Fox News: The UN Unjustly Fired Joseph Stephanides

Wrong man fired say's Fox

Fox News has researched the charges that led to the UN's firing of Joseph Stephanides (the only person fired thus far in the OFF scandal) and found them wanting. Fox News reporters reviewed documentary evidence that Stephanides had acted on the Lloyd's Register Oil-for-Food contract only after receiving higher-level UN authorization for his actions. Our own Contributing Expert, Victor Comras was the first to question the Volcker Commission findings against Stephanides and to challenge the UN's decision to summarily dismiss him. His series of blogs seeking justice for Stephanides date back to February 10, 2005, just 4 days after publication of the first interim Volcker Commission report. His virtually one-man campaign on behalf of Stephanides now appears vindicated, and it's further proof that we can't trust the U.N. to tell us the whole truth about OFF. Thanks to The Counterterrorism Blog.

Kofi finally fires someone.

Funny bidding

-- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday fired Joseph Stephanides, an official in the Iraq oil-for-food program, for misconduct in the awarding of a contract to a company that inspected humanitarian goods imported by former dictator Saddam Hussein's regime.
Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who is investigating allegations of corruption in the program, said in a Feb. 3 report that Stephanides ``tainted'' the process of hiring Lloyds Register Inspection Ltd. by telling the U.K. company how much to lower its bid to win the 1996 contract.
``After a thorough review of all aspects of the case, the secretary-general has decided that Mr. Joseph Stephanides be summarily dismissed for serious misconduct, in accordance with the United Nations staff regulations,'' UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters today at the UN.

"I did it for the good of sanctions enforcement," Stephanides said.

"Congratulations to NRO Contributor Claudia Rosett, winner of the 2005 Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Journalism!
She should have a Pulitzer and maybe even a Nobel on her desk, but today Claudia Rosett has a true truth-teller's prize in her possession — the Eric Annual Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Journalism."

Read the article, she is the best! Article

France's largest oil company

Lucrative oil deal with Saddam

"France’s largest oil company, Total (formerly TotalFinaElf) had negotiated lucrative oil contracts with the Hussein regime after Gulf War 1 to drill in Southern Iraq." (The Real Coalition of the Bribed and Coerced, GeoPoliticalReview, October 8, 2004). "These negotiations took place in anticipation of an eventual weakening or lifting of the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq, thereby allowing them to immediately execute said contracts worth approximately $650-billion. Without Saddam in power, those oil contracts would naturally be void, so France had incentive to keep him in power to maintain their competitive advantage. On a related note, the destruction of the homeland of the "Marsh Arabs" in Southern Iraq (much publicized after the fall of Baghdad) was reportedly done by Saddam at the bequest of Total representatives after coming under repeated attacks during their oil speculating endeavors in the region."
In other words, ensuring the physical safety of the agents of France’s biggest oil company, of which the Paul Desmarais Montreal-based Power Corporation is the biggest shareholder, had a hand to play in the deliberate destruction of what many regard as the cradle of civilization.

Saddam wiped out a people and the migratory fly way of millions of birds. What used to be the home of a million people is now a desert and the birds have died. This was the 2nd Genocide on Kofi Annan's watch. A United Nations definition of Genocide is in comments. Article with pictures of the area in National Geographic'.

"I think we can do business with this man," Kofi Annan.

2% right off the top

"WHEN UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL Kofi Annan quipped several years ago that he could "do business" with Saddam Hussein, he meant it figuratively. In light of the substantive charges coming out of the ever-expanding Oil-for-Food scandal, the throwaway line seems revealing or at least ironic.
"I think we have to take him literally," says Republican senator Norm Coleman, who is leading one of eight investigations into the corruption and mismanagement of the U.N.'s largest-ever humanitarian relief effort.
The basic outline of the scandal is simple: Saddam Hussein used the Oil-for-Food program to circumvent U.N. sanctions imposed after the Gulf war and to enrich himself and his allies. He did this by bribing leading journalists and diplomats and demanding kickbacks from those who profited from selling Iraqi oil. That he was able to do so indicates at least that the U.N. badly mismanaged the program it set up in December 1996. None of this is particularly astonishing. No one is surprised to learn that Saddam Hussein cheats, that politicians take bribes, and that the competence level of the U.N. bureaucracy is, well, suboptimal."

From the start the United Nations was bought with Saddam's money. The United Nations became an enabler of theft and greed all for the 2% off of the top. Saddam an old briber from way back knew exactly what he was doing, he knew that kind of money flowing in to the UN would give him carte blanche with what ever he wanted to do, he paid everyone who put their hands out including members of the Security Council and their governments. Ron

A recap of UN abuse by Claudia Rosett

Iraq and the Importance of the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food Scandal

The oil-for food scandal the biggest heist in the history of humanitarian relief. It involved thousands of contractors in dozens of countries and Saddam personally obtained vast sums of money from the program. In all, the program is estimated to have involved $9-17 billion, but it may have been even more.
As a result, there are three investigations in congress, federal prosecutors have indicted suspects and named two officials and there has been an internal U.N. investigation. The organization has an important aim but a rotten core. In particular, the oil-for-food scandal demonstrates that, at the U.N., incentives matter, because there is a culture of privilege and secrecy.
There has been a proliferation of other U.N. scandals, such as the African sex scandal; auditing problems; the resignation of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees amid allegations of sexual harassment; and the U.N. Commission on Human Rights admitting Zimbabwe, and so on. None of these, however, have attracted the same amount of attention. This scandal has opened at window into the U.N. itself in a way other U.N. scandals have not.

Please give the boxes back, pleads Mr. Volcker

Henry Hyde is laughing

"Mr. Parton, a former FBI agent, and a fellow investigator quit Mr. Volcker's $30 million investigation last month to protest the soft treatment they felt was given to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Mr. Volcker also said the congressional committees probing the $10 billion Iraq oil-for-food scandal should immediately return more than a half-dozen boxes of documents Mr. Parton turned over to the House International Relations Committee Thursday in response to a subpoena. Mr. Parton's cooperation with Capitol Hill committees would violate the U.N. inquiry's immunity and also a confidentiality agreement he signed when he joined the inquiry last year.

Paul Volcker, the head of the U.N.-appointed panel probing the oil-for-food scandal, yesterday asked Congress to drop its efforts to force an investigator who resigned from the panel to testify about any top-level corruption at the world body."

Sen. Coleman and Rep. Hyde must have a great deal of satisfaction hearing Mr. Volcker ask for the evidence back that Mr. Parton brought to them. Henry Hyde was treated like like a child by Kofi Annan when he asked for cooperation by formal letter in April of 2004. Mr. Annan didn't even have the courtesy to give Mr. Hyde a reply for over 6 months. We can see by the information that has dribbled out just why Mr. Annan didn't want to cooperate, his son and most of the Secretariat and even the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Boutros-Boutros Ghalli were involved in scamming. Mr. Annan's former chief of staff Mr. Riza tried his best to run boxes and boxes and hundreds of thousands of pieces of evidence for 24/7 through the shredders; how galling it must be that Hyde and Coleman got some of it before it could be destroyed.

Henry Hyde finally gets the respect due

Now Henry has the information

 Robert Parton, a former FBI agent and the top investigator with the United Nations' $30 million oil-for-food investigation, delivered at least a half-dozen boxes of documents to comply with a subpoena issued last week by the House International Relations Committee.

    Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde, Illinois Republican, praised Mr. Parton for complying and warned Mr. Volcker's panel against seeking retribution for his cooperation.
    "It is my hope and expectation that neither the United Nations nor the [Volcker] inquiry will attempt to sanction Mr. Parton for complying with a lawful subpoena," Mr. Hyde said yesterday.

Senator Coleman gets UN records

This will be interesting

Documents inolving actions taken by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (search) in the Oil-for-Food investigation were handed over to Congress on Wednesday night, FOX News has learned.
The documents were given to federal lawmakers by Robert Parton (search), a former senior investigator on the Independent Inquiry Committee (search) probing the $64 billion program.
Parton and Miranda Duncan (search), who both resigned from the panel last month in protest, have accused the IIC of downplaying Annan's role in the Oil-for-Food corruption scandal in an interim report released by the panel last March.

