The Australian
March 29 2005
UN withdraws legal funds for oil-deal chief
David Nason, New York correspondent
March 30, 2005
THE UN has reversed its decision to pay the legal fees of former
oil-for-food chief Benon Sevan, saying it would be inappropriate to
reimburse the Armenian diplomat given the allegations of serious
misconduct against him over the scandal-ridden, multi-billion-dollar
program.
UN spokesman Fred Eckhard announced the turnaround as 59 former
American diplomats signed a letter urging the US Senate to reject
George W.Bush’s controversial nomination of John Bolton as the
nation’s next UN ambassador.
Writing to Senate foreign relations committee chairman Richard Lugar,
the ex-diplomats said the UN-bashing Mr Bolton could not be an
“effective promoter” of US interests at the world body and accused
him of undermining US efforts to improve national security through
arms control.
The bipartisan signatories included Arthur Hartman, who served the
Nixon, Carter and Reagan administrations; James Leonard, who was
deputy UN ambassador during the Ford and Carter presidencies; and
Princeton Lyman, who served the Reagan, Bush Sr and Clinton
administrations.
But the letter was overshadowed by the UN’s decision to withdraw all
legal funding for Mr Sevan, who has been accused of using his
position as head of the $67billion oil-for-food program to improperly
lobby for lucrative oil contracts on behalf of an associate.
The allegations were made on February 3 in an interim report of the
Paul Volcker-led inquiry into allegations of widespread corruption in
oil-for-food, a program that operated from 1996 to 2003 and allowed
Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to sell oil under UN supervision in exchange
for humanitarian goods.
At the time Mr Volcker, a former chairman of the US Federal Reserve,
said investigations would continue into Mr Sevan’s personal finances.
These are believed to include at least four expensive properties he
owns in New York city and upstate New York, along with some large
cash payments that Mr Sevan claims were gifts from an aunt in Cyprus,
who died after falling down a lift shaft before she could be
questioned.
Just last week Mr Eckhard said Mr Sevan’s legal fees up to February 3
would be reimbursed using funds from the $US1billion ($1.3billion)
management fee the UN took for running the program.
But it caused an outcry, with critics pointing out Mr Sevan’s legal
bills were being paid with funds from the same UN program he was
accused of rorting.
So yesterday Mr Eckhard, citing advice from the UN legal department,
did a turnaround.
It means Mr Sevan will receive no UN assistance except in the event
he is cleared of the allegations against him.
Mr Volcker was overnight due to release his second interim report
into oil-for-food, looking at the involvement of UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan and his son Kojo with a Swiss company contracted by the UN
to monitor humanitarian aid arriving in Iraq.
Mr Sevan could not be reached for comment last night. Mr Bolton, who
by convention is unable to speak until his UN nomination is endorsed
by the US Senate, did not return emails.