U.N. official vows to 'talk plenty' on scam

Washington Times ^ | 5/09/04 | Damien McElroy and Charles Laurence, LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

[kattracks]

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Benon Sevan, the official at the center of the United Nations' oil-for-food scandal, has broken his silence after an independent inquiry was ordered into charges of multibillion-dollar corruption relating to the program.

Tracked down to a five-star hotel in his native Cyprus, Mr. Sevan said he was being unfairly persecuted and vowed to "talk plenty" once the inquiry panel reports back to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

[kattracks]

No apology necessary. I thought it was funny.

[Piranha]

This story is not going away. Today it was the subject of the lead, and long, editorial in the Chicago Tribune.

[G.Mason]

"No apology necessary. I thought it was funny."

I would make a mental note, but I appear to be deficient in resources. ;)

I am trying, though.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Sevan "vowed to "talk plenty."

I regret he said this publicly. He may not live "to talk plenty."

[q_an_a]

how is it that these internationalists can retire on 100,000 a year? who creates this retirment plan?

[blackdog]

Pigs will feed from the trough that holds the most.

[blackdog]

The media has to get this UN issue fixed and concluded, chop-chop. A good 30% of the democrat diatribe is that we need to bring the UN in on everything including our own sovereignty. This UN thing is in effect muzzling the foreign policy position of the entire democrat party. It's sweet.

Democrats have been such UN'ers for so long, they are incapable of articulating any position on international issues. The stock soundbite of "international community opinion", "World View", "Universal Agreement" etc.....Sounds a bit "enabling criminal enterprise" at this point.

[foreshadowed at waco]

In the deal struck with Mr. Annan, Mr. Sevan will continue for the next three months and be paid a token one dollar a year as a consultant, while continuing to enjoy diplomatic immunity

This phrase scares me... around 15 or so years ago a diplomat's son was accused in the violent rape of a young woman in NYC...he used the diplomatic immunity card to get off scot free..returned home to continue his jet set lifestyle...tough sh*t on girl.

[clyde260]

Sumthin smells reeeeeeal fishy bout this whole thing! Are they all gonna try and blame each other? Oh yeah, Big Time! And where's the MEDIA????????

In the mean time this issue is overshadowed by the prison torture fiasco, which the "Media" can't get enough of.

Thought: Are these prison pictures real, or a product of photo-shop?

[RightWhale]

No one has heard of oil-for-food. No one has heard of the Oil-for-Food scandal. None of them have ever put 2 and 2 together and probably none ever will.

[EGPWS]

Documents "missing", Kofi denying information to investigators, witness tampering, and NOW Sevan is willing to talk.

This is going to get interesting and before you know it JFK is going to be saying "I was for UN control over US control, before I was against it".

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I exported an oil well work-over fluid to Balikpapan, Indonesia a few years back. The "bite" was 100 percent.