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| W Safire: Kofigate Gets Going | |
| 2004-07-13 | |
| via NYT - EFL Login: crappy88 / crappy By WILLIAM SAFIRE - Published: July 12, 2004 All our July chin-pulling about polls and veeps and C.I.A. missteps has little to do with November’s election, which will be decided by unforeseeable events. Instead, let’s counter-program, to examine a political corruption story beginning to gain traction that will reach warp speed in hearings and headlines next spring. At least eight official investigations have begun into the largest financial rip-off in history: preliminary estimates from the G.A.O. point to $10 billion skimmed or kicked back or otherwise stolen in the U.N. dealings with Saddam Hussein. Seeking to manage the news of the scandal, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed former Fed chairman Paul Volcker to head an internal investigation. That seemed to slam the door on U.N. cooperation with truly independent inquiries, but Volcker last week announced that "appropriate memorandums of understanding with a number of official investigatory bodies are in place or in negotiation." To overcome criticism like mine of his committee’s lack of subpoena power or ability to take testimony under oath, Volcker has hooked up with Robert Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, who has been prosecuting two men in an unrelated distressed debt case at BNP Paribas; that’s the French bank the U.N. used for its oil-for-food letters of credit. That grand old prosecutor has a staff skilled at following money and has sitting grand juries available to encourage truth-telling. ...more... Perhaps the cesspool will be drained.
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| Posted by:.com |
| #2 since many of the members of the UN are corrupt, there is little reason the UN will be cleaned up the more interesting question is whether Kerry/ Edwards can evade answering any serious questions about this issue (I think they will - if anyone asks they will say 'investigation under way - too early to comment' or if there will be any serious big media coverage of this |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-07-13 4:44:20 PM |
| #1 Perhaps the cesspool will be drained. Don't bet on it. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-07-13 9:24:32 AM |