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August 10, 2005

Volcker's Info-Quest Bearing Fruit

It looks like Paul Volcker's investigation into the U.N.'s Oil For Food quagmire is showing results, even to the arrest of one of the principal players. This WSJ editorial could not be more aptly titled than Oil For Fraud.



Oil for Fraud
Paul Volcker's latest report details the graft over which Kofi Annan presided.

Tuesday, August 9, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT


Imagine an American administration in which the Attorney General secretly derives nearly half his income from the Gambino crime family. Imagine, too, that this hypothetical AG is a longstanding confidant of the President. That is what Paul Volcker's investigation of the Oil for Food Program has now demonstrated was roughly the case with Kofi Annan's United Nations.

We are referring to the publication yesterday of Mr. Volcker's latest report on Oil for Food, which focuses chiefly on the activities of Benon Sevan, formerly executive director of the U.N.'s Office of Iraq Program, and Alexander Yakovlev, a U.N. procurement officer. Although the report contains few surprises, it shows in meticulous detail how Messrs. Sevan and Yakovlev benefitted to the tune of $150,000 and $950,000 respectively from various U.N. procurement-related schemes. In doing so, it provides a vivid picture of how Mr. Annan's U.N. "works."


 


Indeed. It's pretty cool the way this report arrived just in time for Bolton's arrival at the U.N., and the continuing disclosures on the graft that's been going on under Kofi Annan's auspices should give Bolton all the room he needs to point to reasons for cleaning up the U.N. The last thing Kofi can say is, "You don't fix what ain't broke." 


It'll be pretty interesting to see what comes out at Yakovlev's trial and, if Annan does revoke Benon Sevan's diplomatic status(sorry, no more diplomatic immunity for you, Frenchy!) we get to extradite him, what happens there, too. From what we know of French honor, Benan would roll over on his "longtime friend" Kofi in a heartbeat, if there's something to roll over about, in order to save his own skin.

Even now, the U.N.'s defenders like to paint Oil for Food as a great humanitarian effort slightly tarnished by a few overhyped instances of corruption. In fact, Oil for Food was a huge field of graft, helped by the fact that the man in charge of policing it was, based on the evidence Mr. Volcker has collected, in the service of the bad guys. Mr. Annan might think of this as yet another opportunity for "reform." If he's even remotely serious on that score, he can begin by reflecting a little harder on his own responsibility for the failures over which he, and nobody else, presided.


 


I'm looking forward to finding out what Volcker has to report in September.

Posted by Seth at August 10, 2005 02:11 AM

Comments

I just want to see how long a jail sentence he gets & who else is involved. Might be a good chance for Koffi & his son to get to know each other better.

Posted by: NYgirl at August 11, 2005 12:29 AM

They could share a cell and protect each other from Bubba and friends. :)

Posted by: Seth at August 11, 2005 03:31 AM