Report blames UN official for 'tainted' process: Iraq's oil-for-food programme
By Our Correspondent
NEW YORK, Feb 3: The much-awaited interim report by the panel investigating United Nations oil-for-food programme in Iraq, which was submitted to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday
, says that the humanitarian programme's procurement process was "tainted" and singles out a senior UN official who headed the food programme, for placing himself in an "irreconcilable conflict of interest".
Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the US Federal Reserve who headed the Independent Inquiry Committee, said in an article in the Wall Street Journal: "The procurement process was tainted, failing to follow the established rules of the organization designed to assure fairness and accountability."
Mr Volcker's piece in a newspaper which is generally critical of the world body surprised the UN officials in which he said his panel found intrusions into the humanitarian programmes of political considerations "in a manner that was neither transparent nor accountable".
Mr Volcker singled out Benon Sevan, a senior UN official who headed the food programme, for placing himself in an irreconcilable conflict of interests, in violation of both specific United Nations rules and of the broad responsibility of an international servant to adhere to the highest standards of trust and integrity".
A UN spokesman told reporters on Thursday that the secretary general would waive immunity of any UN official implicated or accused of criminal activity in his or her conduct, while working on the programme meant to alleviate suffering of Iraqi people.
In the interim report Mr Volcker urged the world body to be more disciplined if it is to win greater credibility. "If the United Nations is to effectively discharge the enormous responsibilities that have been placed upon it by member states, no lesser criteria for our investigation are appropriate.
"The new humanitarian crisis in the Indian Ocean is but another demonstration of the need for a truly effective international organization - an organization that can command the confidence of member states and the citizens of the world alike," Mr Volcker said.
Citing what he called conclusive evidence, Mr Volcker wrote that by "effectively participating in the selection of purchasers of oil under the programme," Mr Sevan had violated both "specific United Nations rules and of the broad responsibility of an international civil servant to adhere to the highest standards of trust and integrity."
One official who has seen parts of the report said that it also criticized another United Nations official, Joseph Stephanides, a senior official on the Security Council staff, for failing to ensure that the organization's own rules for buying oil, selling goods and selecting contractors were followed.
In his WSJ article, Mr Volcker said the report explored in "excruciating detail" three "potentially vulnerable" parts of the $64 billion programme, which was aimed at easing the debilitating effects of economic sanctions on the Iraqi people between 1996 and 2003 by ensuring that Iraq's oil revenues were used to buy food, medicine and other necessities for its people.
Specifically, he said the interim report discussed the initial selection of major contractors hired to inspect Iraqi oil exports, imports of ostensibly humanitarian goods, and how the programme's funds were spent and managed.
The report also discusses internal programme audits, many of which have already been disclosed, and how the programme spent its own administrative funds, he wrote. "The findings do not make for pleasant reading," Mr Volcker concluded. The final report will be released in June.
