo Annan, had been employed by Cotecna, the Swiss firm that won a critical U.N. monitoring contract for the oil-for-food program in 1998.

Mr. Annan, who has fiercely resisted calls that he step down, immediately claimed vindication after the Volcker panel reported on March 29 that it had found "no evidence" that the secretary-general had used his influence to help Cotecna win the contract.

In a press conference that same day, Mr. Annan told reporters, "As I had always hoped and firmly believed, the inquiry has cleared me of any wrongdoing."

He has said he was "disappointed" to discover that his son had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments from Cotecna for several years after leading his father to think he had cut all ties with the U.N. contractor.

Asked whether he was considering resigning from his post before his term ends next year, Mr. Annan answered emphatically, "Hell no."

The Volcker investigators faulted Mr. Annan for what they said was an "inadequate," one-day investigation into the Cotecna contract after his son's job history with the firm came to light in 1999.

Had Mr. Annan demanded a "thorough and independent investigation," the Volcker panel concluded, "it is unlikely that Cotecna would have been awarded renewals of its contracts with the United Nations."

Mr. Volcker's panel, which was commissioned by Mr. Annan last year, has come under fire with the recent resignation of two of the panel's lead investigators, Robert Parton and Miranda Duncan, who left reportedly because they thought the reports released to date had gone too easy on Mr. Annan.

A spokesman for the Volcker panel said the two had left because their contracts had expired, but Mr. Parton has said in an e-mail released to the Associated Press that he left his job over "a matter of principle."

Efforts to reach the two investigators yesterday were unsuccessful.

Mr. Volcker, in the Fox News interview, said his panel "was not meant to be soft or hard" on Mr. Annan or the United Nations.

"We are out to get the facts, and I've said from the very beginning our responsibility is to follow the facts wherever they lead."

[Myster X]

good

[Mutley Hyde]

Well, it was on Fox, so Volcker will just be accused of being a raging neo-conservative convert now and all of this will be dismissed right out of hand. Or better yet, it may be claimed that it was a Volker doppleganger, or an evil robot created in Sean Hannity's dungeon laboratory!!

[Mutley Hyde]

Annan Fires U.N. Staffer Over Oil-for-Food Scandal (http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB5MMOTF9E.html)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan fired a staffer for his role in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, a spokesman said Wednesday, describing the first dismissal stemming from alleged corruption in the multibillion-dollar program.

Joseph Stephanides, dismissed Tuesday, was the first U.N. official said to be fired in the wake of an independent probe into allegations of wrongdoing in the $64 billion program.

The United Nations had accused Stephanides, head of the U.N. Security Council Affairs Division, of interfering in the competitive bidding process for an oil-for-food contract.

Annan concluded that Stephanides had committed "serious misconduct," U.N. associate spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"Mr. Stephanides was advised accordingly yesterday and was separated from service with immediate effect," Dujarric said.

The probe, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, had accused two other U.N. staff members of wrongdoing in the program, established to help ordinary Iraqis cope with sanctions imposed on Saddam Hussein's government after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Under the program, Iraq was allowed to sell oil, provided the proceeds were used primarily to buy humanitarian goods, including food and medicine.

U.N. action against former oil-for-food chief Benon Sevan has been suspended until Volcker's probe finishes its work. Sevan was accused of a "grave conflict of interest" in soliciting oil deals from Iraq.

Also, Dileep Nair, the now-retired chief of the U.N. watchdog agency, allegedly paid an employee with money from the program even though the staffer's work was not directly tied to it. Annan sent a letter expressing disappointment but took no action.

Stephanides, head of the U.N. Security Council Affairs Division, had been accused of tainting the competitive bidding process for a company to inspect humanitarian goods entering Iraq under the program.

His contacts with an unnamed U.N. mission - which a U.N. committee acquiesced to for political reasons - led to Lloyd's Register Inspection Ltd. winning the contract even though there was a lower bidder, it said.

