"Oil-for-Food" Scandal Threatens UN Legitimacy

"Oil-for-Food" Scandal Threatens UN Legitimacy http://michnews.com/artman/publish/article_3571.shtml
By Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute
May 7, 2004

The Friday Fax has learned that Saddam Hussein 's government attempted to bribe a developing world government in exchange for its support on the Security Council. A diplomat from that country said that the Iraqi's offered his nation a massive contract to buy agricultural products and it was clear that the contract was to ensure that the country had a financial stake in the continuation of the Hussein regime.

Information continues to surface about widespread bribes through the United Nation's "Oil-for-Food" program, especially about alleged complicity by senior UN personnel in Iraqi President Saddam Hussein 's theft of billions of dollars earmarked to feed the Iraqi people. Serious questions are now being raised about the UN's ability to carry out honest and efficient international social policies, and even about the UN's very legitimacy. The Washington Post editorialized on March 26th that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan "owes it to the Iraqis to make this investigation real and thorough. If the United Nations cannot disprove its critics - and punish wrongdoers, if any - it will be harder to trust the organization to manage humanitarian and peacekeeping missions in the future."

A Republican Policy Committee report, released earlier this week by Senator Jon Kyl (R-Az), echoed the Post's sentiments, stating that "The UN's failures in Iraq need to be accounted for and assessed; and the UN needs to restore credibility with Iraqis and the world.It is the scope of the scandal that calls into question the UN's ability to play a responsible role in any crisis, post-intervention administration, or humanitarian operation. It is more than botching their biggest such operation to date: This seems to be so large an error that it is necessary to examine the very premise of the UN bureaucracy and its involvement in significant international programs."

"For the UN to be seen as legitimate" the report concludes, it "must reform itself to ensure that future UN humanitarian operations are not ripe for such abuses." The report suggests that "Kofi Annan should testify before the UN investigatory panel [in the US Congress] to show that the Secretary General is taking this scandal seriously and also to demonstrate that no one in the UN is above the law."

The "Oil-for-Food" program began in 1996 as way for Iraq to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian goods, primarily food and medicine. The program was run by the UN Secretariat and monitored by nations on the UN Security Council, with the stated purpose of ensuring that Saddam Hussein would not divert funds away from the Iraqi people.

However, the US General Accounting Office (GAO) estimates that, between 1997 and 2002, Saddam Hussein received $10.1 billion in illegal revenue from the program. It is further alleged that not only did the UN turn a blind eye to Hussein 's activities, UN officials may have also profited by them. According to the Republican Policy Committee Report, "On January 25, 2004 , the Iraqi Governing Council released documents suggesting that Saddam Hussein , UN officials (including Oil-for-Food program director Benon Sevan ), well-connected governments (including some UN Security Council members), and private individuals all benefited from the manipulation of the UN-administered program. Those involved with this scandal allegedly utilized illegal oil shipments, financial transactions, kickbacks, and surcharges.The corruption and abuse.may have contributed to the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqis."

UN officials 'covered up Saddam theft of billions in aid for Iraqis'
By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 22/04/2004 )

Saddam Hussein diverted huge sums from the £60 billion United Nations oil-for-food programme for the poor and sick of pre-war Iraq to foreign governments and vocal supporters of his regime worldwide, the US Congress heard yesterday.

Senior UN, French and Russian officials were alleged to have connived at the scandal, said Claude Hankes-Drielsma , who is leading the Iraqi Governing Council inquiry into the affair.


	Named: Benon Sevan

He said some suppliers, mostly Russian, routinely sent out-of-date or unfit food, or sent fewer goods than were paid for and padded out contracts. In that way they created an excess that could be skimmed off by Iraqi officials.

One of those named in Iraqi files as having received bribes on the sale of oil is Benon Sevan , the UN official in charge of the programme. Mr Sevan , who is on extended leave pending retirement, denied the claims.

Mr Hankes-Drielsma , a former leading executive at the London-based auditors Price Waterhouse, said that Saddam and his henchmen pocketed billions in surcharges and bribes.

The biggest humanitarian scheme in the UN's history had provided the dictator and "his corrupt and evil regime with a convenient vehicle through which he bought support internationally by bribing political parties, companies, journalists and other individuals of influence.

"The very fact that Saddam Hussein , the UN and certain members of the Security Council could conceal such a scam from the world should send shivers down every spine in this room today."

Mr Hankes-Drielsma , now the chairman of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, was closely questioned by Democrats on the House government reform committee about a list of 270 names published in the Al Mada newspaper this year. Some were believed to be reputable oil traders but Mr Hankes-Drielsma said that others raised many questions.

The names included the office of President Vladimir Putin , of Russia ; Charles Pasqua , the former French interior minister; Jean -Bernard Merimee , the former French ambassador to the UN; the Indian Congress Party; President Megawati Sukarnoputri , of Indonesia ; the Palestinian Liberation Organisation; and a prominent British MP.

