Posted on 02/06/2005 7:12:28 PM PST by srm913
Boutros-Ghali 'implicates' Annan in growing scandal
NEW YORK - ATTEMPTS by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to overcome a scandal that could threaten his position have been undermined by his predecessor, The Independent reports.
Mr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who was ousted after one term because of United States opposition to him, said he and Mr Annan were both responsible for the oil-for-food programme designed to ease the impact on Iraqis of sanctions against Saddam Hussein.
Last week, an interim report into allegations of corruption found the US$67 billion (S$109 billion) programme had been beset by political favouritism and had suffered from lax controls.
'I share the responsibility, but don't twist the whole operation,' Mr Boutros-Ghali said. 'I regret the mismanagement and the scandal...(but) the basis (of the programme) was decided by the Security Council, approved by the Security Council and the execution was done during the mandate of my successor.'
Battling demands by some US conservatives that he resign, Mr Annan is due to announce immediate disciplinary measures against the two men most prominently implicated by the report, Mr Benon Sevan, the scheme's former director, and Mr Joseph Stephanedes, a senior UN official accused of subverting the bidding rules when the main contractors to run the programme were selected in 1996.
When Mr Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, issued an interim investigative report last Thursday, he said he had planned to include the findings about Mr Annan's son, Kojo, and his employment with Cotecna Inspection SA. That company had a UN contract to certify deals for humanitarian supplies imported by Iraq under the oil-for-food programme.
But Mr Volcker's committee decided to issue that part of the report along with other conclusions later to give investigators time to review the new information.
There were delays in organising access to UN files, but Mr Volcker said the UN has been cooperating.
Mr Annan, who has been interviewed at least three times during the investigation, has said the panel would have complete access to UN officials and documents.
Mr Kojo Annan, 31, worked for Cotecna from 1996 to 1998, leaving at about the time the company received the UN contract. He has said that he only worked for the company in Africa and has denied any involvement in its oil-for-food dealings.
Mr Kofi Annan has also denied that his son's employment played a role in the contracting. But the UN chief expressed 'disappointment and surprise' in November when it emerged that his son had not disclosed that Cotecna continued to pay him US$30,000 a year for five years after he left. The payments were compensation for an agreement not to work for competitors.
Mr Volcker said investigators were following new leads that seemed to broaden the probe involving Mr Kojo Annan beyond his Cotecna ties.
His hands aren't clean either--looks like they're starting to turn on one another.
Could someone please pass the popcorn. This is gonna be fun to watch.
Good-it would be great if the whole rotten edifice was kicked down from within by all of them turning on each other,and then maybe our government would have sense enough to withdraw from the UN,and get the UN out of the US. Let them go where corruption and bribery are an accepted way of life-they'd be more comfortable there anyway-like France.
This is like John Gotti being in charge of the amount of prison time his associates got. Does anyone else smell BS? What kind of sanctions can he apply? I bet none of these people go to prison or pay a dime. The most that will happen is that they will be fired.
Golly, golly, what a surprise!!
Let the finger-pointing begin!! "Hey, he's more corrupt than I am!!" HAR!!!!!
Here is a larger one for sharing...... :)
No!No! Boutros golly.
vaudine
Arab = complicit
YYYYYYYYESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!
goofy annan should be out.
I hope we never forget that because of this, the slaughter of innocents was allowed to continue in Iraq.
The UN, being lead by African nations, is about as corrupt as can be and as corrupt as those African nations.
"Hey, he's more corrupt than I am!!" HAR!!!!!
I've read before that (as the article says) "Boutros-Ghali... was ousted after one term because of United States opposition to him." Maybe in fact clinton did find Koffee more easily corruptible than the ill-favored Boutros.
I have heard and or read something about the Mr. Peanut Farmer also being involved! Can someone please clarify on this.
"Let them go where corruption and bribery are an accepted way of life-they'd be more comfortable there anyway-like France."
or the Golan Heights ;)
Ping......this is heating up.
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