UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced late on Friday an independent "high-level" probe into possible corruption and mismanagement in the UN-administered Iraqi oil-for-food program.
Annan has been under pressure to conduct an investigation from Iraqi leaders as well as the US officials searching for former president Saddam Hussein's hidden assets.
The UN has begun an in-house probe of its own staff. But Annan said it was now necessary to establish an "independent high-level inquiry to investigate the allegations relating to the administration and management of the program, including allegations of fraud and corruption."
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Annan said that for any investigation to be thorough and effective, support was necessary from the council, which supervised the program that began in December 1996 and ended last year.
The plan involved oil companies paying revenues to a UN escrow account while the UN paid suppliers of goods Iraq bought. Its purpose was to ease the impact of 1991 Gulf War sanctions on ordinary Iraqis.
Annan's letter said allegations in the media, whether or not they are well-founded "must be taken seriously and addressed forth-rightly, in order to bring to light the truth and prevent an erosion of trust and hope that the international community has invested in the organization."
A comprehensive probe, UN officials said, would need support from council members to investigate the middle men who bought the oil, companies that supplied civilian goods and the French bank BNP-Paribas, which handled a UN-Iraqi account.
The US General Accounting Office (GAO) is trying to locate and seize US$10 billion to US$40 billion in estimated hidden Iraqi assets.
Of this amount, the GAO in a report on Thursday charged that Saddam acquired US$5.7 billion from the proceeds of oil smuggled through Syria, Jordan, Turkey and elsewhere.
The Burmese junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son said he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing. In an interview in Tokyo earlier this week, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held incommunicado in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after a 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government and sparked a civil war. She is serving a
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
‘NO AMNESTY’: Tens of thousands of people joined the rally against a bill that would slash the former president’s prison term; President Lula has said he would veto the bill Tens of thousands of Brazilians on Sunday demonstrated against a bill that advanced in Congress this week that would reduce the time former president Jair Bolsonaro spends behind bars following his sentence of more than 27 years for attempting a coup. Protests took place in the capital, Brasilia, and in other major cities across the nation, including Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Salvador and Recife. On Copacabana’s boardwalk in Rio de Janeiro, crowds composed of left-wing voters chanted “No amnesty” and “Out with Hugo Motta,” a reference to the speaker of the lower house, which approved the bill on Wednesday last week. It is
RSS