THE ROT AT THE U.N.
NEW YORK Post Opinion
August 10, 2005
The dominoes at the United Nations are beginning to fall, but will the tumbling reach the end of the line?
The Independent Inquiry Commission headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker claimed one high-level scalp Monday and got set for another with the release of its latest report on the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food scandal.
No sooner was his diplomatic immunity lifted than Alexander Yakovlev, a top U.N. procurement officer, pled guilty in Manhattan federal court to charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and money-laundering. He faces 20 years in prison.
Based on the report, Yakovlev appears to have pocketed close to $1 million in illegal kickbacks. The money was funneled to an offshore account in Antigua from companies to which he had steered $79 million in U.N. contracts.
But the report's main focus was on what it called the "illicit activites" of Benon Sevan, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's overseer of the Oil-for-Food boondoggle. (Sevan is also being probed by Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau.)
According to the report, Sevan demanded a voucher from Iraq for 1.8 million barrels of oil on behalf of a company headed by his closest friend. The firm got an allocation for 7.3 million barrels and made $1.5 million in profit.
Sevan's records show $147,000 in cash deposits to his account corresponding with cash withdrawals from the company's Swiss bank accounts.
Sevan — whose legal fees have been paid by the United Nations — continues to maintain his innocence and to hint that he's being scapegoated.
He's right on one point: If the various investigations end with him and Yakovlev, then the whole affair will have been a whitewash of those really responsible for the world's worst political-financial scandal.
As for Kofi Annan, he insists that he should not be held accountable for the scandal — and, indeed, that his proposed "reforms" are the best hope for cleaning up the mess of corruption at Turtle Bay.
But Annan, who championed diplomatic moves that would have left Saddam Hussein in power, can't be let off the hook. Evidence continues to mount that he's been less than forthcoming about his role in the scandal — and, particularly, on the awarding of a lucrative contract awarded to a Swiss company for which his son was working.
Whether or not he bears any criminal responsibility, Kofi Annan oversaw a scandal of immense proportions that made a mockery of what the United Nations claimed was a humanitarian effort. Through the program, U.N. honchos, and other key international figures, seem to have lined their pockets and propped up Saddam Hussein's brutal regime.
As the old saw goes, the fish "stinks from the head." And the Oil-for-Food stench will remain pungent as long as the U.N.'s current head remains on the job.
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