Mr Hankes-Drielsma was asked if Al Mada was owned by his friend and associate, Ahmad Chalabi , a member of the governing council.

He replied that it was owned by an Iraqi of some "animosity" to Mr Chalabi and that the council regarded the leaking of the list as regrettable. However, he confirmed that the leaked list was the same as one that Iraqi oil ministry officials had drawn up late last year from documents he believed were genuine.

British and American ambassadors to the UN repeatedly protested about oil smuggling and other abuses. But the Americans have conceded that their main aim was to prevent the smuggling of weapons to Iraq .

The oil-for-food programme, which operated from 1995 until last year, allowed Iraq legally to export oil worth billions of pounds despite UN sanctions so that children and other vulnerable members of the population could receive food and medicine.

The burgeoning scandal of the diverted funds has led to the creation of five inquiries. Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, promised another yesterday. He said: "Obviously we take these allegations seriously. I want to get to the truth."

The UN has been struggling to contain the scandal, which has broken at a sensitive time as it prepares to take on a central role in Iraq 's future.

Investigations are also aggravating transatlantic tensions, as the congressional inquiries - there are three of them - have been inspired by Republican politicians. Jean -David Levitte , the French ambassador to the United States , sent a passionate letter to the hearing, accusing Right-wing American journalists of launching a "new campaign of unfounded accusations against my country".

Allegations that Paris "turned a blind eye" to the paying of bribes by French companies or that French policy towards Iraq was driven by "the lure of oil" were completely false, M Levitte said. The allegations could "only have been an effort to discredit France ".

All oil-for-food contracts had to be approved by the 15 members of the Security Council, including Britain and America , he said.

M Levitte added: "Was there corruption and bribery inside the programme? Frankly, I don't know." That was why France supported the UN inquiry: "The truth must come out."

A turf war seems to have broken out over who should conduct the investigation in Baghdad . Paul Bremer , the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, has been accused of delaying it, reflecting President George W Bush 's pressing need to secure United Nations support if it is to manage a smooth transition to Iraqi sovereignty on June 30.

Senior Bush government officials testifying before Congress left little doubt that Mr Bremer did not support the investigation commissioned by the Iraqi Governing Council.

	17 April 2004: Bush to give UN key role in Iraq
	15 April 2004: America's man at UN tipped to replace Bremer

UN in oil-for-food scandal

21/04/2004 13:23 - (SA)

Washington - At least three senior UN officials may have looted millions of dollars from the aid programme that oversaw Saddam Hussein's oil sales in Iraq, ABC news reported on Tuesday, citing US and European intelligence sources.

Documents from Saddam's oil ministry linked the programme's director, Benon Sevan , to a payoff scheme that allowed about 270 foreign officials to deal in Iraqi oil at dramatically reduced prices, ABC news said.

A letter to former Iraqi oil minister Amer Mohammed Rasheed - which UN officials have not yet seen - said that Sevan indicated which company should handle his own oil deal, valued at up to $3.5m.

"It's almost like having coupons of bonds or shares. You can sell those coupons to other people who are normal oil traders," said Claude Hankes-Drielsma , a British adviser to the Iraq

Governing Council.

Sevan has denied the accusations, which came a day before the UN Security Council is set to give its backing for an investigation into alleged fraud and corruption in the programme led by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker .

Sevan has been on vacation in Australia since the scandal broke.

"Tomorrow we will officially announce the independent inquiry into the oil-for-food programme. An important aspect of the panel's work is to thoroughly investigate allegations against any UN officials," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in response to the ABC report.

UN officials said they did not know the identities of the other two officials mentioned in the report. They were not named by ABC.

The United Nations has been struggling to contain a mounting scandal over the now defunct oil-for-food programme, which comes at a sensitive time as the world body prepares to take on a central role in Iraq 's political future.

Humanitarian effort

What started out in 1996 as a humanitarian effort to help ease the effects of international sanctions on ordinary Iraqis evolved into a complex bureaucracy that oversaw $100bn in trade contracts.

Saddam's regime was put under sanctions after invading Kuwait in 1990, and the programme allowed Baghdad to sell oil to buy food and other essential humanitarian supplies.

But by the time oil-for-food was closed last year after Saddam's ouster, an alleged system of kickbacks, fraud and inflated cost figures had developed that critics say allowed officials and friends of the regime to profit. US officials told ABC the lost money could amount to $5bn.
In January, Iraq 's Al-Mada newspaper published a list of hundreds of individuals alleged to have been involved, including Sevan. The allegations have since intensified under the probing of western journalists.

The list included the names of more than 270 people, political organisations and religious figures from more than 40 countries - including Britain , Canada , France , Russia , the United States and several Arab countries - whom it said received free crude oil.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.