Wizblog

The U.N. Stonewall Continues

So far it appears that Kofi Annan and the U.N. are doing the opposite of cooperating with the investigation into the multi-billion dollar Oil-For-Food corruption scandal. Letters have surfaced from U.N. officials to two major contractors to the program, telling them not to disclose internal audits and other documentation of their activities. Claudia Rosett reports;

...in the interval between March 19, when Mr. Annan finally conceded in the face of overwhelming evidence that the program might after all need investigating by independent experts, and April 21, when former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker was appointed to head to the investigation, Mr. Annan's office explicitly reminded these two crucial contractors, which worked for the Secretariat's Oil for Food program checking the imports and exports involved in more than $100 billion worth of Saddam's oil sales and relief imports, to keep quiet.