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Politics : How long will crazy Cindy fast? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (53)	7/3/2006 2:08:24 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 156

Volcker did not clear anyone. Why are you a pathological liar? Volcker: U.N. Scandal Exposes Corruption abcnews.go.com Fraud in the U.N. oil-for-food scheme for Iraq reached from French politicians to a former Vatican aide and name-brand companies, sending a sobering message about the state of global business, the chief investigator said after publishing his conclusions on what went awry. "There's a lot of corruption in the world," Paul Volcker told The Associated Press on Thursday, when he released his scathing final report on the 18-month investigation. The former Federal Reserve chairman's team found that more than 2,200 companies and individuals, or about half of all those involved in the humanitarian program, paid kickbacks and illegal surcharges to win lucrative contracts while Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein pocketed $1.8 billion at the expense of his people who were suffering under U.N. sanctions. But the report stressed that Saddam was able to keep filling his coffers primarily because of shoddy U.N. management and failures by the world's most powerful nations, which allowed the racket to go on for years. "What I do want to emphasize is that the corruption of the program by Saddam....could not have been nearly so pervasive had there been more disciplined management by the U.N. and its agencies," said Volcker. The report is almost certain to be followed by action on two fronts: national investigations and possible prosecutions of those named in the report and fresh efforts to reform the United Nations. Interim reports in Volcker's investigation have already led to criminal inquiries and indictments in the United States, Switzerland and France, and Volcker said his team would cooperate with legal actions in following up on his findings. Switzerland said Thursday it has launched a criminal investigation focusing on four people connected to the oil-for-food program. They were not identified.