WP: Annan Calls for Probe into U.N.'s Iraqi Oil Program

Annan Calls for Probe into U.N.'s Iraqi Oil Program

By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 20, 2004; Page A17


UNITED NATIONS, March 19 -- U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan proposed to the Security Council Friday night that he establish an "independent high-level inquiry" into allegations of corruption in a former U.N.-administered humanitarian program that used Iraqi oil revenue to feed Iraqis.

Annan's proposal, contained in a letter to the 15-nation council, is intended to address a series of media reports alleging that foreign dignitaries, including senior U.N. official Benon Sevan, illegally profited from the multibillion-dollar oil-for-food program. It reflected mounting concern among senior U.N. officials that a preliminary probe into misconduct by the U.N. internal auditor would be insufficient to lay the matter to rest.

Sevan, the former head of the program, has denied any wrongdoing through a U.N. spokesman, and Annan has said that he has yet to see hard evidence of corruption within the agency's ranks. But Annan believes that an outside investigation, either by a private auditor or a panel of eminent individuals, will help clear the United Nations, U.N. officials said....

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Annan and other senior U.N. officials said the investigation would focus initially on U.N. staff, but they expressed hope that the probe could also look at foreign countries and companies. Annan said that the inquiry would require the support of the Security Council and U.N. member states. But U.N. officials indicated that he would press ahead with an investigation even without the council's full backing....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9397-2004Mar19.html

OMD's. This should be easy. Just follow the scent of money.