Kerry campaign worker disregards United Nations Charter provisions.

Senator Coleman will subpoena Robert Parton and Miranda Duncan to testify.

Volcker say's they have immunity

Senator Coleman, who has called on Mr Annan to resign for mismanagement, vowed to force a showdown by issuing the subpoenas anyway. “I spoke with Mr Volcker and expressed my grave and growing concerns about the credibility and independence of the investigation into the criminal misconduct that occurred in the UN Oil-for-Food programme,” he said.

Questions have been raised about Mr Volcker’s impartiality by the resignation of the two investigators and by his ties to a company once run by Maurice Strong, a Canadian tycoon and diplomat under investigation by the Volcker panel.In the 1960s Mr Strong, 76, ran Power Corporation of Canada, which later hired Mr Volcker as a paid consultant. The UN is refusing to reveal whether Mr Strong played any role in recommending Mr Volcker for his post as head of the Oil-for-Food inquiry.

Just who is this Maurice Strong everyone is not talking about? Why, he is the man who single handly put together the "Kyoto Protocols" and what is that you might ask? Well, basically its a way to get the industrial nations of the world to buy hot air credits from China and a few other places. Here is an article where you can get a very good idea what is transpiring. article

Another UN Resignation, Bertini this time.

You know what jumps off of ships?

Kofi Annan "reluctantly" accepted another resignation on Tuesday. The latest one is from Under-Secretary-General for Management Catherine Bertini. It was Bertini who cleared UN auditor Dileep Nair of a wide range of allegations including corrupt practices and violating Staff Regulations in November 2004. Dileep Nair, as Canada Free Press reported in March, is the embattled-by-Paul-Volcker UN auditor accused of "misusing Oil-for-Food funds and violating UN Staff Regulations."

Nair left the UN last week maintaining his innocence. Bertini will leave the UN at the end of this month.  Canada's Louise Fréchette, Kofi’s #2, who blocked Nair from reporting Oil-for-Food audit irregularities to the UN Security Council remains at the UN intact.

Benan Sevan wants legal fee's paid by UN

Sounds like a warning to UN

Benon Sevan, who once headed the United Nations' oil-for-food program, hinted in a recent letter to the U.N. chief of staff, Mark Malloch Brown, that he would consider retributions against the organization if it refused to reimburse the mounting legal fees he has incurred while attempting to fend off allegations related to the progra

The April 10 letter to Mr. Malloch Brown was penned by Mr. Sevan's somewhat lower-profile lawyer, Eric Lewis. Mr. Lewis demanded that the United Nations reconsider its prior decision not to reimburse the legal fees incurred by Mr. Sevan as result of oil-for-food accusations.

Mr. Lewis implied in his letter that Mr. Sevan could go public with the circumstances surrounding the initial promise by the United Nations to cover Mr. Sevan's legal fees - and the organization's subsequent about-face. Mr. Sevan's knowledge of the program might include potentially damaging information about several U.N. officials.

Volcker tries to defend probe

More smoke and mirrors

"I thought we criticized him rather severely; I would not call that an exoneration," Volcker said in an interview broadcast on Fox News.

Volcker's remarks followed the recent resignations of two of his top investigators, Miranda Duncan and Robert Parton.

Parton, a former FBI agent who served as Volcker's senior investigative counsel, quit out of frustration that the report did not provide a more critical account of Annan's handling of the $64 billion humanitarian program, a source close to Parton said on the condition of anonymity.

Don't forget the Kanadian Konnection

Don't forget Canadian Louise Frechette

Volcker’s number two man former Canadian spy chief Reid Morden

Paul Volcker: Just fishing with the Canadians at Power Corp.

Some more on Mr. Strong

$8 Billion missing in new UN scandal

$10 Billion shortfall because of Canadian Kyoto Protocols, gee thanks Mr. Strong

Resignation was misrepresented, says investigator.

Because of principal

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. "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.

Cover up in Volcker investigation

Unhappy investigators with Volcker

The two senior investigators on the Volcker commission, appointed by the United Nations to investigate the oil-for-food scandal, resigned last week because they feared a "de facto cover-up" over a report into Kojo Annan's business dealings.

Last night, in the most explicit criticism so far directed at the report, Robert Parton, one of the senior investigators, told a lawyer involved with the Volcker inquiry that he thought the committee was "engaging in a de facto cover-up, acting with good intentions but steered by ideology".

Might take a little while for the two attorneys to tell all they know about the internal workings of the 'Volcker Truth Squad' but it seems as thought there were two ways being used to attain the information for the report. As the investigators turned up damaging information on Kofi Annan and the Secretariat it was put in one pile which was later disappeared [somewhat like the previous internal investigations and original audits] and the Pap was compiled and put out as the Volcker report. Its really nothing that we didn't suspect happening but nice to have someone come clean and verify it. The commission was hand picked by Kofi Annan, what did you expect. A lot of the good stuff went in to the shredders but there are copies of some of that stuff somewhere and in someone's possession, there always is, its the stuff of books and its valuable.

Ron

We have another cover up and kick back scheme going on in Canadian Politics that is getting interesting and since a lot of the players in UNSCAM are Canadian, hopefully some friends up North will shed some light on machinations of the Liberal/Socialist party; here is a portion of one letter, the rest is in comments.

"By the way.....wait another week or two, and you'll REALLY SEE SOME OUTRAGE. We Canadian sheep have just discovered that there was an even more disturbing trend occurring in our little dominion. It seems that our Liberal Party of "Canadian Values" has been exchanging appointments to the bench...in exchange for campaign work. Yep....the Liberals in Canada have been appointing Lawyers to the bench.......in exchange for fundraising, campaign promotion, and cash. Only in Canada eh? Pity."

The Government in Canada is more of a criminal enterprise than anything else, kleptocracy is the word we use for something like this. We'll shine a little light on that country for awhile, something is amiss there.

The ties between Volcker, Strong and Canadian Corp.

Not only Volcker and Strong

UNITED NATIONS - The next chapter in the United Nations crisis may erupt over U.N. investigator Paul Volcker's membership on the board of one of Canada's biggest companies, Power Corporation, since a past president of the firm, Canadian tycoon Maurice Strong, is now tied to the oil-for-food scandal.

Also, following yesterday's reports of resignations of top investigators on Mr. Volcker's team, Washington officials revisited Secretary-General Annan's assertion that the team's report last month exonerated him. For the first time, the Bush administration hinted that it may cease support of Mr. Annan altogether.

Deputy Secretary-General, Canadian Louise Frechette is already being mentioned as a replacement for Kofi Annan but it has to be remembered that Ms. Frechette was brought into the UN by Mr. Maurice Strong and that four years into the seven-year Oil-for-Food program, with graft and mismanagement by then rampant, Frechette intervened directly by telephone to stop United Nations auditors from forwarding their investigations to the U.N. Security Council. This detail was buried on page 186 of the 219-page interim report Volcker's Independent Inquiry Committee released Feb. 3. Deputy Secretary-General, Canadian Louise Frechette Blocked UN Auditors, this has to be remembered when/if Kofi Annan is replaced. Ron

Kofi not exonerated say's US State Department official.

"Time to step aside"

Deputy Secretary-General, Canadian Louise Frechette, more information

Annan wants to "reform" the U.N. again

Claudia Rosett

Since the U.N.'s self-described dawn of integrity three years ago (one of several such sunrises since Mr. Annan became secretary-general in 1997), we have seen the sex-for-food scandal in the Congo, featuring the rape of minors by U.N. peacekeepers, which continued well after press disclosures last year prompted a U.N. internal investigation. We have seen theft at the World Meteorological Association, scandal in the U.N. audit department, the resignation over sexual harassment charges of the refugee high commissioner Ruud Lubbers, turmoil within the Electoral Assistance Division, and allegations of corruption involving the U.N.'s Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization. We have seen rebellion by the U.N. Staff Union against "senior management, and a raft of resignations by senior U.N. officials who nonetheless linger on the premises on official salaries of a dollar a year, plus the various perquisites and connections the place affords.