Reached by The Associated Press after the announcement was made, Stephanides rejected the charges and said he would file an appeal shortly.

"I am very disappointed by this decision," Stephanides said. "I look to the appeal process in the confident hope that justice will be made and I will be exonerated because I have committed no wrongdoing."

Stephanides, 59, had planned to retire in September, when he turns 60.

I guess Kofi's got his patsy.

[SuprVgeta]

I'll be a lot happier when the headline reads "Annan resigns" instead of "close to quitting."

[Myster X]

a "feel good" move for Kofi

[Mutley Hyde]

From article; "The IIC is urgently reviewing newly disclosed information concerning possible links between U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and representatives of Cotecna," Michael Holtzman said in a written statement.

Oil-for-food memo raises questions for Annan (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/06/14/oil.food/)
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Investigators probing the United Nations' oil-for-food program said Tuesday they are reviewing an e-mail that suggests a communication between Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the company that won a lucrative contract and employed his son.

Spokesmen for Annan and the Swiss company Cotecna were quick to discount the document's significance.

The one-page e-mail was written by a Cotecna vice president in 1998 just before the firm won what became a $10 million-a-year deal to authenticate shipments of food, medicine and supplies entering Iraq.

"We had brief discussions with the SG and his entourage," wrote Michael Wilson on December 4, 1998, in an apparent reference to the secretary-general.

"We could count on their support," Wilson said in the message, which was addressed to Cotecna's top three officers -- Elie Massey, the chairman; Robert Massey, the managing director and CEO; and Andre Prunaix, the senior vice president.

Wilson was writing about a late November conference organized by the French government in Paris and attended by Annan, other U.N. officials and leaders of various African countries.

Roger Carroll, a Cotecna spokesman in London, said Cotecna's leaders had "grave doubts about the reliability of this communication" and did not put much stock in the allusion to Annan meeting with Wilson on that trip.

"That is what he claims in his e-mail, but Cotecna did not authorize him to do any such thing and would have strongly disapproved of this, if indeed it occurred," Carroll said.

"It would have been inappropriate to approach the secretary-general and say, 'Can you help us with this contract?' And they had no need to do anything underhanded," Carroll said, referring to the fact that Cotecna was the lowest of six bidders for the U.N. inspection contract.

Carroll described Wilson, who is no longer with the firm, as someone who "exaggerated his own importance" and whose reports sometimes needed to be taken "with a pinch of salt."

Wilson belonged to Cotecna's oil-for-food task force, along with the Masseys and Prunaix.

After the Paris conference, they a made a December 1, 1998, presentation to the United Nations' Iraq program managers. Two days later, the program managers recommended Cotecna for the inspection contract.

Apparently unaware of that, Wilson wrote the next day to Cotecna executives, "Our chances of getting the contract are very good."

The U.N. headquarters contracts committee and an assistant secretary-general approved the recommendation, and Cotecna signed the contract by the end of December.

Wilson, one of 20 vice presidents for the firm, was chiefly responsible for marketing operations in Africa. Now in Switzerland, he could not be reached for comment.

Wilson, whose father was a diplomat from Ghana and friend of Annan, introduced Annan's son, Kojo, to Cotecna after the younger Annan graduated from college.

Elie Massey has told investigators that Kojo's connections were paramount in the decision to hire him. Kofi Annan has told investigators that Wilson was the person he "really knew at the company."

At 22, Kojo Annan began working for Cotecna in 1995, in Nigeria and Ghana. He left the firm in 1997, but was kept on the payroll until 2004 as part of a non-compete agreement and for consulting work.

Both Cotecna and the younger Annan maintain he did no work on the Iraq program.

Kojo, now 31, is one of the secretary-general's two children from his first marriage. Kojo lives mainly in Nigeria, his mother's native land.

Kofi Annan, from Ghana, became secretary-general in 1996. His second five-year term expires at the end of next year, but his oversight of the oil-for-food program has led some politicians from the United States, which pays a quarter of the United Nations' budget, to call for his resignation.


