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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: unclewest who wrote (112841)	5/8/2005 3:24:04 PM
From: KLP	Respond to of 793846

Strong denies part in UN oil-for-food scandal [KLP Note: Does this have anything to do with Volker's statement and reluctance to have the US Congress have the reports? My guess is yes.] Last Updated Wed, 20 Apr 2005 08:06:03 EDT CBC News cbc.ca UNITED NATIONS - Maurice Strong, a prominent Canadian businessman and trusted adviser to Prime Minister Paul Martin, has acknowledged having ties to a South Korean man charged in the United Nations oil-for-food scandal. INDEPTH: Oil-for-food program cbc.ca Maurice Strong outside the Security Council room at U.N. headquarters in New York, in 2003. (AP photo) Strong issued a statement Monday confirming that in 1997, Tongsun Park invested "on a normal commercial basis in an energy company with which I was associated that had no relationship with Iraq." He did not name the company. Strong, who is UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's envoy to North Korea, also said Park continues to advise him on North Korean issues. Park was charged last week with being an unregistered agent for Iraq in the United States during the 1990s. At the time, the country was under international sanctions for starting the 1991 Gulf War by invading Kuwait. FROM APRIL 14, 2005: Texan, 3 others charged in oil-for-food scandal cbc.ca cbc.ca In an indictment that was unsealed Friday, U.S. prosecutors said Park received millions from the Iraqi government to bribe UN officials in a scheme to undermine the oil-for-food program. They also said Park invested $1 million in a Canadian company set up by the son of a senior UN official, whom they did not name, in either 1997 or 1998. Park has also been linked to former secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali. 'No involvement,' Strong insists In Monday's statement, Strong denied any part in the scandal that saw money diverted from humanitarian aid in Iraq to pay millions in kickbacks to former leader Saddam Hussein's regime. "Having served UN secretaries general since 1970 in several advisory and executive capacities, I have had no involvement or connection whatsoever with the UN's Iraqi oil-for-food program or any other of its Iraqi activities," the statement said. Strong is known as "Mr. UN" and is rumoured to be interested in the world body's top job when Annan leaves. FROM DEC. 3, 2003: Canadian environmentalist Maurice Strong wins U.S. science medal cbc.ca He is also one of the world's most respected environmental voices, organizing the first UN Earth Summit in Stockholm in 1972 and heading the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. A former head of Ontario Hydro and PetroCanada, Strong gave the young Paul Martin his first major job. In 1966, fresh out of university, Martin accepted a job with Strong's Power Corp. and moved to Montreal. Strong wants to 'remove the cloud' UN officials say Strong is in the Dominican Republic recovering from an illness and cannot be reached for interviews. He is offering to make himself available to the Volcker Commission looking into the scandal and to U.S. prosecutors to "remove the cloud as soon as possible," however. Park is believed to be in hiding in Japan. Reports emerging from Tokyo over the weekend said he is trying to arrange a deal with U.S. officials to trade what he knows about UN corruption in return for immunity from prosecution.