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Annan Pledges to Get to Truth in Oil-For-Food Scandal
Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 2/4/05 | Reuters

Posted on 02/04/2005 9:38:34 AM PST by NormsRevenge

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) pledged Friday to get to the bottom of any wrongdoing by the United Nations (news - web sites) in the Iraq (news - web sites) oil-for-food scandal.

"We are as determined as everyone to get to the bottom of this. We do not want this shadow to hang over the U.N.," Annan told reporters as he arrived at headquarters.

"So we want to get to the bottom of it, get to the truth and take appropriate measures to deal with the gaps," he said.

An independent inquiry named by Annan to look into the $69 billion program, which was shut down in 2003 a few months after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, issued an interim report on Thursday that found lax U.N. controls, a shortage of audit staff and political favoritism when the program was put in place in 1996.

It found no pilfering of money from the U.N. administration of the program.

But Volcker said the program's director, Benon Sevan, engaged in a "grave conflict of interest" by soliciting oil allocations for a small trading firm run by relatives of Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the U.N. secretary-general from 1991 to 1996. Volcker is investigating whether Sevan received a kickback for his efforts, as Iraqis have alleged.

"Obviously there were some hard knocks in the report and we are concerned about it," Annan said. "This is why we intend to take action promptly."

Annan intends to take disciplinary action against Sevan and Joseph Stephanides, who now heads Security Council affairs and was accused in Volcker's report of interfering in contracts without competitive bidding in 1996. He said he was consulting lawyers on how to do this.

He said diplomatic immunity would be lifted if there were charges of criminal acts, and he said the United Nations would right financial controls and accounting procedures and more reforms would follow.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: annan; boutros; oilforfood; pledges; scandal; sevan; stephanides; truth; uncorruption; unitednations
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1 posted on 02/04/2005 9:38:34 AM PST by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

A death wish.


2 posted on 02/04/2005 9:39:12 AM PST by EagleUSA
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To: NormsRevenge
Secretary-General Kofi Annan pledged on February 4, 2005 to get to the bottom of any wrongdoing by the United Nations in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal. Annan is seen in New York, January 17.  (Jeff Christensen/Reuters)

Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) pledged on February 4, 2005 to get to the bottom of any wrongdoing by the United Nations (news - web sites) in the Iraq (news - web sites) oil-for-food scandal. Annan is seen in New York, January 17. (Jeff Christensen/Reuters)


3 posted on 02/04/2005 9:39:43 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ...... The War on Terrorism is the ultimate 'faith-based' initiative.)
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To: NormsRevenge

A death wish.


4 posted on 02/04/2005 9:40:15 AM PST by EagleUSA
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To: NormsRevenge

The UN is a terrorits org. and must be treated as such...


5 posted on 02/04/2005 9:40:23 AM PST by ApesForEvolution (I just took a Muhammad and wiped my Jihadist with Mein Koran...come and get me nutbags.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Read that: I am going to roadblock the investigation at every turn with the last resort being trying to bribe the investigators.


6 posted on 02/04/2005 9:40:26 AM PST by big'ol_freeper (World Series Champion Boston Red Sox!! Has a nice ring to it.)
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To: NormsRevenge

He also said that he's gong to search for the real thief, and that if there is corruption involved, he'd like to break that story.


7 posted on 02/04/2005 9:40:31 AM PST by ScottFromSpokane (http://drunkengop.blogspot.com/)
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To: NormsRevenge

Oh yeah. He's going to hire OJ Simpson to get to the bottom of it.


8 posted on 02/04/2005 9:40:36 AM PST by blau993 (Labs for love; .357 for Security.)
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To: NormsRevenge

IRN, I wonder how O.J.'s search for the real killer is going.


9 posted on 02/04/2005 9:40:36 AM PST by Lekker 1 (A government policy to rob Peter to pay Paul can be assured of the support of Paul [G.B. Shaw])
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To: NormsRevenge

He wouldn't know the truth if it bit him in the bottom!


10 posted on 02/04/2005 9:40:49 AM PST by Tensgrrl
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To: ApesForEvolution

yeah...terrorist


11 posted on 02/04/2005 9:40:59 AM PST by ApesForEvolution (I just took a Muhammad and wiped my Jihadist with Mein Koran...come and get me nutbags.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Yes, let's get to the truth. Mary Mapes is looking for work.


12 posted on 02/04/2005 9:41:02 AM PST by JesseJane (KERRY: I have had conversations with leaders, yes, recently.That's not your business, it's mine.)
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To: NormsRevenge
Annan Pledges to Get to Truth whitewash in Oil-For-Food Scandal
13 posted on 02/04/2005 9:41:15 AM PST by Libertarian444
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To: Lekker 1

Lucy Ramirez is on it.


14 posted on 02/04/2005 9:41:31 AM PST by JesseJane (KERRY: I have had conversations with leaders, yes, recently.That's not your business, it's mine.)
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To: NormsRevenge

I totally trust the Hero Of Rwanda.


15 posted on 02/04/2005 9:41:36 AM PST by siunevada
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To: NormsRevenge

In a related story, Bill Clinton says he did not have sex with that woman.


16 posted on 02/04/2005 9:42:22 AM PST by advance_copy
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To: blau993

Isn't it funny how the headline instantly struck us as being along the lines of O.J.? Hmmmmmmm. Will O.J. ever live this down, I wonder....


17 posted on 02/04/2005 9:42:23 AM PST by Lekker 1 (A government policy to rob Peter to pay Paul can be assured of the support of Paul [G.B. Shaw])
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To: NormsRevenge
Secretary-General Kofi Annan pledged Friday to get to the bottom of any wrongdoing by the United Nations in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal.

Now there is word-parsing worthy of the finest efforts of X42.

18 posted on 02/04/2005 9:42:25 AM PST by Colonel_Flagg ("I speak Spanish to God, French to women, English to men, and Japanese to my horse."-Buckaroo Banzai)
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To: siunevada

Annan and the Truth - comical


19 posted on 02/04/2005 9:42:26 AM PST by soccer_linux_mozilla (I believe in the potential of Open Source software: Linux, Mozilla, Firefox, OpenOffice,etc)
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To: NormsRevenge

"Annan Pledges to Get to Truth in Oil-For-Food Scandal"

Tsk tsk Kofi, Thou shalt NOT lie.



20 posted on 02/04/2005 9:42:29 AM PST by rockabyebaby (What goes around, comes around!)
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