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Volcker Explains His Rejection of Senate Interference in His Investigation
From National Review On Line, an excerpt from an article by Jed Babbin, author of Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe are Worse than You Think..... On November 9, [Senator Norm] Coleman [chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations [PSI]] and ranking minority member Carl Levin sent a letter to Kofi Annan asking for access to the documents in U.N. possession on Oil-for-Food (including some 55 internal audit reports) and interviews of key U.N. staffers. Among the staffers listed in the request were Benon Sevan, head of the Oil-for-Food program; John Almstrom, chief of its contracts-processing section; and Stephanie Scheer, who had been Sevan's deputy. That letter followed Annan's refusal of a similar request last September. On Tuesday, [Paul Clouseau] Volcker [chief of the UN's independent committee investigating the Food-for-Oil Program] replied for Annan [in fact Volcker replied for himself], turning Coleman and the PSI down flat. Volcker said that the U.N. wouldn't release any of its papers or make its people available to the Senate, effectively blocking Coleman's investigation. In a letter to Coleman, Volcker said, "The clear purpose is to avoid potentially misleading and incomplete information that could impair ongoing investigation, distort public perceptions and violate simple concerns of due process." He objected to U.N. officials' appearing before the Senate committee, writing, "For a U.N. official to appear before the subcommittee in the current highly charged environment would plainly risk ending prospects for their cooperation with our committee and with subsequent potential criminal investigations." The UN Spokesman's explanation is here. Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-11-19 |
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