U.N. Officials Cited in Oil-For-Food Case

While Kofi Annan tries to deflect the blame for the oil-for-food scandal from himself to the US and UK, A US indictment of a South Korean businessman in this scandal, cites two high ranking UN officials as well. This is definitely more bad news for Annan and the UN. Read more about this in this AP report.

"The reported involvement of the two unidentified U.N. officials was likely to cast a new shadow on the world body, which has spent more than a year trying to get to the bottom of allegations of massive corruption in the $64 billion humanitarian program that was aimed at helping Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions.

The complaint calling for an arrest warrant against Tonsun Park was made public at the same time as an indictment charging a Texas oil company owner and two oil traders from Britain and Bulgaria with paying millions of dollars in secret kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime to secure oil deals."

Looks like Annan's attempt to incite the blame America first crowd is going to fall flat. Annan had best be trying to explain how this all happened on his watch as well as explain his son's involvemnet.

"Volcker and the leaders of his inquiry say their final report - expected in midsummer - will likely lead to dozens of criminal prosecutions by legal authorities in various countries for bribery, sanctions busting, money laundering and fraud.

The U.S. Attorney's office in New York has already gotten one guilty plea. On Jan. 18, Samir A. Vincent, 64, an Iraqi-born American businessman accused of skimming money from the program, admitted to being an illegal agent of Saddam's government."

It will be interesting to see what spin will be placed on the final Volker Report when it is released. It will also be interesing to see which UN officials and/or their relatives are named as well.

"Park told the government witness in 1997 or 1998 that he had invested about $1 million that he had gotten from Iraq in a Canadian company established by the son of "U.N. Official 2," though the company failed and the money was lost.

The agent also said the cooperating witness wrote a letter to Iraqi government officials in July 1997 to say that he and Park were splitting funds the Iraqi government was forwarding, but that both groups were supposed to "take care" of "U.N. Official No. 1.""

It makes one wonder who these UN officials are.

The scandal plagued UN gets deeper and deeper into the cesspool. This is the status quo the dems in the Senate are trying to protect by attempting to blcok theBolton nomination. It makes absolutely no sense to me. Some one needs to tell the UN emporer that he has no clothes on and Bolton is just the man to do it. - Sailor