BBC News
Aug 8 2005

34.stm

Profile: Benon Sevan

Benon Sevan headed the oil-for-food programme from 1997
As former director of the UN’s oil-for-food programme, Benon Sevan is
now caught up in the scandal surrounding the programme for Iraq.
The 67-year-old’s resignation on Sunday ahead of expected allegations
of corruption brings to an end four decades of service with the UN.

Posted to some of the world’s major hotspots, Mr Sevan, who was born
in Nicosia and is of Armenian ancestry, has had a string of key
positions.

In 1988, he was sent to Afghanistan and Pakistan as a special
adviser, monitoring the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan after
nearly a decade of conflict.

The charges are false and you, who have known me all these years,
should know they are false

Benon Sevan

Q&A: Oil-for-food

The following year, he was promoted to assistant secretary general
and the secretary general’s personal envoy to the region, later
heading the humanitarian effort there.

He had also worked extensively in the Middle East, before being
appointed head of the oil-for-food programme in 1997.

In 1985, he was sent on special mission to examine the fate of
prisoners on both sides in the Iran-Iraq war.

And from 1992, as well as his other duties, Mr Sevan served as the
special envoy for missing persons in the Middle East.

Danger postings

His first senior posting to a trouble spot came soon after he joined
the UN Secretariat in 1965.

Mr Sevan was caught up in the UN HQ bombing in Baghdad

>From the end of 1968 to the summer of 1969, he served as an observer
of the controversial final stage of the decolonisation of West Irian
(now Irian Jaya) and its incorporation into Indonesia.

He subsequently worked for two years on the UN development fund for
the region.

And Mr Sevan’s work as the oil-for-food boss also brought danger,
with the official halfway through a televised news conference at the
UN headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August 2003 when a truck bomb
devastated the building, killing 22 people.

The UN special envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was among the
dead.

Mr Sevan, speaking at a ceremony in Baghdad as Mr Mello’s body was
about to be flown out, quoted a US soldier who said the envoy, dying
under the rubble, had told him: “Don’t let them pull the mission
out.”

Oil-for-food accusations

The oil-for-food programme was wound up at the end of 2003, and Mr
Sevan retired in May 2004.

By that time, he had agreed to continue on the UN payroll on a salary
of $1 a year and co-operate with the investigation into corruption in
the programme.

In February, an interim report by Paul Volcker’s panel into the
scandal said Mr Sevan had tried to allocate oil sales from Iraq.

Payments of $160,000, which Mr Sevan said came from his aunt in
Cyprus, have been questioned. The bureaucrat has said the notion he
would risk his career over such a sum when he was administering
billions is incredible.

His resignation ends 40 years of a plethora of roles within the UN,
which also included appointments in the 1990s as deputy head of the
Department of Political Affairs, and assistant secretary general in
the Department of Administration and Management, in charge of the
restructuring of the UN.

Mr Sevan was educated at the Melkonian Institute in Cyprus, and then
studied history and philosophy at Columbia University in New York,
eventually doing a post-graduate degree at the school of
international and public affairs there.

He is married and has a daughter.

Azeri, Georgian leaders reportedly discuss opposition activist’s arrest

Yeni Musavat, Baku
8 Aug 05

Text of M. Hacibayli’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni Musavat on
8 August headlined “Are Aliyev and Saakashvili in talks?” and
subheaded “President reportedly asked his Georgian counterpart for
softening an expected statement on the Basirli incident”

Official Tbilisi will comment on a claim of the Azerbaijani
Prosecutor’s Office that the Armenian special services have allegedly
recruited Ruslan Basirli, a citizen of Azerbaijan [and leader of the
Yeni Fikir youth movement], in Georgia.

The Georgian special services have already launched a relevant
investigation into the incident. It is expected that a relevant
statement will be issued soon.

According to unofficial information we obtained from diplomatic
sources, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Georgian
counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, had twice telephone conversations
over the Ruslan Basirli incident.

Saakashvili first telephoned Aliyev to get additional information
about the statement issued by the Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General’s
Office. Second time Aliyev telephoned his Georgian counterpart and
asked him to relatively soften Georgia’s expected statement on the
incident. Aliyev also came up against damaging the ties between the
two countries over this incident.

Arrested Azeri youth leader’s father complains of persecution

Turan news agency
8 Aug 05

BAKU

“Everything being said about Ruslan Basirli is a lie and slander,”
says Calil Basirli, father of the arrested leader of the Yeni Fikir [
New Thought] youth movement, Ruslan Basirli.

