Well well well.......Sting.....I think you and I may have hit the nail on the head last year. When we were saying that the Food For Oil Program in Iraq was corrupt, that it helped keep Saddam in power, and that some foreign officials were making illegal profits.
[Q]UN's Annan calls for fraud probe into Iraq oil scheme
Sat Mar 20, 2:59 AM ET
UNITED NATIONS, (AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) has called for an independent enquiry into allegations of fraud and corruption in the UN aid programme that oversaw Iraqi oil sales under Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
In what he said was an effort to protect the credibility of the United Nations (news - web sites), Annan sent the 15-nation Security Council a letter asking it to back a probe into the oil-for-food programme, the largest aid scheme in UN history.
Pressure has been mounting from Iraqi and US officials amid allegations that the programme was awash in bribery and corruption, including kickbacks to foreign officials.
"These allegations, whether or not they are ultimately shown to be well-founded, must be taken seriously and addressed forthrightly, in order to bring to light the truth and prevent an erosion of the trust and hope that the international community has invested in the organisation," Annan wrote.
"I propose to establish an independent, high-level enquiry to investigate the allegations relating to the administration and management of the programme, including allegations of fraud and corruption."
Annan said earlier Friday that it was "highly possible" that there was widespread wrong-doing in the UN-run programme, which kept six out of 10 Iraqis alive in the last years of Saddam's regime.
Oil-for-food, which was launched in December 1996 and ended last November, was intended to help ordinary Iraqis offset the devastating effects of sanctions slapped on Baghdad after Iraq (news - web sites) invaded Kuwait in 1990.
When it began, Iraq was allowed to sell a limited amount of oil to purchase essential goods such as food and medicine.
But it expanded over time, dropping restrictions on the amount of oil Iraq could sell and branching out into contracts for a wide variety of sectors including infrastructure, education and public health.
The programme was repeatedly dogged by charges of fraud, and those charges have intensified in the past few months with allegations in the new Iraqi press and requests for documents from the US government.
The burgeoning scandal comes at a difficult time for the United Nations as it prepares to return to Iraq to help the country set up an interim government and establish national elections early next year.
"The secretary general needs to get this under control and get it under control quickly," one Security Council diplomat told AFP.
Through his spokespeople, Annan has repeatedly expressed his faith in Benon Sevan, the UN official who ran the programme. Sevan, who is about to retire from the United Nations, has denied any wrongdoing.
Earlier in the day, Annan pledged to go "full-speed ahead" with an in-house enquiry but said the backing of the council was needed for a wider probe into companies and people who were not UN employees.
"It is highly possible that there has been quite a lot of wrong-doing but we need to investigate and get to see who was responsible," he said. [/Q]
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040320/ts_afp/un_iraq_oil&cid=1503&ncid=1480
Gee....I wonder which NATIONS were involved in the fraudulent nature of the program......
Where is my chrystal ball........it couldn't be nations on the security council with veto powers...could it?
[Q]UN's Annan calls for fraud probe into Iraq oil scheme
Sat Mar 20, 2:59 AM ET
UNITED NATIONS, (AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) has called for an independent enquiry into allegations of fraud and corruption in the UN aid programme that oversaw Iraqi oil sales under Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
In what he said was an effort to protect the credibility of the United Nations (news - web sites), Annan sent the 15-nation Security Council a letter asking it to back a probe into the oil-for-food programme, the largest aid scheme in UN history.
Pressure has been mounting from Iraqi and US officials amid allegations that the programme was awash in bribery and corruption, including kickbacks to foreign officials.
"These allegations, whether or not they are ultimately shown to be well-founded, must be taken seriously and addressed forthrightly, in order to bring to light the truth and prevent an erosion of the trust and hope that the international community has invested in the organisation," Annan wrote.
"I propose to establish an independent, high-level enquiry to investigate the allegations relating to the administration and management of the programme, including allegations of fraud and corruption."
Annan said earlier Friday that it was "highly possible" that there was widespread wrong-doing in the UN-run programme, which kept six out of 10 Iraqis alive in the last years of Saddam's regime.
Oil-for-food, which was launched in December 1996 and ended last November, was intended to help ordinary Iraqis offset the devastating effects of sanctions slapped on Baghdad after Iraq (news - web sites) invaded Kuwait in 1990.
When it began, Iraq was allowed to sell a limited amount of oil to purchase essential goods such as food and medicine.
But it expanded over time, dropping restrictions on the amount of oil Iraq could sell and branching out into contracts for a wide variety of sectors including infrastructure, education and public health.
The programme was repeatedly dogged by charges of fraud, and those charges have intensified in the past few months with allegations in the new Iraqi press and requests for documents from the US government.
The burgeoning scandal comes at a difficult time for the United Nations as it prepares to return to Iraq to help the country set up an interim government and establish national elections early next year.
"The secretary general needs to get this under control and get it under control quickly," one Security Council diplomat told AFP.
Through his spokespeople, Annan has repeatedly expressed his faith in Benon Sevan, the UN official who ran the programme. Sevan, who is about to retire from the United Nations, has denied any wrongdoing.
Earlier in the day, Annan pledged to go "full-speed ahead" with an in-house enquiry but said the backing of the council was needed for a wider probe into companies and people who were not UN employees.
"It is highly possible that there has been quite a lot of wrong-doing but we need to investigate and get to see who was responsible," he said. [/Q]
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040320/ts_afp/un_iraq_oil&cid=1503&ncid=1480
Gee....I wonder which NATIONS were involved in the fraudulent nature of the program......
Where is my chrystal ball........it couldn't be nations on the security council with veto powers...could it?
