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Kofi Annan's role in oil-for-food scandal
 Kofi Annan's involvement in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal is to be investigated after it emerged the United Nations Secretary-General had a hand in some of the most controversial aspects of the discredited humanitarian program. Mr Annan, 66, the Ghanaian-born head of the UN and Nobel peace prize winner who is due to retire in 2006, is "co-operating" with the independent commission set up to look into the scandal. He has agreed to waive his diplomatic immunity and face legal action if any wrongdoing is uncovered. Whistleblowers and leaked documents have revealed Mr Annan played a key role in the design and operation of the scheme. Although there is no suggestion he personally benefited from the program, his actions may have helped others, including Saddam Hussein, to defraud the oil-for-food scheme. Set up by the UN in 1995, the scheme allowed Saddam to sell controlled amounts of oil to buy humanitarian supplies. However, it is now alleged that the scheme was abused by the Iraqi dictator to "buy" political influence around the world while pocketing billions of dollars. Iraqi government adviser Claude Hankes-Drielsma said yesterday: "The Secretary-General carries the ultimate responsibility for the scheme and the problems with it were repeatedly drawn to his attention, yet he chose to do nothing. Everyone who allowed this scheme to operate in the way it did is guilty, irrespective of whether they personally benefited." Mr Annan's involvement in the scheme began more than a decade ago when he was under-secretary-general of the UN and visited Baghdad to "alleviate the humanitarian situation" -- leading to the oil-for-food scheme being established. Throughout his tenure, Mr Annan repeatedly argued for the scope and size of the program to be expanded. Controversially, when the scheme was established, Saddam was allowed to determine who could trade Iraqi oil. This allowed him to "allocate" oil supplies to allies at knockdown prices -- the root cause of the subsequent scandal. After becoming Secretary-General in 1997, Mr Annan continued his close involvement with the scheme. Although it was technically overseen by the UN Security Council, its day-to-day operations were under the jurisdiction of Mr Annan. The man Mr Annan hired to run the program, Benon Sevan, who reported directly to him, is also under investigation for allegedly making more than $US1million ($1.34million) from selling Iraqi oil. He denies the accusations. Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-10-24 |
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