At a news conference on Saturday [6 August], he said a provocation had
been staged against his son. The footage shown on television is a
montage. The purpose of all this is to discredit the opposition youth
movement in Azerbaijan.

Calil Basirli dismissed the pro-government media reports suggesting
that his son had allegedly evaded military service.

“My son served his duty in the zone of military action
[Azerbaijani-Armenian contact line]. In fact, he volunteered for the
service and retired into the reserve in the rank of a senior
lieutenant,” his father said.

Calil Basirli added that other members of the family had come under
persecution after Ruslan’s arrest. For instance, their house in Zardab
District [central Azerbaijan] had been stoned at the behest of local
officials.

It is curious that Calil Basirli himself is a member of the ruling
party. He said he was against his son’s engaging in politics. He also
dismissed rumours that the family was related to the PFAP [People’s
Front of Azerbaijan Party] leader, Ali Karimli.

CENN – August 8, Daily Digest
Table of Contents:
1. Protectors of Environment Argue with BP
2. The level of Poverty Raised by 3 Percent
3. Small Electric Power Station to be Built in Armenia
4.. Discussion of “Millennium Challenges” Program Pass Successfully
5.. Greenhouse effect could melt nearly all world’s glaciers, says
UN-backed report
6.. EIA Reports
7.. Electronic Conference on: Climate Change and Biodiversity
Conservation

1. Protectors of Environment Argue with BP

Source: “24 Saati” (“24 Hours”), July 30, 2005

Association “Green Alternative” has issued report on implementation of
Bako-Tbilisi-Jeihan Pipeline Construction. Report regards all the
violations that were disclosed by monitoring group in the last year
during construction. “During construction company caused great damage,
even – the damage of roads, irrigation channels and houses. Problems
were raised in the regions where the main income of population was
tourism. For example, in village Cemi due to drinking water pollution
holiday season was disrupted twice,” – declared head of “Green
Alternative” Manana Kocladze. Association “Green Alternative” demands
from Georgian Government report, which will elucidate how 40 million USA
dollars gave by “British Petroleum” were spent. As head of “Green
Alternative” declares in October 2004 “British Petroleum” transferred
this 40 million USA dollars to Georgian Government as grant to invest in
social and economic projects. In the contract signed between the
government and “British Petroleum” it is mentioned that all the
operations regarding this money should be transparent for community. “In
April of 2005 our organization demanded form the government and company
to issue information to make clear what projects were financed form this
grant. Since April we are waiting for replay. It must be investigated on
what basis private company transferred money to the government,” said
Manana Kochaldze.

2. The level of Poverty Raised by 3 Percent

“24 saaTi”(“24 Hours”), August 1, 2005

In Georgia the level of poverty have been raised by 3 percent. In
accordance with the Department of Statistics, in 2004 the level of
poverty was 16.9 percent. In 2002-2003 years this parameter was 16.3
percent. In accordance with the evaluation of the experts of Statistics
Department, in country the level of poverty raises rather slowly.

The highest level of poverty among the regions is characterized for
Qvemo Qartli and the lowest level – Imereti and Tbilisi.

3. SMALL ELECTRIC POWER STATIONS TO BE BUILT IN ARMENIA

Source: PanArmenian.Net. August 3, 2005

Within next few years small electric power stations with a capacity of
70 megawatt will be built in Armenia, RA Deputy Energy Minister Areg
Galstian stated. In his words, investments totaling in $70 million will
be made. At that the investments will be private. Various funds will be
formed for the creation renewable energy sources. The World Bank, the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, KfW Bank and
Kafeschian Foundation showed interest in the project. To remind, June 4
during a press conference in Yerevan World Bank Regional Vice President
for Europe and Central Asia, Shigeo Katsu stated that till end 2005 a
$10-million credit program for renewable energy sources will be launched
in Armenia jointly with the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, UN Ecology Foundation and a number of local financial
institutes. The funds will be also spent on the investigation of the
possibility of using wing energy for electric power processing. The cost
of the program can go up to $15 million, Express agency reports.

4. DISCUSSIONS OF “MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES” PROGRAM PASS
SUCCESSFULLY

Source: ARMENPRESS, August 4, 2005

This year the qualification round of the “Millennium Challenges” program
will end and afterwards the negotiations over preparation of the
agreement will launch, Tigran Khachatrian, deputy finance minister, told
at a press conference.

He said within the frameworks of the program a group of experts from US
arrived in Armenia to assess the separate points of the program from
qualification viewpoint. At present the effectiveness of the points is
being discussed i.e. whether they will secure economic growth and
promote the poverty reduction.

