The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com
By Desmond O. Butler
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 21, 2005
NEW YORK -- Two senior investigators with the U.N. committee probing corruption in the oil-for-food program have resigned in protest, saying they think a report that cleared Kofi Annan of meddling in the $64 billion operation was too soft on the secretary-general, a panel member confirmed yesterday.
The investigators felt the Independent Inquiry Committee, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, played down findings critical of Mr. Annan when it released an interim report in late March related to his son, said Mark Pieth, one of three leaders of the committee.
"You follow a trail and you want to see people pick it up," Mr. Pieth told the Associated Press, referring to the two top investigators who left. "What we did was we told the story that they found, but we made different conclusions than they would have."
The investigators were identified as Robert Parton and Miranda Duncan.
Mr. Parton, as the senior investigative counsel for oil-for-food, had a wide purview. He was responsible for investigations into the procurement of companies under the oil-for-food program, and he was the lead investigator on issues pertaining to charges of impropriety relating to the secretary-general and his son, Kojo Annan. Miss Duncan worked on Mr. Parton's team.
Mr. Parton, a lawyer and former FBI agent who has worked on a hostage-rescue team abroad, confirmed yesterday that he resigned a week ago, but he declined further comment.
Miss Duncan did not respond to telephone and e-mail messages left at the Rockefeller Family Fund, where she... |