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UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations put off a decision on how to respond to a ruling by an appeals body that vindicated the lone employee fired over the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, despite promises that it would come to a conclusion on Monday. The move gave Joseph Stephanides the right to a copy of the ruling, made 30 days ago, which said he was wrongly fired and should be reinstated, paid two years of back pay as compensation and given a written apology. A copy was obtained last week by The Associated Press but it has not been made public....

UNITED NATIONS - A U.N. appeals body ruled that the only employee to be fired over the Iraq oil-for-food scandal did not violate staff rules and should be reinstated with a public apology from Secretary-General Kofi Annan, according to documents disclosed Thursday. The Joint Disciplinary Committee concluded that Joseph Stephanides was fired mostly because of the public scrutiny from an investigation that found the $64 billion program was poorly managed and corrupt. The ruling, obtained by The Associated Press, said the three-judge panel "sympathized with the applicant's argument that he was being made the 'sacrificial lamb' in this matter so...

UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan fired a staffer for his role in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, a spokesman said Wednesday, describing the first dismissal stemming from alleged corruption in the multibillion-dollar program. Joseph Stephanides, dismissed Tuesday, was the first U.N. official said to be fired in the wake of an independent probe into allegations of wrongdoing in the $64 billion program. The United Nations had accused Stephanides, head of the U.N. Security Council Affairs Division, of interfering in the competitive bidding process for an oil-for-food contract. Annan concluded that Stephanides had committed "serious misconduct," U.N. associate spokesman Stephane...

Joseph Stephanides (left) denies any wrongdoing United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has sacked a senior official accused of serious misconduct over Iraq's oil-for-food programme. Joseph Stephanides, who is alleged to have steered a lucrative contract to a British firm, is the first UN employee sacked over the scandal. Mr Annan concluded that Mr Stephanides, of Cyprus, had breached UN staff procurement rules, a spokesman said. Mr Stephanides, 59, rejected the charges and said he planned to appeal. "I am very disappointed by this decision," the UN veteran of 25 years told the Associated Press news agency. Mr Stephanides,...

DIPLOMATS who received money from the United Nations’ discredited oil-for-food programme in Iraq were "parasites" profiting from the misery of an impoverished nation, the country’s human rights minister claimed yesterday. Bakhtiar Amin said those responsible should be brought to justice and the money repaid to the Iraqi people. "It shows that some so-called dignitaries had not an iota of shame in their bones, no conscience and no morals," he said. "They profited as parasites on the misery of an impoverished nation." The £32 billion oil-for-food programme, which ran from December 1996 to November 2003, allowed Saddam Hussein’s government to sell...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) pledged Friday to get to the bottom of any wrongdoing by the United Nations (news - web sites) in the Iraq (news - web sites) oil-for-food scandal. "We are as determined as everyone to get to the bottom of this. We do not want this shadow to hang over the U.N.," Annan told reporters as he arrived at headquarters. "So we want to get to the bottom of it, get to the truth and take appropriate measures to deal with the gaps," he said. An independent inquiry named by...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan is taking disciplinary action against the head of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq following an investigation of alleged corruption in the humanitarian program, a senior U.N. official said Thursday. The decision came after a report by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker accused program chief Benon Sevan of unethical conduct and Joseph Stephanides of manipulating an oil-for-food contract, according to Mark Malloch Brown, Annan's chief of staff. At the time the contract was awarded, Stephanides was chief of the U.N. Sanctions Branch and deputy director of the Security Council Affairs Division in...