'Improper influence' denied

An interim report in March from the Independent Inquiry Committee found no evidence that the elder Annan improperly steered the U.N. contract to the firm that employed his son.

That report was the second issued by the panel led by Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman tapped by the United Nations to probe oil-for-food irregularities. The committee plans to issue its final report next month.

"There is no change in the secretary-general's position," Annan's spokesman, Fred Eckhard, told reporters at a daily briefing.

"He said he didn't know that Cotecna was even bidding on this contract, and Volcker's conclusion in the second report was that there was no improper influence on the part of the secretary-general," Eckhard said. "It's our position that the secretary-general did not lie."

Eckhard said a review of Annan's schedule from the Paris trip in 1998 found no record of a meeting with Wilson. But a committee spokesman said the document would be investigated.

"The IIC is urgently reviewing newly disclosed information concerning possible links between U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and representatives of Cotecna," Michael Holtzman said in a written statement.

"The IIC will conduct additional investigation regarding this new information," Holtzman said.

The Volcker committee's interim report found that Elie Massey met twice with Annan before winning the contract, but the men maintain they discussed other subjects.

Cotecna has contracts to verify the shipment and prices of imports in 25 countries, primarily in the developing world. It has 4,000 employees, of which 2,500 are full time and 1,500 are freelancers.

Cotecna voluntarily turned over the Wilson e-mail on Monday to Volcker and three congressional committees probing the oil-for-food program.

Carroll said the Wilson e-mail was discovered recently by Forensic Risk, one of two firms Cotecna hired to conduct a complete audit of its oil-for-food files.

"Because the documents concerned 1998, they had to do a paper chase," Carroll said. The review covered more than 650,000 documents.

An audit of bank records by the New York-based accounting firm BDO found that an extra $306,305 in payments to Kojo Annan was incorrectly attributed by the Volcker committee to Cotecna or other firms controlled by the Massey family, Carroll said.

The company maintains it paid Kojo Annan approximately $200,000 in salary over three years and another $166,000, or $2,500 a month, as part of a non-compete agreement that ran from 1999 to early 2004.

Under the oil-for-food program, Iraq was permitted to export a limited amount of its crude oil in exchange for food, medicine and supplies.

The program, the largest humanitarian operation in U.N. history, was designed to help Iraq deal with the international economic sanctions imposed after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Iraq generated $64 billion in revenue through the program, which ran from 1996 to 2003 when the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's regime.

Over seven years, 248 companies incorporated in 61 countries bought 3.4 billion barrels of Iraqi crude oil.

Investigators say that Saddam exploited the oil-for-food program to extort several billion dollars in surcharges on the oil sold and kickbacks on the humanitarian goods bought. Those illicit funds were deposited in bank accounts controlled by Saddam.

Saddam also bypassed the program by selling billions of dollars of oil to neighboring Jordan, Turkey, Syria and Egypt.

[Myster X]

Oh yes! Kofi and Kojo Annan and Benon Sevan are due next.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/08/08/oil.food/index.html

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- A former U.N. procurement officer apparently has been arrested in connection with allegations he solicited bribes from companies seeking oil-for-food contracts, an aide to Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday.

U.N. officials lifted Alexander Yakovlev's diplomatic immunity at the request of a U.S. prosecutor in New York, and "we believe Mr. Yakovlev is already in custody," Mark Malloch Brown, Annan's chief of staff, told reporters.

Yakovlev, a senior procurement officer for the United Nations, resigned in June amid allegations that he helped get his son a job with a firm doing business with the world body.

There was no immediate comment from U.S. authorities on the report.

Earlier, Paul Volcker, the head of the U.N.'s Independent Inquiry Committee, announced that the probe found that Yakovlev solicited a bribe from a French company that bid unsuccessfully on an oil-for-food contract.

