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SHAFTED
At tough times in my life, with the landlord tossing my clothes and record collection out on to the street, I could have used an aunt like Benon Sevan’s. Asked to account for the appearance in his bank account of a certain $160,000, Mr Sevan, executive director of the UN Oil-for-Food programme, said it was a gift from his aunt. Lucky Sevan, eh? None of my aunts ever had that much of the folding stuff on tap.
And nor, it seems, did Mr Sevan’s. She lived in a modest two-room flat back in Cyprus and her own bank accounts gave no indication of spare six-figure sums. Nonetheless, if a respected UN diplomat says he got 160,000 bucks from Auntie, we’ll just have to take his word for it. Paul Volcker’s committee of investigation did plan to ask the old lady to confirm her nephew’s version of events, but, before they could, she fell down an elevator shaft and died.
Next under the Volckerscope is Kojo Annan:
Paul Volcker, the head of the independent investigation, confirmed the document search and told The Associated Press that new information had led investigators to delay publishing their findings about Annan’s son Kojo, whose activities have embroiled the U.N. chief in the growing scandal.
“There were things that came along that threw us back,” Volcker said in an AP interview.
I bet there were. Does Benny Sevan have any more rich aunts? He may need to shake ‘em down for legal fees:
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said yesterday he will seek to prosecute Benon Sevan, the former head of the U.N. oil-for-food program who was accused of corruption in an explosive report.
Morgenthau told The Post he plans to open a criminal probe into Sevan’s involvement in suspicious business oil deals between Saddam Hussein’s regime and a company run by a cousin of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Boutros Boutros says it’s nothing nothing to do with him him:
Former U.N. head Boutros Boutros-Ghali refused to take all the blame for Iraq’s scandal-tainted oil-for-food program on Saturday, pointing the finger at his successor Kofi Annan.
Don’t stand near any elevator shafts, Kofi.
As of right now, HaloScan.com has an ad on the left that has this image.
So, it’s not the fact that the program was corrupt, it’s the fact that it accomplished its goals despite said corruption. And they’re using our tax dollars to push this statement.
Why, exactly, are we in the UN again?
While I think someone should be making an attempt to prosecute Sevan, I’m not sure I believe that the State of NY (let alone NYC) plausibly has jurisdiction. At the very least, wouldn’t it have to be prosecuted in Federal Court by a US Attorney?
Posted by Steven Den Beste on 2005 02 06 at 04:35 AM • permalinkGood question, Steven. That would depend, I think, on which crimes he would be prosecuted for, and where those crimes were committed. If New York banking laws were broken in NYC by the Oil-For-Food scam, for example, Sevan might be prosecuted in New York.
It’s also possible that Robert Morgenthau was but the first person in line. There may be others.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 02 06 at 06:33 AM • permalinkAnother tidbit about the unsavory bureaucrat that is Benon Sevan.
It’s a shame Sydney Greenstreet isn’t around any more - he would be perfect to play Sevon in the movie.
I like how Kofi has promised to get to the bottom of the situation. It’s kind of like OJ promising to track down the real killer.
Posted by Art Vandelay on 2005 02 07 at 02:14 AM • permalinkSevan-is-Lyin’ or Seven-of-Nine…
Mr. Bingley, I’ll stick with Thirty-Seven of D . . .
Posted by Bruce Lagasse on 2005 02 07 at 03:23 AM • permalinkI am reluctant to conclude that the UN is damaged beyond repair, but these revelations certainly point in this direction.
The interim findings should come as no surprise, given what is already known about other significant scandals engulfing the organization.
Whatever safeguards presumably exist at the UN to prevent corruption on this scale have failed thoroughly.
This failure is a matter of urgent concern for this Committee as it considers various reform proposals
Source: U.S. Rep Henry J. Hyde (R-IL), Chairman of the House International Relations Committee
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Looks as if the UN is in need of aid; maybe they can siphon off some Tsunami money to pay to shift to Majorca.