UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A yearlong investigation of the U.N. oil-for-food program issued a strong indictment of the United Nations and its top leadership Wednesday, concluding they tolerated corruption and allowed Saddam Hussein's government to pocket $10.2 billion.Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the findings ``deeply embarrassing to all of us'' and said he accepted the criticism leveled at him personally. But he said he had no intention of resigning.
| "No, no, certainly not!" |
| New rules, old bosses. A sure-fire formula for respect. |
``In essence, the responsibility for the failures must be broadly shared, starting, we believe, with member states and the Security Council itself,'' he said.
The powerful 15-member council came in for stinging criticism because its main oil-for-food committee often ignored evidence of corruption, while some council members condoned oil smuggling to Iraq's neighbors.
The report does not say why the corruption was overlooked but notes that Russia was one of the nations that long blocked efforts to probe the claims. Russian companies were heavily involved in oil-for-food and the country was a leading proponent of lifting the U.N. sanctions.
| What's two plus two again? |
The report criticized the almost total lack of oversight of the program by the secretary-general and Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette, who was the direct boss of Benon Sevan, the program's executive director now being investigated for allegedly accepting kickbacks. It issued ``adverse findings'' against all three. ``No one seemed clearly in command,'' Volcker said, and the report gives meticulous accounts of Annan, Frechette and others dodging responsibility.
Nonetheless, an outside review commissioned by the committee concluded that the oil-for-food program ``reversed a serious and deteriorating food crisis,'' thereby preventing hunger and deaths from malnutrition. The program also helped keep Saddam from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, the report said.
| First time I've ever heard anyone say that. |
Lax oversight allowed Saddam's regime to pocket $1.8 billion in kickbacks in the awarding of contracts during the program's operation from 1997-2003, the committee said. The smuggling of Iraqi oil outside the oil-for-food program in violation of U.N. sanctions poured much more money - $8.4 billion - into Saddam's coffers during the same period, it said. Saddam also violated U.N. sanctions before the oil-for-food program started, illegally selling oil to Jordan, with the acquiescence of the United States and other Security Council members, and pocketing an additional $2.6 billion, the report said.
``This estimate of illicit incomes - $12.8 billion - sets out in quantitative terms the consequences of the United Nations' failure to properly oversee the program and maintain the integrity of the sanctions regime,'' the committee said.
After Volcker addressed the council, the 15 members gave their preliminary reactions. Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie, who was also invited to respond, said the Iraqi people ``for various reasons ... were robbed of a great deal of what was theirs by right.''
| And so far, no one who's pocketed any of the money has been asked to return it. |
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said ``the U.S. may or may not agree with all of the findings,'' but everyone can agree ``there was corruption both inside and outside the U.N. system.'' The most important thing now is to use the oil-for-food shortcomings ``as a catalyst for change,'' he said. ``This report unambiguously rejects the notion that business as usual at the United Nations is acceptable,'' Bolton said. ``We need to reform the U.N. in a manner that will prevent another oil-for-food scandal. The credibility of the United Nations depends on it.''
While the report focused primarily on management, it again addressed the most damaging allegations against Annan and reaffirmed previous findings of insufficient evidence that he knew about an oil-for-food contract awarded to a company which employed his son, Kojo. Neither was there any evidence to demonstration that he interfered in the contract won by the Swiss company, Cotecna. It reiterated that Annan did not sufficiently investigate conflicts of interest involving his son.
| "You have to be more careful next time, son!" "Yes, father dear." |