The report found no evidence the company paid the desired bribe -- but it found that more than $1.3 million had been wired to a bank account Yakovlev controlled on the Caribbean island of Antigua since 2000.

"More than $950,000 of these payments came from various companies or persons affiliated with such companies that collectively won more than $79 million in United Nations contracts and purchase orders," the report found.

There was no apparent connection between those payments and the oil-for-food program, however.

A U.N. investigative panel on Monday said that the former head of the oil-for-food program allegedly received more than $147,000 in kickbacks from oil sold under the program.

The panel's report concluded that Benon Sevan "corruptly derived substantial financial benefits" from a company that purchased Iraqi oil under the program, which supplied Iraq with food and medicine during years of international sanctions.

The money was used to shore up Sevan's "precarious" personal finances from 1998 to 2002, the report concluded.

Sevan resigned Sunday from the United Nations.

In his resignation letter, Sevan called his management of the program "transparent" and denied any wrongdoing. (Full story)

But Volcker said investigators had "reasonably sufficient evidence" for their findings.

"In these cases, we clearly believe that standard has been met, and our conclusions are obviously significant and troubling," said Volcker, the former chief of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.

The committee concluded the money was funneled to Sevan through an oil-for-food contractor, African Middle East Petroleum.

One of the company's partners, Fred Nadler, made a series of cash withdrawals during the period in question from a Swiss bank account, and there was "a high degree of correlation" between those withdrawals and deposits of $100 bills made days later in accounts held by Sevan and his wife in New York, the report concluded.

The withdrawals were made in amounts of less than $10,000 -- meaning the transactions would not have to be reported to authorities.

The committee found Sevan's explanation for the deposits -- that he received the money from his late aunt -- "not credible." :lol: no shit!

"There was no relationship between the timing of those deposits and when his aunt was in New York," Volcker said.

Sevan was executive director of the oil-for-food program from 1997 until 2003, when the program disbanded after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. He was suspended in February after an interim report by Volcker's committee concluded he had benefited improperly from his position.

Monday's report ties up "two important loose ends in our inquiry," Volcker said, "But they are by no means the end of this investigation."

Sevan's lawyer, Eric Lewis, told CNN his client is in Cyprus and has "lost confidence" that he would be treated fairly by the Volcker probe or by Annan.

In his three-page resignation letter to Annan, Sevan said he was being hung out to dry by the world body, "but sacrificing me for political expediency will never appease our critics or help you or the organization."

"As I predicted, a high-profile legislative body invested with absolute power would feel compelled to target someone, and that someone has turned out to be me," he wrote. "These charges are false, and you, who have known me all these years, should know that they are false."

Volcker said Sevan has turned down previous requests to meet with investigators, and he rejected Sevan's call to be allowed to answer questions from the committee in writing.

[Myster X]

UN friends and family plan at work. At what length will people go to defend this corrupt organization.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050809/pl_afp/usuniraqoilscandal_050809082053

Volcker panel accuses two UN oil-for-food figures of corruption

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - An independent panel accused the ex-head of the UN oil-for-food program for Iraq of corruption and said questions remained about UN chief Kofi Annan's knowledge of the scandal, which has tarnished the world body.

An interim report released by the commission led by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker said, "On the basis of available evidence," the report concluded that Benon Sevan "corruptly benefited" from the scheme and recommended that his immunity be lifted.

It said that Sevan, a 67-year-old Cypriot, personally received 147,184 dollars from oil sales kickbacks under the 64-billion-dollar program.

The oil allocations were made, at Sevan's request, to the African Middle East Petroleum, headed by Egyptian Fakhry Abdelnour, a cousin of former UN secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

Cash was deposited December 1998-January 2002 to bank accounts of Sevan and his wife in New York, the panel said.

Sevan, who fled to Cyprus two months ago, resigned ahead of the announcement of the charge, which he denied and accused Annan of "sacrificing" him, his lawyer said Sunday.

