UNITED NATIONS, Nov 17: As the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) probing the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal announced on Wednesday it will stay in session until the end of December before handing over documents to the UN secretariat, the United States asked the UN to prevent any destruction of documents collected during the investigation that found massive corruption in the programme.

The US Ambassador John Bolton asked Secretary-General Kofi Annan to direct the Independent Inquiry Committee, headed by Paul Volcker, which just completed its probe into the $64 billion programme, ‘to preserve the integrity of the files’ so law-enforcement officials can pursue criminal cases against companies and individuals named in the report.

The United States fears the documents might disappear if they were returned to the countries that provided them, complicating prosecution, he said.

Mr Bolton has requested Mr Annan to work with the Security Council and Iraq on the possibility of using oil-for-food money to keep the committee operating ‘for the limited purpose of maintaining the integrity and accessibility of the records’.

Mr Bolton’s letter was released just after the Inquiry Committee said it was extending its operations from Nov. 30 to Dec. 31 to help law-enforcement authorities and regulatory agencies pursue corruption cases.