UN staff have recommended that Maurice Strong be suspended according to report.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Investigators Robert Parton (senior investigative counsel) and Miranda Duncan (deputy counsel) have resigned because information was not being followed up by the Volcker Committee!!! These are two of the top three field investigators for the committtee. Only Michael Cornacchia remains. Hat tip to Roger L. Simon

Maurice Strong resigns

Kofi blames others for his incompetence

Is Kofi saying he didn't know?

"Every man and his dog is buying Iraqi oil," said one oil trader quoted by the Times of London in early 2001. The same story described "total anarchy" and "flagrant disregard of U.N. Security Council resolutions" in Oil for Food. A myriad of shady middlemen had moved in after the world's major oil companies shunned Iraq in response to Saddam's widely publicized demand the previous year for illegal kickbacks on oil contracts.

This open and flagrant corruption--the Times story was one of many--is the best evidence of Kofi Annan's unfitness to continue to lead the U.N. It's not merely that it all happened on his watch, but that it was allowed to happen in plain view."

U.N. underwriting: Not another dime

It's official: Kofi says the US and England did it.

Kofi blames US

"U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who earlier angered the United States and Britain by calling the Iraq war 'illegal,' has upset both nations again -- this time accusing them of allowing Saddam Hussein to enrich himself selling oil outside the U.N.-run oil-for-food program.
    Mr. Annan set off the latest dispute on Thursday by asserting that Saddam made more money smuggling oil to Jordan and Turkey -- under the noses of the United States and Britain -- than he skimmed from the 1996-2003 U.N.-run oil-for-food program.

Mr. Annan just can't make something like this fly. Even though his hand picked investigators led by Mr. Volcker does his best to hide information that is cascading forth, Mr. Volcker can't keep it all in and we learn of such things as paper shredding by Kofi Annan's Chief of Staff.

"The most significant finding in the Volcker Report is undoubtedly the revelation that Kofi Annan's then-Chief of Staff Iqbal Riza authorized the shredding between April and December 2004 of thousands of UN documents--the entire UN Chef de Cabinet chronological files for the years 1997, 1998 and 1999, many of which related to the oil-for-food program."

Only in the never-never land of UN bureaucracy could you find some one like Kofi Annan and his Secretariat. This organization is dangerous and has to be down sized for our safety, it is trying to gain a position of more power than its member states. It is an unelected group of nameless and unaccountable greymen who have brought forth genocide's, rapes, pedophilia and the most monumental theft of all time.

The United State has to stop buying into the UN bureaucracy, its an incremental thing that they are attempting and the only thing they need is time and they have decades to outlast any opponent. First the "Kyoto Protocol" and then the ICC and now the Law of the Sea, just a little bit at a time until we have something out of Orwell's 1984. Ron

Kojo's friend in UN bribery investigation

UN's Kofi Annan has to explain the shreding

What about the coverup Kofi?

"The most significant finding in the Second Interim Report is that Iqbal Riza, Kofi Annan’s chief of staff, authorized the shredding of thousands of U.N. documents between April and December 2004. Among these documents were the entire U.N. Chef de Cabinet chronological files for 1997, 1998, and 1999—many of which related to the Oil-for-Food Program.

Riza approved this destruction just 10 days after he had personally written to the heads of nine U.N.-related agencies that administered the Oil-for-Food Program in Northern Iraq, requesting that they “take all necessary steps to collect, preserve and secure all files, records and documents…relating to the Oil-for-Food Programme.”[8] The destruction continued for more than seven months after the Secretary-General’s June 1, 2004, order to U.N. staff members “not to destroy or remove any documents related to the Oil-for-Food programme that are in their possession or under their control, and to not instruct or allow anyone else to destroy or remove such documents.”[9]

Significantly, Kofi Annan announced the retirement of Mr. Riza on January 15, 2005—the same day that Riza notified the Volcker Committee that he had destroyed the documents.[10] Riza was immediately replaced by Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the U.N. Development Programme."

At the United Nations, the senior administrator under Kofi Annan has willfully and deliberately shredded documents that pertained to the greatest rip off in history and Annan lets him retire the same day that he notified Volcker of the documents destruction. The records were so voluminous that it took seven months to shred them all and Annan professes he knows nothing about it, can there be anyone that would believe such a lie. The responsibility stopped with Annan and for this if nothing else he should be forced to resign. Ron

Volcker Committee Was Manipulated

This is nothing new

The lawyer for a key witness who cooperated with the U.N. committee investigating the oil-for-food scandal says the panel allowed itself to be manipulated into discrediting his client by Secretary-General Annan's attorney, Greg Craig, a former aide to President Clinton.

The lawyer, Adrian Gonzalez, who represents Kojo Annan's former business partner Pierre Mouselli, said the Volcker committee was persuaded to discount the testimony of his client by Mr. Craig. Kojo Annan is the secretary-general's son.

Kofi Aide Shredded Thousands of Documents

Seven full months of shredding and he has immunity

It is hardly surprising that Volcker has struggled to find evidence of "improper influence" if a great deal of vital evidence has ended up in a shredder. Despite UN protestations, this latest report will add to a growing picture of mismanagement, incompetence, and unaccountability in a world body in deep crisis and in serious need of reform.

The most significant finding in the Volcker Report is undoubtedly the revelation that Kofi Annan's then-Chief of Staff Iqbal Riza authorized the shredding between April and December 2004 of thousands of UN documents--the entire UN Chef de Cabinet chronological files for the years 1997, 1998 and 1999, many of which related to the oil-for-food program.

Significantly, Kofi Annan announced the retirement of Riza on Jan. 15, 2005, exactly the same day that Riza notified the Volcker Committee that he had destroyed the documents.

Riza was chief of staff from 1997 to 2004, almost the entire period in which the oil-for- food program was in operation, and would undoubtedly possess an intricate knowledge of the UN's management of the program. He was a long-time colleague of Kofi Annan, and served as Annan's deputy in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations from 1993 to 1996.

How Montreal's Power Corp. found itself caught up in the biggest fiasco in UN history

Where there is smoke, there's fire

"Most Canadian companies look forward to the day they earn themselves a mention on the prime-time news. But when Montreal-based Power Corporation of Canada found itself, in late January, the topic of a news story on America’s top-rated Fox News Channel, which draws millions of U.S. and international viewers, executives there probably weren’t thrilled.

But the Fox News story wasn’t prompted by an announcement from Power of some billion-dollar takeover or the appointment of a new senior executive. It was something altogether different: the revelation that the man handpicked by the UN secretary general last April to probe the UN’s scandalized Oil-for-Food program, Paul Volcker, had not disclosed to the UN that he was a paid adviser to Power Corp., a story which had originally been broken by a small, independent Toronto newspaper, the Canada Free Press.

And, they wanted to know, what, if anything, did Power have to do with a scandal in which companies around the world took bribes to help a murderous dictator scam billions of dollars in humanitarian aid out of the UN while his people suffered and starved?"

So begins the story which to this point hasn't interested the liberal press. Main Stream Media has contended that it was all about oil and they might be right but it isn't the United States which they always are ready to condemm but just might be our neighbors to the North, the Canadians. After reading this your perception of Paul Volcker being neutral might change and your thinking about the United Nations being so benign had better change. Ron

Several of the World's Greatest Human Rights Violators Sit on UN Human Rights Panel

Senator Coleman: Kofi has to go

Replace Annan

Kofi Annon, floundering bureaucrat

Secretary-General Kofi Annan wants to reform the United Nations, but the more immediate issue is who will reform Kofi Annan.

Credit former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and his "Independent Inquiry Committee" with delivering a skull-cracking report on the United Nations' Oil For Food (OFF) scandal, albeit one administered with a soft hammer. Investigators argue there is no evidence that Annan knew about an OFF contract bid involving his son, Kojo Annan, and Kojo's employer, Cotecna.
Annan may not be a thief, but we do know he's a floundering bureaucrat responsible for mismanaging a sick organization mired in a multibillion dollar fraud.