Sevan had retired from the United Nations but remained on staff, receiving a salary of one dollar a year to maintain his diplomatic immunity.

That job was given to Sevan after he was suspended in February to ensure that he would cooperate with the Volcker panel. Volcker said Sevan "has not responded to our efforts to contact him."

Volcker's commission also said that evidence gathered against Alexander Yakovlev, a former UN procurement officer, was "sufficiently strong" that his UN immunity should also be removed. Annan's chief of staff Mark Malloch Brown said the UN chief had complied.

He had "secretly participated in a scheme to solicit a bribe" from a company bidding for an oil inspection contract, the commission said.

Yakovlev, a Russian, recently resigned his UN post after allegations that he had awarded a UN contract to a company that employed his son.

The Volcker panel also revealed evidence "of more corrupt activity by Mr Yakovlev, including his receipt from various other United Nations contractors of more than 950,000 dollars in payments to an offshore bank account."

Yakovlev entered a guilty plea in US court to three charges -- conspiracy, fraud and money laundering -- Monday.

Yakovlev, who faces 20 years in jail for each count, is accused of having set up a company, Moxyco, to handle the illicit payments, receiving transfers on accounts in Antigua in the Caribbean and in Switzerland in exchange for information and assistance for these companies.

The panel also said a recently found e-mail "raises further questions" about Annan's knowledge of corruption in the 64-billion-dollar scheme.

Volcker, had said in a previous report released in March that available evidence indicated Annan had not engaged in influence-peddling in the award of UN contracts in Iraq to the Swiss company Cotecna that employed his son, Kojo Annan.

The UN chief then said he felt exonerated in the scandal, which has tarnished the image of the world body.

But in his press conference Monday, Volcker pointed to the discovery in June of a short e-mail "that raises a further question about the secretary general's knowledge" of the affair.

The e-mail was first disclosed by the New York Times in June and Volcker said it "appears authentic."

It indicated that Cotecna's vice president at the time, Michael Wilson, a friend of the Annan family, had a brief discussion with the secretary general and his entourage in Paris during the 20th summit of Francophone leaders in Paris in late November 1998.

"The e-mail concluded, and I quote, that the collective advice was that we could count on their support," Volcker said.

"The new evidence clearly raises further questions. Questions we have not been able to answer to our satisfaction for this report," Volcker added.

The discussion allegedly took place a few days before the contract was awarded to Cotecna Inspection Services.

Annan's aides maintain the UN chief has no recollection of such discussion and said there is no trace of it in UN records.

Volcker noted that during his recent report: "We found that we had no evidence that he (Annan) had interfered with the process of selecting Cotecna ... we said we were not able to reach a conclusion, we didn't have reasonably sufficient evidence as to whether he even knew that Cotecna was involved in the contract."

But the former head of the US Federal Reserve Board pointedly added: "I would not call that exoneration."

Wilson -- who worked for Cotecna from 1995 to 2000, and was a consultant until 2001 -- no longer has any ties with the company, Cotecna said.

Cotecna, which once employed Annan's son Kojo, in 1998 was awarded 10 million dollars a year to inspect shipments entering Iraq as part of the UN program.

Annan meanwhile strongly denied any role in the selection of Cotecna or having discussed the contract with his son.

The Volcker panel also said it expected to review its conclusions in a comprehensive report to be released in early September, less than two weeks before the United Nations is to host a summit of world leaders that is to endorse Annan's ambitious UN reform package ahead of the next General Assembly session.

The commission is to publish another report in early October giving a definitive list of the more than 4,500 private contractors that engaged in the purchase of oil for the sale of humanitarian and other goods to Iraq under the program.

The oil-for-food program ran from 1996 until 2003, when US-led forces invaded Iraq to oust then-president Saddam Hussein. It allowed Baghdad to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian goods the country lacked due to sanctions.

[X]

Hell, even Kofi's brother is caught up in it.

