Free Republic

UNITED NATIONS — United Nations officials apparently knew of specific allegations that bribes were being paid in the oil-for-food program but there's no sign they did anything to change the program, documents obtained by FOX News show. Nearly two years ago, U.N. official Benon Sevan (search) — the man who ran the oil-for-food program — received a copy of a letter from Lakia (search), a Russian-owned oil company, that was sent to Iraqi authorities. The Oct. 2, 2002, letter was blunt and direct. It accused the State Oil Marketing Organization (search) of "lying to us." "It is necessary for us...

NEW YORK — This is the tale of a bribe linked to the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq. The bribe itself, paid to Saddam Hussein's regime, first made the news in late 2002. What got no attention at the time, however, was just how odd a response it drew from the United Nations. There, it was treated as just another modest irregularity in oil-for-food — worthy of polite inquiry, but not the outrage and immediate expert investigation it deserved.