SADDAM AND ME: THE KOFI ANNAN STORY

The Galvin Opinion | April 14, 2004 | Thomas Galvin

[Thomas Galvin]

Kofi Annan must be held accountable for the U.N.'s corrupt Iraqi Oil for Food program

"A man I can do business with" - Kofi Annan

Last January, a Baghdad newspaper, al Mada, published a list of U.N. officials who allegedly took bribes from Saddam Hussein under the guise of the Oil for Food program. There were a total of 270 names on the list including that of Benon Sevan, a U.N. assistant secretary-general, who was appointed to administer the oil-for-food program in 1997. The New York Post said that Claude Hankes-Drielsma, a British businessman and adviser to Iraq's Governing Council, claimed he saw Iraqi documents indicating that vouchers for the sale of more than 7 million barrels of Iraqi oil were steered to a Panamanian-registered company in which Sevan had a connection. Hankes-Drielsma also said that family members of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali are company officers, too. These vouchers allowed the accused to make between 10 to 60 cents profit on each barrel of oil.

The General Accounting Office reported that Saddam Hussein was able to earn $10 billion from 1997 to 2002 by smuggling oil and taking kickbacks on oil purchases intended to pay for medicine and food. According to the GAO, between $10 and $40 billion are still unaccounted for.

Kofi Annan's son, Kojo, worked for a Swiss company, Cotecna. The United Nations hired Cotecna to monitor the Iraqi Oil for Food program. Cotecna’s successful bid was $1 million lower than any of its competitors. Others who might be implicated in this growing scandal include the PLO, the Russian Communist Party and a businessman with close ties to French President, Jacques Chirac. A French bank, BNP Paribas handled the $100 million Oil for Food program, at Saddam Hussein’s urging.

Much more information including government reports, testimony and newspaper articles concerning the plagued Iraqi Oil for Food program follows in this space, The Galvin Opinion...............

[blanknoone]

"A man I can do business with"
should have been
"A man I AM doing business with" -Kofi Annan