That's why Volcker's report is the beginning of a genuine reform process, not a conclusion, and a slew of corrupt officials and businesses must face prosecution, not mere investigation. Corruption at the United Nations has worked hand-in-glove with incompetence to produce institutional paralysis and political irrelevance.

Another UN scandal

Shredded UN files

In newspapers and on the Internet, stories with headlines like The Washington Post's "UN Panel Clears Annan" and the Boston Globe's "Report Clears UN chief of corruption allegations" have appeared, suggesting that the Independent Inquiry Committee headed by Paul Volcker somehow vindicated U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
    But nothing could be further from the truth. The IIC report is an indictment of Mr. Annan's leadership of the United Nations. At a minimum, it raises questions about his judgement in hiring his top aide: his former chef de cabinet (chief of staff), S. Iqbal Riza, a Pakistani who suddenly announced his retirement December 22 -- the very day he admitted to the panel that he shredded documents that were likely related to the scandal.

Kofi Annan, a sad case.

Kofi's not up to it.

Stop the presses. As it turns out, the mismanagement of the multi-billion United Nations' Oil-for-Food scam -- run with all the oversight of a back-alley cock fight -- reaches to the office of Mr. United Nations himself -- His Excellency Kofi Annan. The world has expressed shock its beloved Mr. Annan -- the Nobel Peace Prize winner and would-be reformer -- is not a saint after all. Go figure.

The phrase "Oil-for-Food" is now synonymous with "corruption" and it is only the tip of the iceberg. Embezzlement has been reported at the World Meteorological Organization. Rape and pedophilia are rampant among U.N. peacekeepers. Last summer, the U.N. staff gave Mr. Annan a vote of no confidence and demanded his ouster.

The U.N. human rights record is a joke. Claims of sexual harassment have been leveled against a top manager. In August 2003, U.N. employees -- 22 of them -- were killed because of improper security measures by incompetent U.N. security personnel. In the face of terrorism and genocide, the U.N. sits on the sidelines quibbling over the proper definitions of terms.

Senator Colman remarks on report

Kofi has to be responsible

Kofi Annan is responsible for the failed management that resulted in the fraud and abuse of the Oil-for-Food Program. His lack of leadership, combined with conflicts of interest and a lack of responsibility and accountability point to one, and only one, outcome: His resignation.

The Volcker Report will show that Kojo Annan lied. He lied to investigators. He lied to the public. And, worse, he lied to his father. While Kofi Annan may not be responsible for the acts of his son, he is responsible for failing to reveal a serious conflict of interest. Specifically, he permitted the U.N. to give massive contracts to the company that employed his son. This egregious conflict of interest is simply inexcusable and further damages the credibility of the organization he leads.

In addition, the revelation that the U.N. has agreed to pay the legal fees of Benon Sevan is beyond comprehension. That the U.N. would pay for his defense, and finance it through the very institution he abused, is immoral and unethical. In my opinion, there is probable cause to criminally charge Mr. Sevan for his actions. The fact that the U.N. is reimbursing Mr. Sevan with money that rightfully belongs to the Iraqi people is outrageous.

Kofi's accountability

How can Kofi continue

"...what Mr. Volcker's report reveals is an "adverse finding" against the Secretary General: That is, patterns of willful neglect, conflict of interest and incompetence that would have any business CEO out on his ear." Wall Street Journal

The "Oil for Food" debacle is but a culmination of disasters that Mr. Annan has been the captain of, at least 2 genocides and another started in Darfur of which he is apparently helpless in stopping and now the greatest theft in worlds history. Judged by his actions he is a danger as his ineptness is monumental, as the Wall Street Journal say's, the "patterns of willful neglect, conflicts of interest and incompetence" would have any business CEO out on his ear. Ron

Nile Gardiner, Ph.D.

Volcker Report - Online Reaction

The following is a roundup of reactions from various opinion sites on the Internet regarding the recent report by investigator Paul Volcker concerning the Oil-For-Food scandal, and the future of Kofi Annan. (Updated as links are brought to my attention.)

Roger L. Simon:

The report will doubtless be spun in a number of ways. But there is sufficient meat here for any enterprising investigative reporter to go much further. It will be interesting to see what our major publications do. Many of them seem to think that to write too much about this would tarnish the image of the UN, but in actuality the reverse is true. The UN is already tarnished. Only reform will save it. And reform will only come from a full airing. I can already see a few things that were left out from my small knowledge. You can be sure they will appear in the days to come.

Howard Kaloogian:

...the more that comes out about the U.N. Oil for Food program, the more obvious it is that U.N. officials engaged in rampant acts of wrongdoing.”

Kofi Annan, Kojo Annan, Benon Sevan and other U.N. officials repeatedly have been caught giving out misinformation, mistruths, and blatant misrepresentations. They keep changing their stories to warp their explanation of what happened based on the latest incriminating revelations on the scandal.

The more times those involved in the U.N. Oil for Food scam change their stories, the more obvious it is of their guilt.

Jeff Harrell:

I freely admit that I haven't been following oil-for-food very closely. Or at all. See, there's no doubt in my mind that the UN is a deeply corrupt organization. Without checks and balances all organizations eventually become deeply corrupt. So to hear that when billions of dollars started changing hands some unscrupulous people decided to take advantage is neither surprising nor particularly interesting to me.

Paul Mirengoff:

I'd be happy to see Annan stay on. But then, I don't have the interests of the U.N. in mind.

Dr. Steven Taylor:

As long as the son doesn’t rap, I guess I’ll be fine. I don’t really like rap. Although I will say that Kojo might be a good name for a rapper, or maybe a bald detective who likes lollipops, or something.

Think Progress:

The usual gang of conservative attack dogs are using today’s oil-for-food report (which, incidentally, clears Kofi Annan of any wrongdoing) to coordinate another round of feckless U.N.-bashing.

Michelle Malkin:

Gack.

Scott Ott (Parody):

"Mr. Annan is not implicated in the scandal, since he had, and continues to have, no idea what's going on at the United Nations," according to an unnamed source who has read a summary of the report. "There is no evidence that the Secretary-General is aware of the day-to-day operations of the organization. He is completely innocent."

Handpuppet of UN says Kofi clean

Kofi not responsible says Volcker

"Investigators of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq said Tuesday there was not enough evidence to show that Secretary-General Kofi Annan knew of a contract bid by his son's Swiss employer.

The report released Tuesday also accused the company, Cotecna Inspection S.A., and Annan's son, Kojo, of trying to conceal their relationship after the contract was awarded. It also faulted Kofi Annan for conducting a one-day investigation into the matter, saying it should have been a more rigorous, independent probe."

Get out your brush, the white wash just got here. Just glancing at the report I see that Kofi is exonerated because he wasn't aware of the actions around him, apparently if your stupid you get a pass. So the way its run at the UN, if you close your eyes to the malfeasance of others, you can't be accused of any criminality, even if your the one running the whole show. The buck doesn't stop with Kofi it seems but is spread like smoke thru-out the whole Thugocracy until its so ethereal; the malfeasance won't stick on anyone. What did we really expect from the hand puppet of the UN anyway. Compare this investigation with any of the ones pertaining to US Corporations and you realize what a joke this is. Ron

Roger Simon's take on the report

More on Kojo's Iraqi connection

Kofi, Kojo and Kotecna in Kahoots?

Simon hits a gold seam

No joy for Kofi Annan today. Roger L. Simon has posted some information that will cause him some pain. It looks as though information is about to come out that will tie Kofi into Cotecna just a little tighter because of his son. In part Mr. Simon tells the story of business dealings and meeting of Kojo Annan with people he really shouldn't have been associating with.

“The Volcker committee has been interviewing Pierre Mouselli, a businessman in Paris who was Kojo's business partner. Their relationship started in 1998 when then 45-year old Mouselli met young Kojo (then 23) at a Bastille Day Party in the French Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria. Mouselli, who has been a cooperative witness and is not under investigation himself, has told the committee numerous interesting things, which deserved to be followed up,”

He tells of meetings between Kojo and two separate Iraqi Ambassadors to Nigeria and a trip in September 1998 by Mouselli and Kojo to the Non-Aligned Nations Movement Conference in Durban, South Africa during which they traveled with the Secretary General's entourage.

