Posted on 11/16/2004 5:28:02 PM PST by NormsRevenge
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The head of an independent panel investigating alleged corruption in the now-defunct U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq (news - web sites) rejected on Tuesday a request to immediately turn over evidence that he has gathered to U.S. congressional investigators.
Former U.S. Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Paul Volcker instead pledged to make virtually all the evidence public at his own pace, beginning early in 2005.
Volcker, who leads the Independent Inquiry Committee on the scandal-ridden U.N. relief program, had been asked by two U.S. senators for immediate access to documents and U.N. witnesses for use in a parallel investigation by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record) of Minnesota, head of the investigations subcommittee, and the subcommittee's top Democrat, Carl Levin of Michigan, last week accused both Volcker and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) of engineering a massive cover-up of U.N. wrongdoing by blocking their access to documents and potential U.N. witnesses.
"How was the world so blind to this massive amount of influence-peddling?" Coleman asked on Monday during a hearing of his subcommittee.
At that hearing, congressional investigators alleged that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime reaped over $21 billion from oil kickbacks and smuggling while U.N. sanctions were in place against Iraq from 1991 to 2003.
DANGERS IN PREMATURE RELEASE
But Volcker said his investigation, ordered by Annan and backed by the U.N. Security Council, would not share evidence until it was no longer needed for its inquiries.
"The clear purpose is to avoid potentially misleading and incomplete information that could impair ongoing investigation, distort public perceptions and violate simple concerns of due process," he said in identical letters to Coleman, Levin and Annan, and released by the United Nations (news - web sites).
Volcker warned in particular against the subcommittee calling U.N. officials before it as hearing witnesses.
"For a U.N. official to appear before the subcommittee in the current highly charged environment would plainly risk ending prospects for their cooperation with our committee and with subsequent potential criminal investigations," he said.
Once his panel was done with a particular avenue of investigation, he intended to make virtually all its evidence public, with the possible exception of information whose release would reveal confidential sources, Volcker said.
That meant his investigators likely would release by January a series of internal and external U.N. audits of the program and all evidence related to U.N. inspection and bank contractors and oil-for-food administrative expenses, he said.
Other avenues of inquiry would take longer.
At the same time, he was open to sharing information sooner with criminal investigations into particular cases, both in the United States and abroad, "consistent with our own investigative requirements and principles," Volcker added.
"The disclosure to which we are committed is, to the best of my knowledge, unprecedented for any international organization," Volcker said. "Transparency is our ultimate objective, in the firm belief that a fully verifiable, credible report is in the interest of the United Nations and of all its member nations."
Indeed, how was the world so blind to all of the UN's self-serving moves?
"UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The head of an independent panel investigating alleged corruption in the now-defunct U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq (news - web sites) rejected on Tuesday a request to immediately turn over evidence that he has gathered to U.S. congressional investigators.
"Former U.S. Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Paul Volcker instead pledged to make virtually all the evidence public at his own pace, beginning early in 2005."
So is Volcker using $oddam's old chipping machines to shred these documents, or did he borrow the Clintoon's White House Shredders?
Yeah, the oil-for-food scandal is unprecedented. Unfortunately they'll just crank up the paper shredders before anyone but the criminals in the UN get a chnce to examine them.
Time to revoke their lease.
"independent panel"
Hilarious. Volcker is heading the UN's panel, unto which they appended the 11 letter word "independent" to confuse people.
there is no deal worth this volker...none
Trilateral Commission Bio - Paul Volcker
Paul A. Volcker is former North American Chairman of The Trilateral Commission. He is former Chairman of Wolfensohn & Co., Inc., as well as Professor Emeritus of International Economic Policy at Princeton University. Mr. Volcker served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. Educated at Princeton and Harvard and the London School of Economics, Mr. Volcker divided the earlier stages of his career between the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Chase Manhattan Bank, and the U.S. Treasury Department. He is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee, overseeing a renewed effort to develop consistent, high-quality accounting standards acceptable in all countries.
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Fine, then we are not ready to release any more funding for the U.N. until you are ready to release the papers. No allowance for you, go stand in the corner.
Hey, Volcker has $60 million he's got to spend, $30 million of it from Kofi. This investigation will be every bit as corrupt and useless as the 911 commission that Gorelick was on.
Not sure about Volcker that is for sure.
But I like what Sen Coleman is doing.
"Hilarious. Volcker is heading the UN's panel, unto which they appended the 11 letter word "independent" to confuse people."
Liberals love to use "independent" as a cover word as their so called investigational bodies cover up their crimes.
A 'Globalist' kind of guy. ;-)
Trilateral Commission Bio - Paul Volcker
Paul A. Volcker is former North American Chairman of The Trilateral Commission. He is former Chairman of Wolfensohn & Co., Inc., as well as Professor Emeritus of International Economic Policy at Princeton University. Mr. Volcker served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. Educated at Princeton and Harvard and the London School of Economics, Mr. Volcker divided the earlier stages of his career between the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Chase Manhattan Bank, and the U.S. Treasury Department. He is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee, overseeing a renewed effort to develop consistent, high-quality accounting standards acceptable in all countries.
We need more heat by Senators, Fox, Rush and Sean to make sure this doesn't get covered up.
Can Volcker be forced to release them?
Volcker - "Transparency is our ultimate objective,....."
Transparency is another word the liberals like to use when they are operating behind closed doors covering up messes.
Real transparency happens like when an a new ETF fund is approved by the SEC. It took years to get ETF funds for bonds due to all the closed door bs stuff that goes on with the bond trading industry. They have been trying to get a Gold Exchange Trading Fund for years and have promised one for two years. So far real transparency has been a bitch to get. We may see an ETF for Gold later this year or early next year.
agreed. let's hope it's not the deceitfulness of riches.
let's hope that he's exercising some sound, wise principal of statesmanship in taking this approach.
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