Annan’s brother in oil scandal inquiry
Robert Winnett

THE official investigation into corruption in the £20 billion United Nations oil for food programme is now looking at the brother of Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general.

Kobina Annan, the Ghanaian ambassador to Morocco, is said by investigators to be “connected” to an African businessman at the centre of the scandal.

The oil for food programme was set up by the UN in 1995 to provide humanitarian supplies to Iraq, which was at the time prevented from trading normally with the rest of the world because of sanctions.

However, Saddam Hussein subverted the programme by taking kickbacks from companies involved and giving cut-price oil vouchers to influential individuals around the world.

Kobina is the second member of Annan’s family to be drawn into the scandal, which has led to the resignation of several senior UN officials.

The secretary-general has so far escaped censure, but the final verdict on his conduct will not be delivered by investigators until the autumn.

Kojo Annan, the secretary-general’s son who was involved with several companies seeking to profit from the programme, has been criticised and remains under investigation.

Inquiries into Kobina are at an early stage and he has not been interviewed.

However, investigators are understood to suspect that Michael Wilson, an African businessman, and Kobina had a business relationship at the time of the scandal.

A source close to the investigation said: “We believe Kobina Annan may be involved with Michael Wilson and Kojo Annan. We know there is a connection between Kobina and Wilson.”

The oil for food programme was the biggest humanitarian scheme undertaken. However, since the fall of Saddam allegations of corruption have surfaced forcing the UN to set up a commission, headed by Paul Volcker, the former head of the American Federal Reserve, to investigate it.

Saddam is alleged to have used valuable oil allocations to influence key figures around the world. Bribes were also demanded in return for oil, which were paid into a network of secret bank accounts.

Volcker has already uncovered a web of corruption at the UN, which appears to have allowed the scheme’s abuse to continue unchecked.

Last week, in an interim report, he said Benon Sevan, the head of the programme, and Alexander Yakovlev, another senior UN official, had taken bribes.

Sevan has left the United Nations in disgrace and Yakovlev was arrested in New York last week in relation to the charges.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1734483,00.html

[bhk]

Who says the UN is ineffective? They didn't apply the correct methods, namely bribing Koffi or his family.

[X]

Another reason the French were less than cooperative?

Former French U.N. Ambassador in Custody in Oil for Food Probe

By Pierre-Antoine Souchard Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 11, 2005

PARIS (AP) - France's former U.N. ambassador has been taken into custody as part of an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in the Iraq oil-for-food program, judicial officials said Tuesday.

Jean-Bernard Merimee, 68, who also was ambassador to Italy from 1995-98 and to Australia in the 1980s, is suspected of having received kickbacks in the form of oil allocations from the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. He was also a special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan from 1999 to 2002.

Merimee was taken into custody on Monday, and is expected to be presented Wednesday to the judge leading the probe, the officials said on condition of anonymity because French law does not allow disclosure of information from judicial investigations.

Merimee was France's permanent representative to the U.N. from 1991-95. He was one of the world body's most prominent diplomats, in part because France occupies one of five permanent seats on the powerful U.N. Security Council.

The oil-for-food program was established in 1996 to provide food, medical supplies and other humanitarian goods for millions of Iraqis trying to cope with U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The program ended with the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Merimee worked as a special adviser to Annan from 1999 to 2002, helping to create a system by which the European Commission disbursed payments to the United Nations. Annan spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the U.N. would not comment on the specifics of the case.

"We have made it clear that we support the efforts of national authorities who wish to pursue proceedings into activities of their own nationals who may or may not have been involved in the oil-for-food program," Dujarric said.

The French mission to the United Nations promised to cooperate with the investigation into Merimee. A spokesman said the mission's papers from Merimee's time at the U.N. had long since been sent back to the national archives in Paris and that there had been no request so far to meet with staff in New York.

Saddam manipulated the program under a scheme by which he essentially sold oil at a reduced rate to favored buyers, who could then turn around and sell the oil at a hefty profit.

