The United Nations reversed a commitment to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for a senior U.N. official who was accused of ethical lapses while administering the $64 billion oil-for-food program in Iraq. The U.N. decision Monday came after U.S., British and Iraqi officials expressed concern about U.N. plans to use surplus Iraq oil revenue to defend Benon Sevan against accusations that he improperly steered lucrative Iraqi oil contracts to an Egyptian businessman.
The U.N. leadership braced for a critical report Tuesday by a U.N.-appointed investigator into Secretary General Kofi Annan's handling of the program. The report will examine whether Annan's son, Kojo Annan, used his family connections to obtain contracts for a Swiss company that once employed him. Senior U.N. officials said the report by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker will clear Kofi Annan of any personal wrongdoing but fault him for lax oversight of the U.N.'s largest humanitarian aid program. |