France's former U.N. ambassador has been taken into custody as part of an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in the Iraq oil-for- food program, judicial officials said Tuesday. Jean-Bernard Merimee, 68, who also was ambassador to Italy from 1995- 98 and to Australia in the 1980s, is suspected of having received kickbacks in the form of oil allocations from the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. He was also a special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan from 1999 to 2002. Merimee was taken into custody on Monday, and is expected to be presented Wednesday to the judge leading the probe, the officials said on condition of anonymity because French law does not allow disclosure of information from judicial investigations.
Merimee was France's permanent representative to the U.N. from 1991- 95. He was one of the world body's most prominent diplomats, in part because France occupies one of five permanent seats on the powerful U.N. Security Council. The oil-for-food program was established in 1996 to provide food, medical supplies and other humanitarian goods for millions of Iraqis trying to cope with U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The program ended with the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Merimee worked as a special adviser to Annan from 1999 to 2002, helping to create a system by which the European Commission disbursed payments to the United Nations. | From one corrupt organization to another |
Annan spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the U.N. would not comment on the specifics of the case. "We have made it clear that we support the efforts of national authorities who wish to pursue proceedings into activities of their own nationals who may or may not have been involved in the oil-for- food program," Dujarric said.
The French mission to the United Nations promised to cooperate with the investigation into Merimee. A spokesman said the mission's papers from Merimee's time at the U.N. had long since been sent back to the national archives in Paris and that there had been no request so far to meet with staff in New York.
Saddam manipulated the program under a scheme by which he essentially sold oil at a reduced rate to favored buyers, who could then turn around and sell the oil at a hefty profit. Ten French officials and business leaders _ including a former adviser to former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua _ are suspected of having received oil allocations as kickbacks from Saddam's regime. |