The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 26, 2005, Page 5, Image 5
Investigators question Annan
over Iraqi oil-for-food scandal
By NICK WADHAMS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED NATIONS - Investigators
probing allegations of impropriety in the
United Nations’ Iraqi oil-for-food
program questioned Secretary-General
Kofi Annan about his involvement twice
last year and again Tuesday, a U.N.
spokesman said.
Annan met with former Fed Chairman
Paul Volcker and his investigators Nov. 9
and again Dec. 3, spokesman Fred
Eckhard said. A third meeting took place
Tuesday afternoon, but Volcker, who
spoke to reporters as he left the United
Nations, would not give details.
Volcker’s panel had been expected to
release a preliminary report in late January,
but he said Tuesday it would come out in
early February. “We’re going to have a
report shortly,” he said. “All I can tell you
is wait for the report to come out.”
The Independent Inquiry Committee
is investigating whether U.N.
administrators took bribes and allowed
Saddam Hussein to skim money from the
oil-for-food program. Begun in December
1996, the program allowed Saddam’s
regime to sell unlimited quantities of oil
on condition the money went primarily to
buy food, medicine and other
humanitarian goods for Iraqis and pay
reparations to victims of the Gulf War.
Tuesday was the first time U.N.
officials confirmed Annan had met with
Volcker’s panel.
“The secretary-general is part of the
investigation, is a subject like anyone
else involved in oil-for-food at the
secretariat,” Eckhard said.
One element of the investigation is
Annan’s son Kojo, who worked in Africa
for a Swiss company that had a contract
under the oil-for-food program. Kojo
Annan, who denies any involvement in
wrongdoing, received payments for
more than four years after his job ended.
It was not immediately known if the
U.N. chief discussed his son during his
meetings with Volcker and other
investigators. Eckhard said the November
meeting lasted more than 1 1/2 hours and
the second about 25 minutes.
A report in October by top U.S. arms
inspector Charles Duelfer said Saddam
was able to “subvert” the $60 billion
program to generate an estimated $1.7
billion in revenue outside U.N. control
from 1997 to 2003.
Saddam also raked in more than $8
billion from illicit oil deals with Jordan,
Syria, Turkey and Egypt, according to
U.S. congressional investigators.
The report alleged Saddam issued
secret vouchers for the purchase of Iraqi
oil to U.N. officials and an array of
officials and political figures from various
countries — especially France, Russia and
China — reportedly to curry favor with
key Security Council members. Thar oil
could then be resold at a profit.
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