UNITED NATIONS, Jan 26: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was questioned by the independent investigators on three separate occasions about the Iraq oil-for-food scandal that has plagued the world body, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday.

"The secretary general is part of the investigation, is a subject like anyone else involved in the oil-for-food at the secretariat," Fred Eckhard said at a press briefing.

Mr Eckhard was not sure if Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the US Federal Reserve and head of the independent panel probing the scandal, attended all of the sessions, but was certain that he had been present on at least one occasion.

The first meeting on Nov 9 was said to have lasted for one hour and 45 minutes and the second session on Dec 3 for 25 minutes. The third meeting took place on Tuesday afternoon for one hour and 35 minutes at the UN headquarters.

Mr Eckhard was not able to elaborate on the details of the discussions, but confirmed that on all occasions one of the three independent panel members had gone to see the UN chief along with investigators. After Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was toppled, documents surfaced that implicated officials in the $64 billion oil-for-food programme.