Posted By:
Howard Kaloogian
Permalink

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:  Siobhan Guiney
March 29, 2005 (916) 441-6197 or (916) 290-7223

U.N. Oil for Food Pre-Report�?�

Kofi Annan To Be Treated With Kid Gloves by the Man Annan Appointed to Investigate Oil for Food Scandal

(SACRAMENTO) �?? Representatives of Move America Forward (website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org) are being told not to expect anything but hot air from Paul Volcker�??s Independent Inquiry Committee investigating the Oil for Food Scandal.  Volcker�??s latest interim report apparently follows a pattern of the discovery of facts relating to the scandal; the most serious and damning evidence has been found by others not-associated with the U.N.�??s own investigation into itself.

Move America Forward has become known for its leadership in the effort to evict the United Nations from American soil and halt U.S. funding of the U.N.  The organization has been speaking with supporters and opponents of the U.N. and news media representatives for several months now about the Oil for Food investigation.

�??In the public�??s obsession with determining the extent of guilt by Kofi Annan and his son, Kojo, people are missing the larger point,�?� said Melanie Morgan, Co-Chair of Move America Forward.

�??The crucial point that I fear people might overlook is that this is not about the failures of one man and his son, but a far broader problem; the United Nations is broken, probably beyond all hope of repair,�?� said Morgan.

THE STORY THE U.N. NEVER WANTED REPORTED

The revelation of the Oil for Food scandal came about not because of any �??transparency�?� at the U.N. but because of the passions of the liberated Iraqi�??s.

The problem with the U.N.�??s own investigation into the Oil for Food program is that the very reason the scandal was able to occur in the dark shadows in the first place was the willingness of U.N. officials and others to either participate in the scam, or in other cases look the other way.

�??The individuals who were complicit in the Oil for Food scandal are not now going to help Paul Volcker or anyone else prosecute themselves and their colleagues,�?� said Morgan.

It was the Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada that reported on January 25, 2004 the allegations of corruption in the Oil for Food program.  It is believed that Al-Mada obtained the documents from the Iraqi Governing Council, which had discovered lists naming people who allegedly received payments from the U.N. program while Saddam Hussein was in power.

The list included 270 former government officials, activists, journalists and U.N. officials from more than 46 countries who are believed to have profited from the sales of Iraqi oil. 

�??Saddam Hussein was looking to buy friends and to buy the loyalty of those who he would need on his side as tensions grew between Iraq and the United States,�?� said Howard Kaloogian, Co-Chair of Move America Forward.

�??As part of the complicity of those he bought off, Hussein was able to siphon off hundreds of millions �?? if not billions �?? to be used for the purchase of weapons and other materials for his army.  Today those weapons are used to injure, maim and kill young Americans serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom�?� said Kaloogian.

U.N. EFFORTS TO UNDERMINE COMPETING INVESTIGATIONS

From the beginning the United Nations chose to limit the potential fallout of the Oil for Food Scandal by investigating itself.  What�??s worse, Kofi Annan and Paul Volcker both came out and tried to undermine the work of other investigations into the Oil for Food scam.

�??U.N. officials were most concerned about the probe by U.S. congressional investigators who were more determined to uncover evidence of wrongdoing by the United Nations,�?� said Melanie Morgan.

Mr. Volcker made his view of the competing Oil for Food investigations clear when Volcker declared, �??I don’t think it’s a great idea to have parallel investigations of U.N. contracts.�?�

U.N. officials also blocked U.S. investigators from being able to access crucial documents, audit reports and information on potential witnesses, forcing a standoff between the entrenched bureaucrats of Turtle Bay and investigators on Capitol Hill.

And to make matters worse, the man who Kofi Annan hand-picked to run the Oil for Food program in the first place was busy telling Oil for Food contractors not to cooperate with competing investigations.

In a letter dated April 2, 2004, Sevan wrote to Cotecna �?? the same Oil for Food contractor now at the center of the scandal involving Kojo and Kofi Annan �?? that all Oil for Food documents that Cotecna might have had, �??shall be the property of the United Nations, shall be treated as confidential and shall be delivered only to United Nations authorized officials.�?�

BENON SEVAN �?? REWARDED FOR HIS LOYALTY

Kofi Annan has been very lucky to have two people that he himself appointed at the center of the Oil for Food probe �?? the man to investigate the U.N., and the man who ran the program in the first place, Benon Sevan.

Annan sure did talk tough, saying, �??I made clear from the outset that no-one found to have broken any laws would be shielded from prosecution,�?� but his actions belied his words.

Annan has gone to great lengths to protect Sevan.  First, Annan refused to terminate Sevan�??s employment, even under mounting pressure.  Annan chose to keep Sevan on a $1-per year retainer.  The significance is that as a U.N. employee Sevan enjoyed diplomatic immunity, which would protect him from being held accountable for his actions.

Last week it was discovered that not only had Annan sought to preserve Sevan�??s diplomatic immunity, but he also then arranged for Sevan�??s legal expenses to be paid.  Showing absolute brazenness, Sevan�??s legal fees were to be paid by the money from the UN Oil for Food program itself.  It was only after an international outcry that U.N. officials reversed course, announcing that Sevan�??s legal fees would not be paid by the U.N.

U.N. officials were quick to exonerate Sevan early on, before the investigation into the Oil for Food program had even begun.  Shashi Tharoor, the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information wrote a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal on February 18, 2004, claiming that the U.N. Oil for Food program was subject to over 100 U.N. administered audits and that they �??produced no evidence of wrongdoing�?� by Sevan.

�??U.N. officials were proclaiming Sevan�??s innocence before the investigation had even begun, and that tells you everything you need to know about the integrity of any investigation of the U.N. by the U.N.�?� said Howard Kaloogian.

�??I hope people will take to heart the fact that the corruption and backslapping runs so deep that it has infected the U.N. to the core.  We simply cannot continue to serve as host and chief financial backer of this rotting institution,�?� said Kaloogian.

IF YOU WANT THE FULL STORY �?? LOOK ELSEWHERE

The most compelling facts relating to the Oil for Food scandal have come not from Paul Volcker�??s investigation, but from outside sources.

It was the United States Department of Justice, not Volcker�??s Independent Inquiry Committee that secured guilty pleas from Samir Vincent.  Vincent�??s name was one of the 270 individuals and entities listed on those documents obtained by the Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada. 

It has been the news media and U.S. congressional investigators, not Volcker�??s committee, who have unearthed the most damning evidence including the activities of Kojo Annan under contract with Cotecna Inspection Services, the payments he received (despite denials from both Kojo and his father, Kofi Annan), and the meetings between Kofi Annan and Cotecna.

Volcker�??s audit of the total amount Kojo Annan was paid by Cotecna won�??t even be completed until the end of April.

Volcker made it clear that he had already pre-judged what he will ultimately find in his investigation when he announced that the administration of the Oil for Food program was, �??free of systematic or widespread abuse.�?�

�??The problem with the U.N.�??s investigation is that there is no impetus to get to the truth wherever it will cause harm or embarrassment to the United Nations,�?� said Howard Kaloogian.

�??Billions of dollars meant for the hungry civilians of Iraq were instead siphoned off to rebuild an army, while U.N. officials and others who were bought off looked the other way, and Paul Volcker was downplaying this scandal in the earliest days of his investigation.  It�??s very disappointing,�?� said Melanie Morgan.

�?�Paul Volcker seems to have already decided what the conclusion of his investigation is going to be before he bothered to examine the facts.  Is it any wonder that his interim reports keep concluding that this Oil for Food scandal was �??no big deal�???�?� Morgan asked.