Click this picture & go to the "last" for the latest UN scandals:
If you aren't informed about this stuff, you will be made sick. If you are informed, you will be made mad, all over again.
Posted on 07/06/2005 7:55:20 AM PDT by kddid
Benon V. Sevan, former director of the scandal plagued Oil for Food Program has left his home in New York and is now in his native Cyprus, say U.N. officials.
Sevan returned to his family hone in the city of Nicosia in early June and though he insists he will return to New York, he has refused to give any date.
The embattled former U.N. aid chief has been under intensive investigation by a "special panel" headed by former Fed chief Paul Volcker for almost a year.
In a preliminary report issued in February, Volcker cast serious doubts on Sevan's leadership of the 7-year aid program.
Though an allegation of criminality was not made, Volcker hinted that such allegations may be made by the time his final report is released in late summer.
"If anyone knows anything about any Annan skeletons, it is Sevan, and Kofi knows it," a veteran U.N. staffer told NewsMax.
Because of the growing problems involving Sevan and the aid program, U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan recently severed all connections with the former official and barred him from entering any U.N. facility, including its New York headquarters.
He had been on a dollar-a-year retainer and technically on-staff for legal reasons.
No longer.
In fact, in April, a rare public dispute broke out between Sevan and the U.N. when Malloch Brown decided to renege on an earlier pledge to help defray his legal costs.
It was not clear why the Annan staffer took that course of action despite several letters released by Sevan which apparently committed the world body to assist in paying some legal expenses.
The embattled former U.N. official is reported to have run up legal bills in excess of $400,000.
Shortly after the Malloch Brown decision, sources claim that Sevan had decided to take a "vacation" back in Cyprus.
Though the U.N. veteran claimed his legal bills created a "great financial strain," NewsMax has confirmed that Sevan does own several valuable real estate properties in Manhattan and Long Island worth substantially more than $500,000.
It is not clear whether the U.S. government or his lawyers might move against those holdings if Sevan does not return to the U.S.
Cyprus has no formal extradition agreement with the United States.
Annan has publicly claimed that he would not diplomatically shield any person whom the Volcker panel may accuse of wrongdoing.
It is also not certain whether the U.N. chief intends to follow through on that earlier pledge.
Meanwhile on Cyprus, informal investigations (by news organizations) are underway involving the death of a relative of Benon Sevan.
An aunt of the U.N. veteran died in an elevator accident last year.
Nicosia police report the elderly pensioner fell several stories when an elevator door in her apartment complex opened too soon.
She had only recently returned home after surviving a serious automobile collision.
She was also under investigation by Volcker for funneling payments in excess of $150,000 to her nephew as "rent" for the use of his Manhattan apartment for several summer "vacations."
When the Volcker panel issues its final report, it is not clear what if anything will happen to anyone criminally implicated.
Since the panel is a fact-finding body, any claims of criminality may have to be forwarded to the UN's office of legal affairs for a follow-up investigation.
Or, the U.N. might create a panel of legal scholars to assess the Volcker findings, all of which could extend the Oil for Food probe for months, if not years.
Annan leaves office January 1, 2007.
Meaning most of the principals involved in the massive embezzlement may have more than enough time to shield themselves from any possible prosecution.
"It is a mess, no doubt," expressed one U.N. retiree, "but you (the press) must be persistent if we are ever to find the truth," he exclaimed.
Latest published reports claim that more than $21 billion may have been stolen from the U.N.-Iraq aid program between 1996-2003.
>>Latest published reports claim that more than $21 billion may have been stolen from the U.N.-Iraq aid program between 1996-2003.<<
More than a few hit the Lotto on this aid program. It's a shame the minors will be prosecuted.
Or the majors. We are talking about the UN, after all.
An aunt of the U.N. veteran died in an elevator accident last year.
Nicosia police report the elderly pensioner fell several stories when an elevator door in her apartment complex opened too soon.
She had only recently returned home after surviving a serious automobile collision.
She was also under investigation by Volcker for funneling payments in excess of $150,000 to her nephew as "rent" for the use of his Manhattan apartment for several summer "vacations."
This looks a lot like Vince Foster's "suicide." Fort Marcy Park's anywhere a perp wants it to be.
Arcanacide may be in his future.
The majors have too much cash to be prosecuted.
Chicken run ping.
He'd better stay away from elevators...
If you aren't informed about this stuff, you will be made sick. If you are informed, you will be made mad, all over again.
I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation.
How could they have held him?
By the wrists in a safe house with a couple of counselers to help him with his failing memory.
I love the image fo that arrogant, self-righteous RAT Benon Sevan fleeing the U.S.!
When it is determined that he is guilty, the Iraqis will go after him and it won't matter a bit to them that there is no extradition agreement with Cyprus.
I like it. I'll bet he does a nice soprano.
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