UN: Benon Sevan, former head of the United Nations' Iraqi oil-for-food programme, took almost $150,000 (€121,376) in illicit oil-related cash payments in concert with two Egyptian businessmen, the UN's independent inquiry alleged yesterday.
The findings came a day after Mr Sevan resigned, insisting it was not credible he would have compromised his career for such a sum.
The inquiry committee - chaired by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve - also said it would continue to investigate evidence that raised questions about how much Kofi Annan, UN secretary general, knew of efforts by Cotecna, which employed Mr Annan's son, Kojo, to win a UN inspection contract. Mr Volcker said he would ask the secretary general to strip Mr Sevan of his immunity from prosecution.
The committee said it had traced the trail of proceeds from African Middle East Petroleum's (Amep) sale of about 7.3 million barrels of Iraqi oil to a Swiss bank account controlled by Fred Nadler, a friend of Mr Sevan.
It says about $257,500 (€208,000) in cash withdrawals were made from this account between late 1998 and late 2001, during periods when Mr Sevan and/or Mr Nadler were in Geneva and preparing to return to New York. These withdrawals were soon followed by cash deposits totalling $147,184 to the bank accounts of Mr Sevan and his spouse in New York, the committee said.
"On the basis of available evidence, the report concludes that Mr Sevan corruptly benefited from his request and receipt of Iraqi oil allocations, and that Mr Nadler and Abdelnour [Amep's head] financially benefited from and assisted in Mr Sevan's corrupt activity."
The panel added that Mr Sevan and Mr Abdelnour had stopped co-operating with the inquiry, while Mr Nadler had declined to respond to any of the committee's requests.
A previous report said both Mr Nadler and Mr Abdelnour were related to former UN secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali. But the latest findings should not be "construed as an opinion that other members of the Sevan or Nadler families acted in a way that was wrong or improper", the committee said.
Mr Sevan has expressed disappointment at Mr Annan's "expedient abandonment" of him "in the face of a politically motivated investigation". He said he would not have compromised his career for so little. But the report notes that "from mid-1997 through November 1998 the Sevans' finances were frequently stretched thin from the monthly burden of funding two residences, debt obligations, credit card charges, and related living expenses". During the period of alleged corruption, their situation improved, with regular deposits to their accounts. - (Financial Times Service)