UN Official Denies Report of Bribes by Iraq
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The former head of the U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq, Benon Sevan, on Tuesday denied a report that he had received bribes from the former Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein.
The Baghdad al-Mada newspaper last month published a list of individuals and groups that it said had received crude oil vouchers from Saddam under the program, which oversaw sale of Iraqi oil and the use of the revenue to buy goods for Baghdad.
Sevan's name appeared in the report.
"I should like to state that there is absolutely no substance to the allegations made in a local Iraqi newspaper, now appearing in some international media, that I had received oil or oil monies from the former Iraqi regime," Sevan said in a statement.
"Those making the allegations should come forward and provide the necessary documentary evidence," Sevan said, adding that the papers should be given to the U.N. office of internal oversight services, which investigates corruption.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Dileep Nair, head of the oversight services offices, the equivalent of a U.N. inspector-general, was writing to the Iraqi Governing Council and the U.S.-led occupation authorities in to request documents that would "help determine the validity of these allegations."
Eckhard said the oil-for-food program already had been "audited to death."
Under the program, meant to ease the impact of economic sanctions on Iraq, the United Nations had a special account for Iraq's oil revenues and used them to pay suppliers of civilian goods.
But Eckhard noted that Iraq was in charge of selling its oil and buying the goods so "we in the secretariat would not even have a way of knowing if there were kickbacks between the Iraqi government and their suppliers."
"We have a lot of confidence in Benon Sevan's integrity. But that is not enough," Eckhard said. "Show us the documentary evidence."
The U.N. sanctions and the oil-for-food program were halted last year after the U.S.-led invasion had toppled Saddam.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) last week made similar statements, saying that if there were evidence against U.N. officials, the world body would investigate.