T. Khachatrian said the discussion of the program is going on
successfully and added that they have reached positive response over two
major points which are connected with the construction of community
roads and ensuring water supply. The two issues have been assessed as
important factors for securing economic growth and promoting poverty
reduction in Armenia. The deputy minister also noted that the first real
investments in the program will be made in 2007.

5. Greenhouse effect could melt nearly all world’s glaciers,
says UN-backed report

Source: UN news center, 4 August 2005

Dramatic scenarios from man-made global warming can no longer be
excluded, including the complete disappearance of glaciers from entire
mountain ranges, leading to processes “without precedent in the history
of the earth,” according to the latest update of a five-yearly United
Nations-supported report.

“The last five-year period of the 20th century has been characterized by
an overall tendency of continuous if not accelerated glacier melting,”
says the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) 1995-2000 edition of
the Fluctuations of Glaciers report, complied with the support of the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP).

“The two decades [from] 1980-2000 show a trend of increasingly negative
balances with average annual ice thickness losses of a few decimeters,”
it adds. “The observed trend of increasingly negative mass balances is
consistent with accelerated global warming.”

Analysis of repeated inventories shows that glaciers in the European
Alps have lost more than 50 per cent of their volume since the middle of
the 19th century, and that a further loss of roughly one fourth the
remaining volume is estimated to have occurred since the 1970s, the
report states.

“With a realistic scenario of future atmospheric warming, almost
complete deglaciation of many mountain ranges could occur within
decades, leaving only some ice on the very highest peaks,” it says.

Since the initiation in 1894 of a worldwide programme for collecting
standardized information on glacier changes, various aspects involved
have changed “in a most remarkable way,” the report notes.

Concern increases that the ongoing trend of worldwide and fast if not
accelerating glacier shrinkage at the century time scale is of
non-cyclic nature, there is definitely no more question of the
originally envisaged “variations périodiques des glaciers” as a
natural cyclical phenomenon, it states.

“Due to the human impacts on the climate system (enhanced greenhouse
effect), dramatic scenarios of future developments – including complete
deglaciation of entire mountain ranges – must be taken into
consideration,” it stresses.

“Such scenarios may lead far beyond the range of historical/holocene
variability and most likely introduce processes (extent and rate of
glacier vanishing, distance to equilibrium conditions) without
precedence in the history of the earth.”

6. EIA Reports

Source: “24 Saati” (“24 Hours”), July 29, 2005

In accordance with the Georgian legislation the following EIA reports
are submitted to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural
Resources of Georgia to obtain an environmental permit for the
activities of the second category:

1. “Koka” Ltd s “Project on Development of Lolasheni Deposit East
Part in Tkibuli Region Village Koka”;

2. CHF International – Georgia “Project on the
Construction-Functioning of Irrigation Systems in Qedi Region Villages”;

3. CHF International – Georgia “Arrangement -Rehabilitation of
Drinking and Technical Water Supply System in Samckhe-Javakheti Region
Villages”;

4. CHF International – Georgia “Project on the Rehabilitation of
Water Supply System of Kvareli Region Village Shakriana”;

5. “Merability” Ltd “Project on Development of Deposit of Sagarego
Region Sakhare and Grdzeli (Long) Lakes”;

6. Entrepreneur “Aleksandre Dadianidze” “Project on the
Arrangement Fishery in Gori Region nearby Village Karaleti”;

7. “Sagzamo-Samsheneblo Sammartveli N1” (“Road-Constructing
Institution N1”) “Project on the Arrangement Trout Fishery in Gori
Region nearby Village Karaleti”;

8. “Koromi” Ltd “Project on Development of Inert Materials Career
in Aspindza Region Village Nakalakevi”;

9. Adigeni Region Initiative Group “Project on Artificial
Melioration Water Reservoir in Adigeni Region Village Gordze”;

10. “Bordjomi Natural Product” Ltd “Project on Utilization of 20 Cubic
Meters Chitakhevi Fresh Water”.

EIA reports are available at the Department of Environmental Permits and
State Ecological Expertise (6 Gulua Str.). Interested stakeholders can
analyze the document and present their comments and considerations until
September 12, 2005.

Public hearing will be held on September 12, 2005 at 12:00, at the
conference hall of the Ministry of Environment.