French officials and business leaders - including a former adviser to former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua - are suspected of having received oil allocations as kickbacks from Saddam's regime.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBYJ2IFOEE.html

[Myster X]

You could have knock me over with as feather with that news :eek:
When will the UN seek and apology from France, Russia, China, and Kofi for bilking Iraqi people oil for food program?

[Sominex]

You could have knock me over with as feather with that news :eek:
When will the UN seek and apology from France, Russia, China, and Kofi for bilking Iraqi people oil for food program?




They never will. The UN depends on those countries to continue being corrupt... so they can help the UN with its corruption. The UN should be disbanded, shit down and never resurrected. Screw them.

[nemein]

I disagree, for as much as I dislike the UN I realize something like it is needed... it just needs a MAJOR top to bottom overhaul.

[bhk]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1824684,00.html
Envoys admit taking oil payoffs

Envoys admit taking oil payoffs
By Charles Bremner
France has distanced itself from two former ambassadors facing corruption charges



TWO former French ambassadors have admitted earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale of oil that Iraq had assigned to them under the United Nations Oil-for-Food programme.
The disclosure tarnished France’s moral stand against the invasion of Iraq, and its Foreign Ministry scrambled to distance itself from the alleged illicit activities of Serge Boidevaix, a former director of the ministry, and of Jean-Bernard Mérimée, a former French Ambassador to the UN. Both are facing corruption charges.

Jean-Baptiste Mattei, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said: “There is no link . . . with the decision of France not to participate in the Iraq war. This stemmed from our concept of international law.”

Word that the two men had acknowledged payoffs from Baghdad has embarrassed the ministry, which fears that the actions of two retired diplomats will be used to discredit President Chirac’s opposition towards the invasion of Iraq.

Prosecution proceedings have been opened against both men on charges of influence peddling and corruptly acting for a foreign power. Le Monde reported that M Mérimée, 68, who served as UN Ambassador in the early 1990s, told Philippe Courroye, the investigating judge, that he had made $150,000 (£85,800) from two million barrels of oil that had been assigned to him in 2001.

Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, had given him the oil vouchers as thanks for his lobbying efforts on behalf of Iraq, Le Monde said. He was serving at the time as a special adviser to Kofi Annan, the UN SecretaryGeneral. M Boidevaix, 77, told investigators that he had received 29 million barrels between 1998 and 2003 in reward for lobbying on Iraq’s behalf against the international oil embargo, Le Monde said. According to the investigators, M Boidevaix had made $250,000 from selling on the vouchers.

He told Judge Courroye that he had kept the Foreign Ministry informed of his activities and the payments made to him after 1997. This appeared to conflict with the ministry’s assertion that it had no knowledge of the activities of the two ambassadors. The ministry also appeared to contradict itself, saying that in 2001 it had warned both men to observe caution in view of their status as former representatives of France. Last year, when US investigators reported evidence of French beneficiaries of the Iraqi oil handout, the ministry reacted indignantly.

Judge Courroye is investigating 11 French-based officials, business figures, politicians and a journalist who are alleged to have benefited from Baghdad’s largesse during the seven-year programme, which ended in 2003. Six have been told that they face charges. M Boidevaix told the judge that he believed that Senator Charles Pasqua, a former Gaullist Interior Minister, and others had enjoyed favours from Baghdad “because they lobbied hard for it with the Iraqis”.

The French media deplored the apparent involvement of senior state officials in corrupt dealings with the regime of Saddam Hussein. Le Monde said the image of France was at stake. Le Figaro said that “French diplomacy has been stained by ‘Oil for Food’.”

Ha Ha Ha, thanks for a good laugh Le Monde.

[Mutley Hyde]

Nice find, bhk. :up:

[kvrdave]

I disagree, for as much as I dislike the UN I realize something like it is needed... it just needs a MAJOR top to bottom overhaul.

I don't mind the idea of it, either, but it seems asinine to have countries without some form of democracy have any say. What's the point?