Ex-U.N. oil-for-food chief charged
Associated Press
01-16-2007
By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer
The former United Nations oil-for-food chief was charged Tuesday with
bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in the
scandal-tainted humanitarian program.
The charges against Benon Sevan, 69, of Nicosia, Cyprus, were
contained in a rewrite of an indictment stemming from the scandal over
the operation set up from 1996 to 2003 to permit the Iraqi government
to sell oil primarily to buy food and medicine for suffering Iraqis.
The program was designed to help Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions, but
authorities said it was corrupted by bureaucrats, oil tycoons and
Saddam Hussein after the former Iraqi leader was allowed to choose the
buyers of Iraqi oil and the sellers of humanitarian goods.
Sevan, who had worked for the U.N. for 40 years, has repeatedly denied
wrongdoing.
Federal and state prosecutors also announced the indictment of Ephraim
Nadler, 79, of Manhattan, on the same charges. He helped a
coconspirator obtain the right to buy Iraqi oil under the program in
exchange for commissions from the oil sales and then funneled
approximately $160,000 of these oil commissions to Sevan, the
indictment said. Nadler is the brother-in-law of former
U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
The name of Nadler’s attorney was not immediately available.
U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said the United States has lodged
warrants for the arrest of both men with Interpol and will seek their
arrest and extradition to the United States.
FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon said the indictment brings to
14 the number of individuals charged in the case.
Since 2004, Sevan has been the subject of a U.N.-backed probe of fraud
and waste in the $64 billion operation.
Eric Lewis, a lawyer for Sevan, did not immediately return a telephone
message for comment.
In August 2005, a U.N.-appointed investigating committee pursuing
claims of fraud and waste in the program accused Sevan of a conflict
of interest in his handling of oil-for-food contracts. Sevan resigned
from the U.N. that same month and returned to his native Cyprus.
The U.N. investigating committee also accused him of accepting some
$147,000 in kickbacks for steering the contracts to a company of his
choice.
On Feb. 22, South Korean businessman Tongsun Park is scheduled to be
sentenced for his conviction on charges he accepted at least $2
million to serve Iraq’s interests in the scandal. He could face up to
five years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Miller told the jury in Park’s trial
last July that Park was part of a decade-long conspiracy to bring
about the lifting of sanctions imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait
and brought about the first Gulf War.
Miller said Park used his relationship with former
U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to join an effort by
Samir A. Vincent, an Iraqi-American, to earn the favor of Iraq and
share as much as $45 million in windfall gains if the sanctions were
lifted.
Vincent, who testified against Park, has pleaded guilty to federal
charges and is cooperating with the government. He testified that Park
arranged meetings during 1993 with himself, Boutros-Ghali and Vincent.
Miller told the jury that Park and Vincent arranged a 1993 meeting in
Geneva, Switzerland, with Boutros-Ghali and Tariq Aziz, then Iraq’s
deputy foreign minister, and Barzan al-Tikriti, the half brother of
Saddam who then was the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations in
Geneva.
Several others accused in the conspiracy are awaiting trial, including
Texas oilman Oscar S. Wyatt Jr., who has pleaded not guilty.
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