VOLCKER THE IN-'CREDIBLE'

New York Post ^ | 1/28/05

[kattracks]

Paul Volcker was picked by U.N. Sec retary-General Kofi Annan to head an "independent" panel to investi gate the Oil-for-Food scandal ostensibly because of the former Federal Reserve chairman's international credibility.

But credibility, like fame, can be fleeting — and Volcker's is fading fast.

[snip]

As Fox News Channel's Jonathan Hunt reported yesterday, Volcker is smack in the middle of the interlocking global corporations that appear to lie at the very heart of the scandal.

Proceed slowly; it's complicated:

[snip]

* Volcker, along with a close friend named Paul Desmarais, Sr., sits on the advisory council of a Canadian company called the Power Corp. * Power Corp. and a Belgian company co-own GBL — the largest shareholder in the French oil giant Total.

* Total just happens to have done nearly $2 billion worth of Oil-for-Food business.

* Total also has interests in BNP Paribas — the New York-chartered bank that underwrote nearly all Oil-for-Food transactions — and in Pargesa, another Power Corp. subsidiary.

* A BNP executive also happens to be on the board of Power — along with Volcker and Desmarais.

* Finally, Desmarais' son, Paul Jr., is a director of Total (a position the elder Desmarais once held).

There is nothing to indicate that Volcker himself has broken any laws — or done anything overtly unethical.

But certainly the former Fed chairman's relationships with individuals and companies implicated in the Oil-for-Food fiasco compromises his ability to render a credible report on the scandal.

[snip]

It was clear from the outset that any panel appointed by Annan would lack credibility; in that sense, Volcker's entanglements just add details to the equation — critical though they may be.

[NDpapajoe]

Ahhhh Paul, We hardly knew ye.
In 1987 when I was a Finance student Volker could do no wrong. My hopes lie more with the congressional investigation anyway.
Take it easy,
Papa Joe

[piasa]

Total also has interests in BNP Paribas — the New York-chartered bank that underwrote nearly all Oil-for-Food transactions

Wan't this bank the one that lost out on the UN deal to the French bank?

[nopardons]

Oh oh,Volker should never have taken this on.What...he thought none of this would come out? And his whitewash isn't working;we all know what's underneath that overly watered down paint.

[msnimje]

This is just like Dick Thornburg (an attorney for CBS) investigating Memogate.

[backhoe]

My 2¢'s about the UN?

Neal Boortz has the right idea- kick them off US soil, plop them down in Haiti, and tell them, "when you get this straightened out, give us a call..."

Moreover:

--Sex abuse charges rock UN in Congo-
-- Interesting this is being posted today. Talk show host Dennis Prager had the Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Doree Gold, on his show today. Mr. Gold has just written a book about the UN called the Tower of Babble(i think this was the title). Some of the things he was saying about the UN were unbelievable.

--TV campaign urging: Kick U.N. out of U.S.-
"I say we just give the entire country of Haiti to the UN."--or move them to Zimbabwe or another country in Africa. Let them see what the really do for the world.

--UN knew of Saddam's oil-for-food thefts: BBC-
The sooner we resign from this corrupt organization and kick them off our soil, the better.

Click this picture & goto "last" for the latest UN scandals:

American Policy Center on-line Declaration of Independence from the U.N.

[dk/coro]

I agree, Papa. And, Volker is dead meat.

It seems that it never fails. Power, indeed, corrupts. I saw it in Washington, years ago -- up close and personal. And, further, the phenomena that is really interesting to observe is the slow, but incessant migration from the realm of reality, as these folks proceed into the insular world of power politics.

I witnessed this metamorphosis in the Pentagon, White House -- and especially on Capitol Hill, where the actions of the Senators were unchecked, in large measure.

Shameful in the extreme. Volker is history -- and I will leave it to Fox (and Congress) to appropriately destroy this shameful oof.

[Political Junkie Too]

To tie it all together, here is an excerpt from a wonderful April 10, 2003 column by Mark Steyn, Welcome to Anglo-Saxon reality:

The Western oil company with the closest ties to the late Saddam is France's TotalFinaElf. That's not the curious fact, that's just business as usual in the Fifth Republic. This is the curious fact: As Diane wrote in February and again last week, "Total's biggest shareholder is Montreal's Paul Desmarais, whose youngest son is married to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's daughter."

Let's see if I've got this straight: TotalFinaElf's largest shareholder is a subsidiary of Montreal's Power Corp, whose co-chief executive is Jean Chrétien's son-in-law, Andre Desmarais. Mr. Desmarais' brother, Paul Desmarais Jr., sits on the Total board.

So, what does this mean? France and Canada were related by marriage in the oil-for-food scandal, and Paul Volcker was sitting on the board of some of the involved companies?

-PJ