Scumbag at center of UN Oil for Food scam is kept on the payroll indefinitely to extend diplomatic immunity
Mr Sevan’s name was among 270 individuals and companies to appear on a list of recipients who allegedly skimmed at least £5.5 billion from the oil-for-food scheme. Documents found in the Iraqi oil ministry since Saddam’s fall suggest that Mr Sevan secretly received vouchers to sell 14.3 million barrels of oil, which would have yielded an illicit profit of £2 million. When asked about Mr Sevan’s whereabouts in recent weeks, the UN would say only that he was on holiday, pending his retirement in June at the age of 66. He is due to receive a £55,000 annual pension after serving the UN for 40 years.
Now, however, those plans have changed. According to UN officials contacted by The Sunday Telegraph last week, Mr Sevan will stay in office to co-operate with the inquiry by the former US Treasury Secretary, Paul Volcker. In the deal struck with Mr Annan, Mr Sevan will continue for the next three months and be paid a token $1 (55p) a year as a consultant, while continuing to enjoy diplomatic immunity. "We could extend it again, because Mr Sevan has assured us that he will co-operate fully with the inquiry," said a spokesman for the UN secretariat. Mr Sevan’s office, however, was criticised last week for sending at least three letters to potential witnesses demanding their silence. |