Other interesting stuff in the blog that really opens a can of worms for Kofi about his son's business dealing. He really didn't need this coming out just now. Go to the site and read the article in its entirety.

Mr. Boutros-Boutros-Ghali says its a right wing plot

Family ties

Oil-for-Food Blamed on Conservatives

Former United Nations chief Boutros Boutros-Ghali is blaming the oil-for-food scandal on "right-wing politicians" in the United States, saying they are merely using it as a tool to damage the world body's reputation.

Reuters reports that Boutros-Ghali, who served as U.N. secretary-general from 1991 to 1996, also has said current chief Kofi Annan should stay right where he is.

" A gem laid out in Paul Volcker’s tabled Interim Report says: Director of the discredited Oil-for-Food Program Benon Sevan, helped steer oil contracts to a relative of former UN Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Ghali.

The relative is Ghali’s son, with whom Sevan was in business. And then there’s Sevan’s Panamanian bank account with Boutros Ghali. Ghali was head honcho [Secretary General] at the UN in 1966 when Oil-for-Food got underway. He’s also the guy who chose the Banque Nationale de Paris, now known as BNP Paribas, to handle the program’s account." From an article by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com, February 7, 2005

Mr. Ghali should explain just how involved he was with Mr. Sevan. Did he have a joint account with Mr. Sevan in Panama? Was his son in business with Mr. Sevan in Panama? Did Mr. Ghali steer the banking business to BNP Paribas who's largest stockholder was a personal friend of Saddam?

Oil-for-Food: It's all relative

Jordanian 'peace' keepers accused of rape in E. Timor

Sevan threatens to go home if not treated right.

Pay the attorney fee's or else, says Sevan.

"I am shocked and dismayed that the U.N. Secretariat has agreed to pay Benon Sevan's legal fees from assets belonging to the Iraqi people," said Iraqi Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie.

The money to reimburse Mr. Sevan, as well as the $30 million to fund the official inquiry, comes from a fund set up with Iraqi oil revenues to administer the $64 billion oil-for-food program.

However Mark Malloch Brown said that, "Mr. Sevan made it clear that if he was not reimbursed ... he was going home to Cyprus," he told reporters yesterday. "He didn't see the need to subject himself to leaks and attacks."

Mark Malloch Brown apparently hasn't heard about arresting someone who has misappropriated money under cover of "doing his job." Just think of what would have happened to the guys and girls from Enron if they would have tried this. Hey Brown, Benan Sevan had a Panamanian Corporation going along with Butros-Butros-Butros's cousin and they snagged a couple of million dollars. "...he was going home to Cyprus." Lift his immunity with out telling him and tip off Henry Hyde, Henry would sweat him like a cooked chicken. Ron

Now it's $300,000 and Kofi meets with Cotecna

How much more did Kojo make

" U.N.-appointed panel investigating influence peddling in the oil-for-food program in Iraq is examining three contacts between Secretary General Kofi Annan and executives of a Swiss company that made payments to Annan's son while it conducted millions of dollars' worth of business with the world body, a senior U.N. official said.

Malloch Brown acknowledged Wednesday that the United Nations erred in suggesting Tuesday that Volcker's committee had backed a decision by Annan to pay Sevan an undisclosed but "big number" in legal fees."

Well we know from other sources [Claudia Rosett] that Kojo worked for Cotecna up until last year, he was drawing down $2500 per month for something and now we find out that there was other moneys paid to him that double the amount previously known. Cotecna has admitted to paying out $300,000 to Kojo Annan using subterfuge in order to hide the full amounts. It isn't because Cotecna thought to do the right thing and tell the investigators, they were caught by investigative reporters [Financial Times and the Italian Paper Il Sole]. The reporters also found out about the meetings of Kofi Annan and the the owners of Cotecna, this wasn't information that was given by the Secretariat freely, Kofi got caught. Even the news that Benan Sevan's attorneys fee's were being paid out of the Iraqi slush fund wasn't freely given; someone leaked the information. Great salaries, great retirements, all the women you can fondle, unbelievable side deals, attorney fee's paid and the possibility of a huge financial prize, World Government where you can tax whole countries, where the possibilities are limitless, where everything is hidden and you have a living breathing bureaucracy that will rule all, that will live forever. Ron

Benan Sevan's lawyers paid by Kofi

Mr. Sevan get retirement, legal fee's paid and immunity

Just how sweet a job at the United Nations has became apparent when it was disclosed that Mr. Sevan's legal fee's are paid by the UN. First Mr. Sevan sets up a Panamanian Corporation for he and his old friend the former Secretary Generals nephew or cousin or who ever, makes a couple of million and then gets caught by some digging by Claudia Rosett. Now the New York Sun has found out that Mr. Sevan's legal fee's are being picked up by the United Nations, probably a Iraqi slush fund on some sort, the Iraqis' will be pissed off when they hear about this. Great salary, retirement in a 5 Star Hotel and all your legal bills paid and immunity besides; if Ken Lay had the same deal he would have thought he'd died and went to heaven. Ron

"After months of denials, the United Nations admitted yesterday that, in an exception to its own rules, it has paid for the legal defense of Benon Sevan. The U.N.'s own investigation panel denounced Mr. Sevan for his central role in the oil-for-food scandal that has engulfed the world body.

Questions regarding whether the U.N. would cover Mr. Sevan's legal fees were raised soon after the name of the oil-for-food program chief appeared on a list published by the Iraqi newspaper al-Mada shortly after the start of the Iraq war. The newspaper accused world diplomats, businessmen, and U.N. officials of accepting bribes from Saddam Hussein in the form of oil allocations.

U.N officials distanced themselves from Mr. Sevan, even as the former Annan confidant continued to demand that they cover his legal fees. The retired Mr. Sevan remains a U.N. employee, with a symbolic $1-a-year salary, to make himself available for questioning by an independent committee headed by Mr. Volcker."

Whistle blower get shaft, Sevan gets bills paid.

Volcker to Release OFF Report

Yahoo! News - Volcker to Release Oil-For-Food Report

Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker will release a report March 29 on whether the U.N. chief and his son were involved in wrongdoing over the Iraqi oil-for-food program, officials said Monday.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday that he had no expectations about the report from Volcker, who is heading an investigation into the troubled program.

"I will wait to see the report, which I understand will come out by the end of this month," Annan told reporters.

Kojo Annan was employed in Africa by the Swiss company, Cotecna Inspection SA, which had a U.N. contract to certify the import of goods under the oil-for-food program for Iraq. The secretary-general was in charge of the United Nations at the time the contract was awarded in 1998, and during most of the seven years that the program was in operation.

Kojo Annan has denied any involvement in securing the U.N. contract for Cotecna or in the company's work in Iraq.

Volcker will release the interim report on the Annans at a press conference on March 29, a spokesperson for his Independent Inquiry Committee said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Volcker has said he intends to issue a definitive report in midsummer on the entire management and oversight of the program.

Last month, Volcker said his investigators were scrutinizing thousands of pages of Annan's documents, including e-mail and phone records, to determine whether he exerted influence in securing the Cotecna contract.

Sec. Rice says's John Bolton to lead U.N. shake up

Bolton is the man for a shake up!

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday she expects John R. Bolton, Washington's ambassador-designate to the United Nations, to lead an overdue shake-up of that organization. "John Bolton was my first choice," Miss Rice told editors and reporters in an interview at The Washington Times. "I think John is a straightforward, tough-talking, very good diplomat, and I think that's what you need at the United Nations."

What is needed in United Nations right now is an investigation that is transparent. Mr. Volcker is not the person to lead that investigation. " As Canada Free Press (CFP) revealed, Paul Volcker, who heads up the Independent Inquiry Commission into the oil-for-food scandal, held a seat on Power Corp’s international advisory board. [Read the two previous articles on Power Corporation and which companies it controls]" This should have been enough to disqualify him from leading an 'independent inquiry' of the United Nations but there is something else. "In addition to his connections to Power Corp., which he did not disclose upon being appointed head of the UN probe, Volcker has also been linked to a pro-UN lobby group, the United Nations Association of the United States (which happens to receive generous support from BNP Paribas). Critics are suggesting that the final report, expected in June, could end up being a whitewash."

