• U.N. Oil-for-food scandal : Annan’s blind eye U.N. Oil-for-food scandal : Annan’s blind eye St. Louis Post-Dispatch — August 10, 2005 U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said last spring that the investigation of the oil-for-food scandal was a personal “exoneration.”
• U.N. Oil-for-food scandal : Annan’s blind eye
U.N. Oil-for-food scandal : Annan’s blind eye
St. Louis Post-Dispatch — August 10, 2005
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said last spring that the investigation of the oil-for-food scandal was a personal “exoneration.” That was an exaggeration then and looks even more so now in light of new evidence of wrongdoing that took place right under Mr. Annan’s nose.
At the very least, Mr. Annan is guilty of poor management of the program intended to let Iraq sell oil in return for food and medicine. Mr. Annan is also at fault for turning a blind eye to his son’s blatant conflict of interest.
Under the U.N.’s scandalous management, Saddam Hussein was able to manipulate the oil-for-food program to buy off European politicians and to support himself in luxury.
The latest development is Paul Volcker’s finding that the head of the program, Benon Sevan, took $150,000 in kickbacks from an oil company. Mr. Sevan denies the allegations, standing by the lame claim that big deposits to his bank account came from a dead aunt.
But Mr. Volcker found that the oil company, African Middle East Petroleum, transferred $580,000 to a Swiss account controlled by one of its officers, Fred Nadler, brother of the wife of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The money was withdrawn when Mr. Nadler and Mr. Sevan were in Geneva; subsequently, large bunches of $100 bills began appearing in the bank account of Mr. Sevan and his wife.
The unanswered question is how much Mr. Annan knew about the shenanigans. In March, Mr. Volcker said Mr. Annan was not aware of the abuses. Mr. Annan took that as exoneration. But Mr. Volcker now says he needs to investigate Mr. Annan’s role further.
The further inquiry is largely the result of e-mails suggesting Mr. Annan knew more than he let on about a $10 million contract that a Swiss firm, Cotecna, won to monitor the oil-for-food program. Kojo Annan, the secretary-general’s son, worked for Cotecna. He continued to receive payments from the firm until 2004, five years after he quit working for the company.
Mr. Annan has maintained he didn’t know his son was being paid by a company bidding on a U.N. contract. But a recently disclosed e-mail from a Cotecna executive recounts a meeting with Mr. Annan and U.N. officials just before the contract was awarded and adds, “we could count on their support.” Mr. Annan denies the meeting.
The Volcker committee promises to have a definitive answer on Mr. Annan by September.
The secretary-general will need a clean bill of health if he is to have any credibility pushing the ambitious reform agenda that the U.N. desperately needs.
