Posted on 10/07/2004 12:21:06 AM PDT by kattracks
October 7, 2004 -- The head of the United Nation's oil-for-food program in Iraq pocketed $1.2 million worth of oil rights from the regime of Saddam Hussein, a new Iraqi government report claims.The allegations against Benon Sevan, the U.N. undersecretary-general who was in charge of the scandal-scarred humanitarian program, had first surfaced in January.
At that time, his name appeared on a list of more than 200 people and companies that an Iraqi newspaper reported had received oil allocations from Saddam.
The new report, which was written in February by Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization and remains classified by the U.S. government, revealed for the first time that Sevan received nine vouchers to purchase Iraqi oil at reduced prices between 1998 and 2003, totaling 13.3 million barrels.
The vouchers were valued at well over $1 million.
He executed five of his options, totaling 7.3 million barrels, the report indicated.
The state oil organization's former director-general Shamkhi Faraj, who wrote the report, told The Wall Street Journal, "There is no doubt about [the report's credibility] whatsoever. It is records. It is actual transactions."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
"And we will never take action before the united nations finds a way to skim a little off the top for themselves"
On October 24, 1995--the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations--frosh Representative Joe Scarborough (Republican--Florida) introduced a bill in Congress to, as the old slogan goes, "get the U.S. out of the U.N. and get the U.N. out of the US" Scarborough's bill seeks U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations, the closing of the US. mission to the United Nations, and the withdrawal of the United Nations from U.S. territory by the year 2000. Among the signers of the bill are Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, House Majority Whip Tom Delay (Republican--Texas), chair of the Resources Committee Don Young (Republican--Alaska), and Sonny Bono (Republican--California).Time for someone to introduce another bill in Congress.
Good link.
Why?
I sense the smelly influence of the State Department!
This is really pi$$&@$!g me off. Being treated like an idiot child by my own government is not the path for a relationship of mutual respect.
Classifying stuff is necessary, indeed critical in some areas, but this clearly is not one of them. At the very least I want to know why the government feels this need to be kept secret. The negative feelings this arouses is second only to the disdain the U.N. criminals clearly deserve.
Where is the Belgian sense of international justice on this one?
Backhoe, FWIW, have you come across any references to Cotecna recently hiring a VA lobbying firm, Williams Mullen Strategies, to do PR for them?
Bttt.
Yawn, back page news, if that.
Nothing to see here, move along.
Oh that's right, I forgot -- This is a REAL story.
What's really amazing is how cheap these guys sell out.
You'd think with billions on the line, the chief of the UN program would dip his beak a little deeper into the graft.
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