Volcker rips U.N. oil-for-food official

NEW YORK — An independent panel headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker yesterday accused the former head of the U.N. oil-for-food program of “a grave and continuing conflict of interest” and said his actions had seriously undermined the integrity of the United Nations.

U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan promptly announced that he had taken disciplinary action against the retired official, Benon Sevan, and a current U.N. employee named in the report, Joseph Stephanides.

Reaction to the report from Capitol Hill to Baghdad was largely exasperation and disappointment.

“The report indicates that the United Nations was simply not up to the task of managing such a vast operation in a transparent manner,” said Sen. Richard G. Lugar, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. “As this investigation moves forward, I expect that any individuals and companies identified as having participated in illegal activities will be brought to justice to the maximum extent possible, with the complete cooperation of their home governments.”

Illinois Republican Rep. Henry J. Hyde, who heads the House International Relations Committee, said, “I am reluctant to conclude that the U.N. is damaged beyond repair, but these revelations certainly point in this direction.”

His committee also is probing the scandal.

The interim report, which runs 219 pages plus annexes, has been anxiously awaited inside the United Nations and on Capitol Hill, which also is investigating the oil-for-food program for Iraq. The program was instituted to produce funds for needy Iraqis suffering under the burden of international sanctions.

Accusations about the $64 billion effort have drawn demands for Mr. Annan’s resignation, and have clouded the integrity of the United Nations, most clearly in Washington.

The investigation report said Mr. Sevan solicited oil allocations from Saddam Hussein’s regime on behalf of a trading company from 1998 to 2001, and it raised concerns that he might have received kickbacks for the help.

The report does not say how the former administrator profited, but it does say that he failed to account satisfactorily for $160,000 deposited into his bank account.

The Independent Inquiry Committee also outlined a widespread lack of U.N. oversight of the huge humanitarian program and said key contracts for banking and inspection services were not awarded in a way that meets “reasonable standards of fairness and transparency.”

“This is a painful episode in the life of the U.N.,” Mr. Volcker said.

“The most disturbing finding is that Benon Sevan did repeatedly solicit oil allocations for a small company called African Middle East Petroleum Co.,” Mr. Volcker told reporters in an overflowing hotel ballroom here. “The Iraqis certainly thought they were buying influence.”

Specifically, the panel found that in 1998, Mr. Sevan successfully lobbied the U.N. Security Council to allow Baghdad to expand the definition of humanitarian goods to include spare parts and improvements for the dilapidated oil infrastructure.

U.N. officials indicated last night that Mr. Sevan, who retired in November after 40 years with the United Nations, would be stripped of his diplomatic immunity as early as next week and vowed that he and others would not be shielded from national prosecutions.

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