NEW YORK: A long-awaited report on the corruption-tainted UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq has cleared UN Secretary General Kofi Annan of ethical misconduct, but has faulted him for serious management lapses, according to a preface made available on Tuesday. "The reality is that the secretary general has come to be viewed as the chief diplomatic and political agent of the United Nations," the preface of the study by an independent panel said. "In these turbulent times, those responsibilities tend to be all consuming. The record amply reflects consequent administrative failings."