There is a thread through this whole hidden non-disclosure by Mr. Volcker and its called "Power Corporation." If you have no idea who owns this entity and how Mr. Volcker is involved, read the previous two entries. Ron

Why Bolton will be good for the UN

More on Power Corp and Volcker

Mr. Volcker has to explain

When you add it all up, contemporary Canadian influence abroad has all the intrigue of a fast-moving spy novel.

Andre Desmarais also sits on the China International Trust & Investment Corp (CITIC), described as the alleged investment arm of the PLA, the Chinese military. Through its subsidiaries, the CITIC could be the largest manufacturer of weapons and arms in the world.

Maurice Strong, special ambassador to the UN, has publicly stated his belief that China is the economic and ecological future of the world, a sentiment echoed only last week by Prime Minister Martin. When it comes to global influence, Canada’s Montreal-based Power Corporation is an octopus with tentacles everywhere.

Both Prime Minister Paul Martin and his mentor Maurice Strong, senior advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, worked for Power Corp.

Martin’s immediate predecessor is former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, whose daughter, France is married to Andre Desmarais, son of Power Corp’s founding father, Paul Desmarais.

Desmarais Sr. is a major shareholder and director of TotalFinaElf, the biggest oil corporation in France, which has held tens of billions of dollars in contracts with the deposed regime of Saddam Hussein.
Continuing to join the dots on Volcker and potential conflicts of interest is Volcker’s number two man on the IIC, Reid Morden. Morden has connections to Desmarais in his role of selling nuclear plants to China and others for companies dominated by Desmarais. Although he is Canada’s former intelligence chief, Morden does not answer to the Canadian government. As CFP letter writer Peter Herberg puts it, "Can you imagine the uproar if a former CIA chief did this and took part in a UN investigation that refused to cooperate with congress?

As Canada Free Press (CFP) revealed, Paul Volcker, who heads up the Independent Inquiry Commission into the oil-for-food scandal, held a seat on Power Corp’s international advisory board.

Those are some of the ties of Power Corp., oil-for-food and Fracophonie’s Land of the fleur de lis.

A blueprint for world powerMr. Volcker has to explain

Who or what is "Power Corporation of Canada."

You have to follow the money

"When Montreal-based Power Corporation of Canada found itself, in late January, the topic of a news story on America’s top-rated Fox News Channel, which draws millions of U.S. and international viewers, executives there probably weren’t thrilled. the Fox News story wasn’t prompted by an announcement from Power of some billion-dollar takeover or the appointment of a new senior executive. It was something altogether different: the revelation that the man handpicked by the UN secretary general last April to probe the UN’s scandalized Oil-for-Food program, Paul Volcker, had not disclosed to the UN that he was a paid adviser to Power Corp., a story which had originally been broken by a small, independent Toronto newspaper, the Canada Free Press. Why did the highest-rated cable channel in the U.S. care? Because the more that Americans came to know about Oil-for-Food, which has been called the largest corruption scandal in history, the more the name of this little-known Montreal firm kept popping up."

"Now, Volcker himself is the one facing allegations of conflict. In addition to his connections to Power Corp., which he did not disclose upon being appointed head of the UN probe, Volcker has also been linked to a pro-UN lobby group, the United Nations Association of the United States (which happens to receive generous support from BNP Paribas). Critics are suggesting that the final report, expected in June, could end up being a whitewash."

This is a long and convoluted article but try to stay with it. The political connections mentioned in this story are very interesting, the companies seemed intertwined through politics and marriage. This will give you a very good idea why France didn't want Saddam out and even more surprising why Canada didn't either. Mr. Volcker really has to explain why he didn't mention his connection with some of the companies and people in this story. Perhaps Senator Coleman and his investigating committee can ask the questions. The United Nations is a dangerous organization, this article points out several reasons that is to the detriment of the United States to still be a member. Ron

Kojo Annan still busy as a bee.

More on Louise Frechette

John R. Bolton next Ambassador to UN

The ongoing troubles of the UN

What else can happen?

"We are going to have to face the fact that the situation is going to get worse before it gets better," Last year, peacekeepers in the Congo were accused of rape, sexual harassment and bribing children -- some as young as 12 or 13 -- into having sex. A French civilian staffer was in jail in France facing charges of making pornographic videos of pedophilia.

The larger crisis that has haunts the organization, reaching up its highest levels, is the scandal in connection with the oil-for-food program in Iraq At best, the scandal reflected lapses in the United Nation's management of a program mandated by the U.N. Security Council, which in turn was ultimately responsible for its oversight. While the investigations -- one requested by Annan himself -- were going on, and the atmosphere of New York's glass headquarters became increasingly unsettled, a string of senior resignations were announced, starting with Kofi Annan's chief-of-staff and longtime associate, 70-year-old Iqbal Reza.

Others included the United Nations' chief investigator Dileep Nair, the head of personnel management Catherine Bertini, the U.N.'s controller Jean-Pierre Halbwachs, and Annan's deputy chief-of-staff Elisabeth Lindenmayer. No one has linked their departures to the oil-for-food crisis. Annan's press spokesman Fred Eckhard said the simultaneous clean sweep of virtually everyone close to the secretary-general was no more than a coincidence -- and then resigned.

More mismanagement found

The trail leads higher than Sevan

With U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (search) next up for review by Paul Volcker’s inquiry into the Oil-for-Food scandal, a crucial question is whether Volcker will expand upon information tying the scandal directly to the U.N. chief’s office — by way of Annan’s second-in command, Louise Frechette (search).

Four years into the seven-year Oil-for-Food (search) program, with graft and mismanagement by then rampant, Frechette intervened directly by telephone to stop United Nations auditors from forwarding their investigations to the U.N. Security Council. This detail was buried on page 186 of the 219-page interim report Volcker’s Independent Inquiry Committee released Feb. 3.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette

LOUISE FRÉCHETTE

The other players

7 Year Old Girl raped by UN Peace keeper

Dileep Nair tried to tip off Security Council

Immunity not lifted yet by Kofi

For $1, Sevan gets immunity

The suspended U.N. head of the scandal-tainted oil-for-food program in Iraq has asked the United Nations for more time to answer a list of charges made against him, a U.N. spokesman said on Wednesday.
He was accused of steering an Iraq oil allocation to a relative of Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the U.N. secretary-general from 1991 to 1996. The relative, who owned a small Panamanian-registered trading company, earned $1.5 million from the transaction.

Sevan is retired and receives $1 a year but retains his diplomatic immunity until Annan lifts it. The arrangement was made so he would cooperate with Volcker's probe, which will be completed in mid-year.

UN finally to investigate rape charges of 12 year olds

More rapes than first thought, says UN

Another black mark against the UN

King Kofi's UN paid $1.4 Billion

2.2% paid to UN right off the top of Billions

Volcker's recent interim report--there is another interim one expected soon and a final report due out this summer--does not even begin to address the true dimensions of Oil-for-Food, in which the United Nations oversaw more than $110 billion of Saddam's business transactions while Saddam racked up sanctions-busting illicit income estimated at anywhere from $9 to $17 billion. The emerging picture is that Oil-for-Food was the largest scam in the history of humanitarian relief. And the big questions are: Who at the United Nations might be to blame? And what needs fixing? 

To cover its costs for overseeing the program, the Secretariat collected 2.2 percent of the revenue on every barrel of oil sold, amounting to $1.4 billion over the life of the program (plus another 0.8 percent, or $500 million, to pay for weapons inspections that ceased in late 1998, when Saddam stopped cooperating with them). This meant that Annan--who was secretary-general for all but the first month of the program--did not have to petition member-states for donations to run Oil-for-Food

Saddam was increasingly treated as an esteemed businessman rather than as a tyrant needing close supervision. The United Nations from the start let Saddam choose to whom he would sell oil and decide what goods Iraqis needed, subject to U.N. approval. The Secretariat, which retained records of Saddam's transactions, kept critical details of the deals secret, including the names of his business partners and the prices paid for relief supplies.

