Posted on 08/15/2004 5:00:33 PM PDT by mcar
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Two companies involved in the multibillion-dollar UN oil-for-food program for Iraq said Friday they are co-operating with U.S. and UN investigations into alleged corruption, hoping to clear their names.
Swiss-based Cotecna Inspection S.A., which the United Nations hired in 1998 to authenticate that goods entering Iraq corresponded to a list of those approved for import, said it welcomes the opportunity "to set the record straight."
The Dutch company Saybolt International B.V., which monitored oil exports from Iraq, said it was "happy" to help with the investigations into its operations.
Critics accuse the companies of lax monitoring of oil and goods entering and leaving Iraq under the program, launched by the UN Security Council to help Iraqis cope with sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Cotecna has also faced allegations it was awarded the contract because it employed Kojo Annan, the son of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. In April, the Swiss firm put out a statement saying Kojo Annan worked on activities in Nigeria and Ghana and had nothing to do with Iraq. His father also denied any inside advantages.
In a statement issued Friday, Cotecna said it had been constrained in responding to allegations because of confidentiality agreements in its UN contract, but that it had sought and received waivers allowing it to provide information to Congress.
"The company is convinced that all investigating parties will conclude definitively that Cotecna performed its role according to the best professional and ethical practices in its industry," Cotecna spokesman Seth Goldschlager said in Paris.
John Denson, general counsel of Saybolt, said the company has already been providing information.
"We are in the active process of co-operating with the U.S. Congressional panels and any other government investigating authority, including the United Nations," he told The Associated Press. "We feel that we have not done anything wrong, and we are happy to co-operate and help any governmental investigating body understand that."
Under the oil-for-food program, which began in December 1996 and ended in November, Iraq could sell unlimited quantities of oil provided the money went primarily to buy humanitarian goods and pay reparations to victims of the 1991 Gulf War. Saddam's government decided on the goods it wanted, who should provide them and who could buy Iraqi oil, but a Security Council committee monitored the contracts.
Allegations of corruption surfaced in January in the Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada, which published a list of about 270 former government officials, activists, journalists and UN officials from more than 46 countries suspected of profiting from Iraqi oil sales under the UN program.
Paul Volcker, head of a UN-funded independent probe of the oil-for-food program, said Monday that Congress has launched five investigations, and that the Justice Department, U.S. Attorney's office in New York, Britain and Iraq are also investigating.
... or Kofi Annan? Or "foreign leaders"? That's the real story.
The UN has no interest in covering up for Al Qaeda anymore.
FYI
They are so happy to speak on this topic.
and Contecna is also eager to set the record straight:
COMPANY PHILOSOPHY AND CHARTER Cotecna believes that only through professional excellence and uncompromising dedication to its clients’ requirements can it fulfil its full contractual and moral obligations. For all these reasons, Cotecna has developed a charter by which it operates and serves; such principles are applied to all activities carried out by the Group and are strictly observed in the execution of the Group's day to day activities. This charter is defined as follows : To be politically neutral, and financially and commercially independent. To provide a reliable and professional service continuously adapted and improved through our internal quality assurance system, as well as our Quality Management System as per ISO 9001:2000. To be fully dedicated to the internationally accepted inspection code of conduct and the WTO Agreement on Preshipment Inspection, scrupulously observed by our professional staff with proven integrity. To offer a prompt and personalised service that is self financing in terms of the effectiveness of the Inspection Service to the client, while sharing the know-how to the clients’ benefit. To place professional ethics above any commercial consideration.
These firms are well-connected with UN and EU and certifiably ethical. Certainly their professional inspection services could never have allowed extra contraband to bypass their professional scrutiny.
A rehash, but it is just such an obviously corrupt organization.
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