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| International-UN-NGOs |
| Ex-U.N. oil-for-food chief charged |
| 2007-01-16 |
| Tough choice: "UN" or "Lurid Crime Tales"... NEW YORK - The former United Nations oil-for-food chief was charged Tuesday with bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in the scandal-tainted humanitarian program. At the UN, it's "Scandal Tainted™". The charges against Benon Sevan, 69, of Nicosia, Cyprus, were contained in a rewrite of an indictment stemming from the scandal over the operation set up from 1996 to 2003 to permit the Iraqi government to sell oil primarily to buy food and medicine for suffering Iraqis. Looks like you'll have to keep using the stairs, Benon. There's probably an elevator shaft with your name on it. The program was designed to help Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions, but authorities said it was corrupted by bureaucrats, oil tycoons and Saddam Hussein after the former Iraqi leader was allowed to choose the buyers of Iraqi oil and the sellers of humanitarian goods. Sevan, who had worked for the U.N. for 40 years, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Federal and state prosecutors also announced the indictment of Ephraim Nadler, 79, of Manhattan, on the same charges. He helped a coconspirator obtain the right to buy Iraqi oil under the program in exchange for commissions from the oil sales and then funneled approximately $160,000 of these oil commissions to Sevan, the indictment said. Nadler is the brother-in-law of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said the United States has lodged warrants for the arrest of both men with Interpol and will seek their arrest and extradition to the United States. FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon said the indictment brings to 14 the number of individuals charged in the case. Since 2004, Sevan has been the subject of a U.N.-backed probe of fraud and waste in the $64 billion operation. Eric Lewis, a lawyer for Sevan, did not immediately return a telephone message for comment. In August 2005, a U.N.-appointed investigating committee pursuing claims of fraud and waste in the program accused Sevan of a conflict of interest in his handling of oil-for-food contracts. Sevan resigned from the U.N. that same month and returned to his native Cyprus. The U.N. investigating committee also accused him of accepting some $147,000 in kickbacks for steering the contracts to a company of his choice. Benon, they got you for chump change, man... On Feb. 22, South Korean businessman Tongsun Park is scheduled to be sentenced for his conviction on charges he accepted at least $2 million to serve Iraq's interests in the scandal. He could face up to five years in prison. Hey, Tongsun Park. The Zelig of international corruption... Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Miller told the jury in Park's trial last July that Park was part of a decade-long conspiracy to bring about the lifting of sanctions imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait and brought about the first Gulf War. Miller said Park used his relationship with former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to join an effort by Samir A. Vincent, an Iraqi-American, to earn the favor of Iraq and share as much as $45 million in windfall gains if the sanctions were lifted. Vincent, who testified against Park, has pleaded guilty to federal charges and is cooperating with the government. He testified that Park arranged meetings during 1993 with himself, Boutros-Ghali and Vincent. Miller told the jury that Park and Vincent arranged a 1993 meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, with Boutros-Ghali and Tariq Aziz, then Iraq's deputy foreign minister, and Barzan al-Tikriti, the half brother of Saddam who then was the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. I see Boutros-Boutrous mentioned here a lot. They gonna go after him? Yeah, I didn't think so... Several others accused in the conspiracy are awaiting trial, including Texas oilman Oscar S. Wyatt Jr., who has pleaded not guilty. Be a standup guy, Benon. Don't go against the family. Take it like a man... |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #1 I wonder if Ephraim Nadler is related to Congressman Gerald Nadler, D-NY. And where does Kofi's kid fit into this scandal tainting? |
| Posted by: Phineter Thraviger 2007-01-16 13:39 |