Peacekeepers or predators?

Time to retire like Mr. Sevan

Raped by UN as young as 12 years old

The United Nations Association of the United States of America

Just how can someone who was/is associated with “The United Nations Association of the United State of America” have an impartial and independent investigation of the "Oil for Food" scam? Mr. Volcker thought it so important that we didn't know about his association he didn't put it on his curriculum vitae; why is this? Read the article in its entirety here by inputing Professor Gardiner's name or the name of the article in the search engine or by clicking below. Out of all the Investigators that could have been chosen why pick one that is on the UN cheer leading team. Just how much is going into the paper shredders or erased from hard drives, maybe nothing but there is a doubt now and there needn't have been one with a neutral investigator. Ron

"The United Nations Association of the United States of America is a pro-U.N. advocacy group that supports the work of the United Nations. In the grateful words of Kofi Annan, 'There are United Nations Associations in many other countries, but this one is unique—both in the challenges it faces and in the energy and resources it devotes to tackling them. From our perspective, it is hard to think of any work more valuable than what you do to improve the understanding of United Nations issues in our host country.' [6]"

"The Volcker Committee suffers from a huge credibility problem of its own. It is hard to see how a team of investigators hand-picked by the U.N. Secretary-General, whose own son is a subject of investigation, could be considered truly independent. There is also a major question mark over its Chairman’s neutrality. After Mr. Volcker’s several years as a director of the United Nations Association and Business Council for the United Nations, it is difficult to see how he could cast a critical, objective eye over the U.N.’s leadership." From "the Volcker Oil-for Food Investigation: Is there a Conflict of Interest by N. Gardiner, Ph.D.

If this is so smart and the right way to run an inquiry, we should have let Mr. Ken Lay run the investigation of Enron. How can you not have doubt when you find this kind of information out; why was it hidden from the public? Turn the investigation over to Henry Hyde or Senator Coleman, this is the greatest theft in hundreds of years and the American People deserve better than they are getting. They get to pay their taxes into this organization of malfeasance and thats all? US citizen's pay 22% to 40% of the operating costs of the United Nations and they get shuck and jive from Kofi and crew when $23.3 billion is missing and a lot of it is being shot back at our troops in Iraq. Time for a change, guys. Ron

Is there a conflict of interest?

UN inspector bribed with Saddam's money

Oil-for-Food Chief Said to Block Audit

Benon Sevan wouldn't allow audit

The U.N. oil-for-food program chief under scrutiny for alleged corruption and mismanagement blocked a proposed audit of his office around the same time he's accused of soliciting lucrative oil deals from Iraq, according to investigators.

A U.N. auditing team, which was severely understaffed, said running the $64 billion oil-for-food program was "a high risk activity" and a priority for review. But Benon Sevan denied the internal auditors' request to hire a consultant to examine his office in May 2001 - an act top investigators of the program are now calling into question.

More on UN Pedeophilia

A very comprehensive report indeed!

Nile Gardiner, Ph.D., lays out the scheme for Congress

The seriousness of the charges leveled against Benon Sevan by the IIC Interim Report clearly merit criminal prosecution, and the U.N.’s pledge to lift diplomatic immunity for Mr. Sevan is an important first step in the right direction.

 Mr. Sevan should also be interviewed by Congressional investigators to shed more light on his illicit activities, as well as any criminal activity by members of his staff. Besides facing justice, Sevan should additionally serve as a vitally important source of information regarding attempts by the Saddam Hussein regime to influence decision-making at the U.N. and the Security Council. Several key questions need to be answered:

-  How did Sevan manage to blatantly flout U.N. rules without any suspicions being raised?

-  Why was there no oversight of Sevan’s management of the Office of the Iraq Program?

-  To what extent was Kofi Annan aware of corrupt practices within the OIP?

-  Were other U.N. staff assisting Sevan with his illicit activities?

-  How extensive were the ties between Sevan and the Saddam Hussein regime?

-  How was Sevan picked to become Director of the OIP?

-  Were allegations of corruption leveled against Sevan when he served in previous U.N. positions?
• Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Banque Nationale de Paris and the UN Escrow Account

The UN’s decision to appoint the French company Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) to administer the Oil-for-Food escrow account is the subject of intense scrutiny in the IIC Interim Report. Vast sums of money were handled through the escrow account. The Saddam Hussein regime sold more than $64.2 billion of oil under the Oil for Food Program between 1996 and 2003.[9] BNP was selected by then U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, even though the decision did not conform to the requirement under U.N. financial rules to accept the “lowest acceptable bidder”.[10]

The information contained in this report will be used in many newspaper stories. It is one of the most comprehensive reports to date on one of the greatest thefts in worlds history. Ron

What about Kojo Annan?

Let's not forget these guys

Fox News Update

Rape in Darfur

Network of pedophiles at the U.N. mission in Congo?

Rep. Joe Barton turned down for information

The Kiss off for Congressional Committee

Once again, I respectfully urge the U.N. Secretariat reconsider its position of asserting cooperation in public while withholding it in practice. No valid reason exists for the United Nations to refuse the United States Congress prompt access to essential information on this important matter.

In light of the U.N.'s repeated refusals to provide this Committee with specific relevant documents and witnesses, the assertion that "we are cooperating" with Congressional investigations is puzzling, if not disingenuous. No special prosecutor exists in this case, and there is no credible threat that the Volcker panel might compromise a Congressional inquiry, or vice versa. In fact, as noted above, this Committee has requested far more from the U.N. than merely the internal audits, which the Volcker Committee released to the public several weeks ago. To date, however, the U.N. has not produced to this Committee any other responsive documents, nor has it made available any U.N. officers or employees with knowledge of the Program.

Another Congressman asked for documents and got finger

Senator Coleman wants answers

Mr. Sevan's aunt falls down elevator shaft

Borrowed the bucks from Auntie, he says.

Asked to account for the appearance in his bank account of a certain $160,000, Mr Sevan, executive director of the UN Oil-for-Food programme, said it was a gift from his aunt. Lucky Sevan, eh? None of my aunts ever had that much of the folding stuff on tap.

Paul Volcker's committee of investigation did plan to ask the old lady to confirm her nephew's version of events, but, before they could, she fell down an elevator shaft and died.

Biography of Mr. Sevan

Two suspended from UN but with pay

With pay?

The United Nations has suspended the former head of the oil-for-food aid program in Iraq and another senior official who helped select the program's contractors. The move comes after an interim report by an independent commission on Thursday that severely criticized the conduct of both men.

The men - Benon V. Sevan, a Cypriot official who ran the program until its end in 2003, and Joseph J. Stephanides, a senior official on the Security Council staff who supervised contractor selection - will continue to receive pay, said Fred Eckhard, the spokesman for Secretary General Kofi Annan. The decision was made Friday, and both men were told then, he said.

Where are the hidden audits and reports

Give the reports to the Congressional Committees, stop hiding them

As Mr Volcker wrote in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, the findings “do not make for pleasant reading”. Not so for anti-UN conservatives in America, who are wallowing in Schadenfreude. They had feared a whitewash from the committee, and in anticipation had begun to call into question Mr Volcker’s suitability to investigate the UN. (He had served as a director of UNA-USA, a pro-UN group based in New York.)To achieve the thorough thrashing many Republicans think the UN deserves, five committees in the Republican-controlled Congress are investigating oil-for-food themselves.

They have called for the Volcker committee to share all of its witnesses and evidence with Congressional committees and federal investigators. They complain about the committee’s lack of subpoena power. Mr Volcker has pointed out that national legal jurisdictions, including America’s, cannot penetrate the UN’s diplomatic immunity. However, the UN said on Thursday that it would take immunity away from any member of staff thought to have committed criminal acts.

But the organisation clearly feels it has been unfairly singled out. In his BBC interview, Mr Malloch Brown claimed that some $21 billion in total went missing thanks to oil-related smuggling and the like during the Saddam era, and that the oil-for-food programme accounted for only a small fraction of that. Much of the rest, he said, was dodgy dealing condoned by the governments of America and other countries. The UN's critics thus “need to look closer to home”.

