inside the glass house

Dirty money from Iraq: UN in the dock
NEW YORK - The presumption of innocence until proven guilty is one of the basic tenets of criminal law in the US. But all such legal niceties have been jettisoned by right-wing conservatives in the US news media who are lashing out at the United Nations over unproven charges that its now-defunct oil-for-food programme in Iraq reeked of corruption.

The charges of multi-million dollar kickbacks to UN officials who were in charge of the programme are so widespread that there are calls for resignations at the highest echelons of the UN Secretariat -- primarily on grounds of collective responsibility.

If the buck stops anywhere, they say, it has to be in the offices of Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the 38th floor of the glass house by the east river. The New York Times said on Friday that UN detractors had seized on the reports "to call into question the organisation's work in the Iraqi transition and Mr. Annan's fitness to remain in office."

The charges of corruption first surfaced several months ago in a Baghdad newspaper, which published the names of foreign businessmen, political leaders and even heads of state who were apparently privy to kickbacks received by the former Iraqi government.

According to published reports, nearly three-quarters of the suppliers of food and medicine jacked up their prices to pay a 10 percent kickback to Iraqis -- while UN officials turned a blind eye.

These suppliers included contractors from the Middle East, Europe and from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the US, Britain, France, China and Russia.

The American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported last week that Iraqi Oil Minister Amer Mohammed Rasheed has letters and documents that link three senior UN officials to the kickback scheme. So far, only one of them, Under-Secretary-General Benon Sevan, has been publicly named.

Sevan, who was the last UN official to head the programme, has denied the accusation that he received either "oil or oil monies from the former Iraqi regime." Right wing conservatives in the US -- who want the Bush administration to maintain its stranglehold on Iraq while opposing any transfer of power to the UN -- have reason to crucify the world body as a corrupt institution incompetent to administer Iraq.

The attacks on the UN are expected to escalate, as the date for the transfer of power -- June 30 -- gets closer. The allegations have forced Annan to name a three-member independent panel, led by Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the board of governors of the US Federal Reserve System, to investigate the charges.

"I think it is unfortunate that there have been so many allegations, and some of them are being handled as if they were facts, and that is why we need to have this investigation done,'' Annan told reporters. Asked what impact the allegations would have on the United Nations returning to a country where UN officials were accused of taking bribes from former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Annan retorted: "I think you are jumping the gun there, as to what Mr. Volcker will find".

The General Accounting Office (GAO), the watchdog arm of the US Congress, says Saddam Hussein's regime succeeded in "skimming" some $4.4 billion from the programme via transactions involving both sales and purchases. The GAO also estimated that an additional $5.7 billion worth of oil was smuggled out of Iraq outside the scheme.

The Secretary-General has also responded to the charge that one of the companies benefiting under the programme had employed his son, Kojo. Although he admitted that his son had worked for the Swiss company, Annan said: "I had nothing to do with the contracts committee" (which was responsible for doling out Iraqi contracts).

The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have said that the "scandal" surrounding the oil-for-food programme has challenged the "credibility" of the UN and made a mockery of its attempts to preach "good governance" and "transparency" to developing nations.

The programme was created in 1996 to relieve the economic hardships of Iraqis who had lived under economic sanctions since Saddam invaded neighbouring Kuwait in August 1990. Under the scheme, Iraqi oil revenues were used to buy much needed food, medicine and humanitarian supplies.

The operation, which has been described as the largest humanitarian programme ever undertaken by the UN, was monitored and supervised by a committee of the 15-member Security Council known as the United Nations-Iraq Sanctions Committee.

According to the UN, it oversaw the sale of $64.2 billion worth of Iraqi oil and the delivery of some $39 billion worth of humanitarian assistance to about 22 million Iraqis over a six-year period. Hans Von Sponeck of Germany, a former Assistant Secretary-General who himself managed the distribution of goods under the oil-for-food programme during 1998-2000, said the investigating panel should be able shed light on the extent to which this was the case, "if indeed it was." Until then, he said, "responsible journalism should refrain from passing judgment."

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