Posted on 03/01/2005 12:22:34 PM PST by paudio
With U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (search) next up for review by Paul Volcker’s inquiry into the Oil-for-Food scandal, a crucial question is whether Volcker will expand upon information tying the scandal directly to the U.N. chief’s office — by way of Annan’s second-in command, Louise Frechette (search).
Four years into the seven-year Oil-for-Food (search) program, with graft and mismanagement by then rampant, Frechette intervened directly by telephone to stop United Nations auditors from forwarding their investigations to the U.N. Security Council. This detail was buried on page 186 of the 219-page interim report Volcker’s Independent Inquiry Committee released Feb. 3.
This decision from within Annan’s office left only the Secretariat privy to the specifics of the waste, bungling and contractual breaches detailed by U.N. internal auditors in dozens of damning reports. The extent of what Annan’s office knew was not available either to the Security Council or the public until Congress finally forced the issue and the United Nations produced the reports in conjunction with a Volcker "briefing paper" in January.
Frechette, 58, came to the United Nations following a long career as a Canadian civil servant. The first Deputy Secretary-General in U.N. history, she has served since 1998 as Annan’s chief administrator. She also chairs the steering committee on U.N. Reform and Management Policy.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Isn't she also tied to the ubiquitous Power Corporation in some way? I vaguely remember something about her...
This is standard operating procedure fr the UN - The fox watching over the hen house. So far they've carried it forward in the form of Volker's subpoenaless review of OFF. I guess they hope that throwing a couple overboard and stalling will make it go away and I think they're right.
She appears to be a Canadian Janet Reno: http://www.un.org/aboutun/DSG/dsgbio.htm
Get out the tar and feathers. Someone like her has got to have a past that wriggles and squirms like something living under a rock.
Any ties to Paul Martin and/or Paul Desmarais?
Frenchette, how appropriate.
Wonder if the Trudeau Foundation's got anything to hide?
She's a French Canadian who served under Chretien. BTW Chretien is the jerkoff Canadian PM that covered up the fact that his relative served on the Board of Directors of Total Fina Elf, pre-war Iraq's largest oil producer that was French-owned. The plot thickens. Now all that's needed is to find those offshore bank accounts.
Here's Frechette's bio:
Louise Fréchette is the first Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. A national of Canada, she assumed her duties on 2 March 1998, after having been appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The post of Deputy Secretary-General was established by the General Assembly at the end of 1997 as part of the reform of the United Nations, to help manage Secretariat operations and to ensure coherence of activities and programmes. The purpose was also to elevate the Organization’s profile and leadership in the economic and social spheres. The Deputy Secretary-General assists the Secretary-General in the full range of his responsibilities and also may represent the United Nations at conferences and official functions. She chairs the Steering Committee on Reform and Management Policy and the Advisory Board of the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP), which handles relations with the foundation set up by Ted Turner in support of the United Nations.
Before joining the United Nations, Ms. Fréchette was the Deputy Minister of National Defence of Canada from 1995 to 1998. Prior to that, she was Associate Deputy Minister in her country’s Department of Finance. She served as Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations from 1992 to 1995.
Ms. Fréchette began her career in 1971 in Canada’s Department of External Affairs. She was part of her country’s delegation to the General Assembly in 1972, and then served as Second Secretary at the Canadian Embassy in Athens until 1975. From 1975 to 1977, Ms. Fréchette worked in the European Affairs Division in Canada’s Department of External Affairs. Returning to Europe, she served as First Secretary at the Canadian Mission to the United Nations in Geneva from 1978 to 1982. During that period, she participated in a session of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Madrid from November 1980 to July 1981.
After serving as Deputy Director of the Trade Policy Division in the Department of External Affairs from 1982 to 1983, Ms. Fréchette became Director of the European Summit Division from 1983 to 1985. She received her first ambassadorship in 1985, serving as Canada’s ambassador to Argentina with concurrent accreditation to Uruguay and Paraguay.
Ms. Fréchette was named Assistant Deputy Minister for Latin America and the Caribbean in the Department of External Affairs and international trade in October 1988. In that capacity, she directed a review of Canada’s relations with the region, which led to Canada’s entry into the Organization of American States (OAS). In January 1991 she became Assistant Deputy Minister for Economic Policy and Trade Competitiveness.
Ms. Fréchette received a Bachelor of Arts degree from College Basile Moreau. She earned a degree in history from the University of Montreal in 1970 and a post-graduate diploma in economic studies at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium in 1978. She has received honorary doctorate degrees from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Kyung Hee University in Seoul, University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, and Laval University, Québec. In 1998, she was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada.
Born in Montreal on 16 July 1946, Ms. Fréchette is single. She speaks French, English and Spanish.
Good to know the UN is about to "reform" itself again.
I just wish they would re-form themselves somewhere else, like Addis Ababa.
Nothing to see here... move on....
OFF ping.
"Isn't she also tied to the ubiquitous Power Corporation in some way? I vaguely remember something about her..."
You got any more info on that?
A politically connected Canadian is the last person that should be on the inside of Oil for Food from what we know happened.
That bio stops at year 2000. Wonder what she did since then.
I don't recall the source (which is why I asked). The name looked familiar, and I'd thought that she was on some list of Canadian politicians that had connections to Power Corp. I wish I could remember where I'd seen the list - maybe someone else here knows?
I can tell you this - looking at her bio she didn't raise up the ranks of the UN by handling relief missions successfully. Curious, for a career politician it looks like she served in a variety of departments...
From her bio:
"..The post of Deputy Secretary-General was established by the General Assembly at the end of 1997 as part of the reform of the United Nations, to help manage Secretariat operations and to ensure coherence of activities and programmes. The purpose was also to elevate the Organization’s profile and leadership in the economic and social sphere.."
Food for Oil I bet had a lot to do with that...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145997,00.html
The attention to Volcker and his potential conflicts of interest focuses on the following:
— Volcker has a longtime membership in the UNA-USA Business Council (search), a pro-United Nations organization partly funded by BNP Paribas (search), the bank that handled all Oil-for-Food transactions.
— There are questions about Volcker’s position as an adviser to the Power Corporation of Canada (search), a company with close ties to BNP and also to Total (search), the French oil giant that did nearly $2 billion of Oil-for-Food business.
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