Benon Sevan, helped steer oil contracts to a relative of Boutros-Ghali.

Volcker investigation compromised

Huge conflict of interest

Paul Volcker and an Apparent Conflict of Interest

It should be an issue of concern that Mr. Volcker’s own outlook may be influenced by past associations. It is vitally important that any independent inquiry into the extremely serious allegations leveled against the United Nations—which could have far-reaching implications for the reputation of the world organization—be seen as completely independent of the U.N. It is just as important that the person charged with heading such an inquiry be seen as completely unbiased and objective in his approach toward the organization he is investigating. In the corporate world, for example, it would be inconceivable for an independent inquiry into fraud and corruption to be headed by someone with strong ties and loyalties to the corporation under investigation.

But in the case of Paul Volcker and the Independent Inquiry Committee, there is an apparent conflict of interest that brings into question whether the Committee can objectively investigate the United Nations. When Volcker was appointed to head the Oil-for-Food investigation in April 2004, it was not widely known to the general public, the world’s media, or the U.S. Congress that he was at the time a director of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) and the Business Council for the United Nations. Mr. Volcker is listed as a director in the 2003-2004 UNA-USA annual report,[3] as well as the annual reports for 2001-2002 and 2000-2001.[4]

Benan Sevan to be fall guy

200 pages of smoke and mirrors

The report found that Benon Sevan (search) broke the rules by allegedly trying to obtain oil vouchers from Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Sevan has been accused of receiving about $1 million worth of lucrative oil vouchers but he has denied any wrongdoing.

NBC Reporter Was on U.N. Lobby Payroll.

Legal smuggling by Turkey and Jordan?

Benan Sevan to be fall guy

200 pages of smoke and mirrors

The report found that Benon Sevan (search) broke the rules by allegedly trying to obtain oil vouchers from Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Sevan has been accused of receiving about $1 million worth of lucrative oil vouchers but he has denied any wrongdoing.

NBC Reporter Was on U.N. Lobby Payroll.

Legal smuggling by Turkey and Jordan?

Where's Kofi? Smokescreen for UN started?

Paul Volkers article in the WSJ

Today, the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nation's Oil for Food Program is issuing its first Interim Report. Much more work lies ahead in thoroughly investigating the full range of issues raised in the administration and implementation of that Program. The Committee's intention is to provide a comprehensive report around midyear.

Today's Report is limited, but covers in almost excruciating detail three potentially vulnerable parts of the Program's administration: More disheartening are our findings with respect to the performance of the Executive Director in administrative charge of the Program, Benon Sevan, a long-term senior United Nations official. The evidence is conclusive that Mr. Sevan, in effectively participating in the selection of purchasers of oil under the Program, placed himself in an irreconcilable conflict of interest, in violation both of specific United Nations rules and of the broad responsibility of an international civil servant to adhere to the highest standards of trust and integrity.In making its findings, the Committee is consciously judging the United Nations against the highest standard of ethical behavior. Moreover, we believe that few institutions have freely subjected themselves to the intensity of scrutiny entailed in the Committee's work.

If the United Nations is to effectively discharge the enormous responsibilities that have been placed upon it by member states, no lesser criteria for our investigation are appropriate.

The new humanitarian crisis in the Indian Ocean is but another demonstration of the need for a truly effective international organization -- an organization that can command the confidence of member states and the citizens of the world alike.

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The "crisis in the Indian Ocean"

You forgot Kojo"

Kojo admits

Don't Let Volcker Report Whitewash U.N. Oil-For-Food Scandal

Volcker whitewash expected because of hidden affiliations.

U.S. policy-makers shouldn’t stand by while a committee compromised by conflicts of interest clears a secretary-general of faulty oversight and allows a group of U.N. officials to escape overall responsibility for the biggest financial fraud of modern times. [see preceding Dr. Gardiner article, Ron]

With Annan’s job and the image of the organization he heads hanging in the balance, this is no time for a whitewash, Gardiner says. To that end, Gardiner proposes:
• Bringing transparency to the IIC’s operations. Identify all 60 people working on or with the committee, complete with all of their prior affiliations.
• Publicly disclosing all interviews between the IIC and U.N. officials and all findings from the committee.
• Furnishing monthly updates on IIC activities and progress to Security Council members.
• Setting and honoring a date for publication of the final IIC report to remove the timing of its release from U.N. political manipulation.
• Forcing the U.N. to make all of its personnel who were involved in the Oil-For-Food program, as well as all relevant documents, available to the various committees of the U.S. Congress that have opened investigations.

Volcker conpromised?

Smoke Screen to start soon

The Volcker Investigation into the U.N. Oil-for-Food Scandal: Why It Lacks Credibility

Lots of problems say's Dr. Gardiner of Heritage

Annan is facing growing calls for his resignation from Capitol Hill, where Senator Norm Coleman (R– MN), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommit­tee on Investigations, and 60 Members of Congress have called for Annan to step down.2 Among them are nine members of the House Appropriations Com­mittee, which provides 22 percent of the U.N. oper­ating budget each year, and eight members of the House International Relations Committee.3 Several more Senators are expected to support Coleman’s call for Annan’s departure.[1][2][3]

In addition, the Bush Administration has begun to harden its stance toward Annan. Outgoing Sec­retary of State Colin Powell warned the embattled Secretary-General that he will be held accountable for management failures in the Oil-for-Food pro­gram.[4] President George W. Bush has so far refused to express his confidence in Annan, declining to meet with him in December when the Secretary-General visited Washington.

Outside the oil-for-food scandal, Annan’s prob­lems are also mounting. He has acknowledged and accepted organizational responsibility for a major scandal involving U.N. personnel and peacekeep­ers in the Congo. The U.N. stands accused of human rights violations against refugees on a scale that dwarfs the Abu Ghraib scandal. In addition, internal unrest within the U.N. continues to mount in the wake of a series of harassment scan­dals involving senior U.N. managers. The threat of a U.N. staff revolt looms large. If 2004 was Kofi Annan’s “annus horribilis,” 2005 threatens to be even worse.

UN's oil-for-food aid probe due

This is so funny now

Questions for Mr. Sevan

What is going on here?

Benon Sevan, the United Nations official in charge of the oil-for-food programme in Iraq, intervened in person to steer lucrative contracts to an oil trader, Iraqi officials have told the UN's independent inquiry.

Their testimony, consistent with documents that have emerged since the fall of Saddam Hussein, adds to questions facing Mr Sevan as investigations into alleged corruption progresses. The interim findings of the UN inquiry, led by Paul Volcker, are due to be published this week.

Documents from Iraq's state oil marketing organisation (Somo) in the possession of the Financial Times and Il Sole 24 Ore, the Italian business daily, appear to link Mr Sevan to the assigning of contracts to Africa Middle East Petroleum, a Swiss-based oil trading company. Oil contracts - which could be sold to international traders at a mark-up of up to 35 cents a barrel - were awarded by the regime at the start of every six-month phase. The Somo documents show that, unusually, AMEP was added to recipients in the middle of Phase Four (May 1998-November 1998) after a visit to Baghdad by Mr Sevan.

One letter, dated August 10 1998, was from Saddam Zayn Hassan, Somo's executive manager, to Iraq's oil minister. It mentions AMEP as "the company that Mr Sevan cited to you during his last trip to Baghdad".

African Middle East Petroleum Co.

Look at Panama

Who is Mr. Sevan?

Mr Volcker says it's really complicated.

Now its February for more information

Internal audits released by the Volcker Commission this month reveal gross mismanagement by U.N. administrators. An interim report focusing on responsibility for administrative failures was due out this month. But after meeting the secretary-general Tuesday, Mr. Volcker said the release would be delayed until sometime in February.

In separate comments late last year, he said his investigation was proving much more difficult than he had expected. "As we get into it, everything gets more complicated rather than less,” he added.  “We turn over one page and you find several other pages that lead to investigatory questions so this is a complicated process." Mr. Volcker again Tuesday stressed that his mandate is to investigate U.N. responsibility for failures in the oil-for-food program.

Starving children