Oil-for-food head resigns before explosive report

[deminks]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050808/pl_nm/iraq_un_probe_dc

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The former head of the scandal-tainted oil-for-food program resigned from the United Nations on Sunday, hours before he is expected to be accused of getting kickbacks from the $67 billion operation.

A U.N.-established Independent Inquiry Committee, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, plans to release on Monday its third interim report on allegations of corruption in the humanitarian program for Iraq, which began in 1996 and ended in 2003.

Benon Sevan, the former executive director of the program, is to be accused of getting cash for steering Iraqi oil contracts to an Egyptian trader and of refusing to cooperate with the Volcker panel, his attorney Eric Lewis said. Sevan has denied the allegations.

On Sunday, Lewis distributed a letter from Sevan, 67, to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan resigning from his current job, which he was given after he retired.

[merwin]

1. $10 says that Bush credits Bolton's UN presence for this.

[daleo]

2. And that this will morph into a fresh rationale for the invasion of Iraq

"We had to invade...Saddam was cheating on his taxes."

[Maat]

3. I'll bet you Halliburton made money there somewhere ..

while Cheney was CEO; of course, he did not know of any wrongdoing.

[cyberpj]

4. allegations of corruption in the humanitarian program for Iraq

wouldn't this apply to the corruption in the aid for Iraq programs Bremer and others had their hands in?

aren't there already articles about all that lost money that was given out?

[emad]

5. Blames Kofi Annan for 'sacrificing him': BBC

Mr Sevan's lawyers have already said the report will falsely accuse him of receiving cash kick-backs for helping a company obtain lucrative oil contracts under the scheme.

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"I fully understand the pressure you are under <...> but sacrificing me for political expediency will never appease our critics or help you or the Organization," he wrote.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4130390.stm