7. Electronic Conference on: Climate Change and Biodiversity
Conservation

Dear colleagues,

The organizers of the UK presidency meeting of the European Platform for
Biodiversity Research Strategy (EPBRS) and the Center for Ecology and
Hydrology (CEH) invite you to participate in the electronic conference
“Climate Change and Biodiversity Conservation: Knowledge needed to
support development of integrated adaptation strategies”, which will run
from 29th August to 16th September 2005. The results of the Electronic
Conference will be presented at the EPBRS delegates meeting in Aviemore
(Scotland), from 2nd to 5th October 2005.

The main scientific theme of UK EPBRS meeting is how climate change
impacts biodiversity and what adaptation strategies might be conceived.
The meeting will review the scientific evidence and provide
recommendations feeding directly into the EU Nature Directors meeting
(to be held in Aviemore from 5th to 7th October 2005). It is anticipated
that the recommendations will cover three areas:

(i) what we already know about impacts of climate change on biodiversity
and the policy options available;

(ii) what are the most important things that we need to find out in
order to develop adaptation strategies;

(iii) how we can ensure the flow of knowledge from research into policy
development.

The e-conference preceding the meeting will focus on the knowledge gaps
and research priorities regarding:

1. The development of adaptation strategies in terms of sites and
ecological networks;

2. The development of adaptation strategies working with other sectors
such as agriculture, forestry, water, energy etc;

3. Understanding, predicting and adapting to change in marine and
coastal ecosystems.

You are kindly invited to subscribe to the electronic conference by
filling the subscription form available at:

In case of any difficulty subscribing, please e-mail Juliette Young

E-mail: [email protected].

Note that there is no need to subscribe if you subscribed to the last
BioPlatform e-conference – you will automatically have access to this
e-conference.

This e-conference will run jointly with the MARBENA project

We would appreciate your kind help in forwarding this announcement to
anyone who might be interested.

For more detail information contact E-conference chairpersons:

Terry Parr

E-mail: [email protected]

Carlo Heip

E-mail: [email protected]

Also

Andrew Stott

UK EPBRS Organising Committee, Department for Environment, Food

and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

E-mail: [email protected]

E-conference management, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Banchory, UK

Juliette Young

E-mail: [email protected])

Malcolm Collie

E-mail:[email protected]

CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)

Tel: ++995 32 75 19 03/04
Fax: ++995 32 75 19 05
E-mail: [email protected]
URL:

Azeri pro-government parties demand closure of opposition party

Turan news agency
7 Aug 05

BAKU

The People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party [PFAP] must be closed due to
funding from foreign sources, this was the keynote of speeches made by
MPs from pro-government parties at the headquarters of the New
Azerbaijan Party today.

“Our fears that a number of opposition parties are funded by foreign
sources have been confirmed. After the broadcasting of the video
report in which Ali Karimli’s close associate received handouts from
the Armenian special services, this became indisputable,” the
executive secretary of the ruling party, Ali Ahmadov, said.

He described as dangerous the fact that the opposition is being
financed by certain circles of foreign states because in return, they
want them to be involved in activities against the state. He said that
this probably happened in the past as well, otherwise, where do
opposition parties get “luxurious offices, cars and telephones” from,
Ahmadov said.

The deputy speaker of parliament, Ziyafat Asgarov, was franker. He
called the leader of the PFAP, Ali Karimli, “the main organizer of the
crime”. “The PFAP’s ideology is the overthrow of constitutional order
in Azerbaijan. For this reason, this party must be closed. And there
is no need to pay heed to international reaction,” Asgarov said with
courage.

MP Eldar Ibrahimli urged the law-enforcement agencies to take measures
against the “traitors of the fatherland”. He even regretted that the
death penalty has been abolished in Azerbaijan.

The meeting also proposed holding nationwide discussions in order to
publicly censure the actions of Basirli and Karimli. It was also
suggested that this issue should be put on the agenda of the
parliament’s autumn session.

The meeting also noted that foreign countries, including the USA,
cannot interfere in Azerbaijan’s affairs under the guise of democracy.

Lraper Church Bulletin 08/08/2005
Contact: Deacon Vagharshag Seropyan
Armenian Patriarchate
TR-34130 Kumkapi, Istanbul
T: +90 (212) 517-0970, 517-0971
F: +90 (212) 516-4833, 458-1365
[email protected]
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PILGRIMAGE TO ANTIOCH POSTPONED TO SEPTEMBER

The Chancellery of the Patriarchal See anounced this morning that the
pilgrimage to Vakifkoy on the slope of Musadag in Antioch (Antakya,
Hatay) has been postponed. The visit to Antioch and Vakifkoy will take
place on the weekend of 24 and 25 September, when the Second Meeting of
Civilisations In Hatay-Antioch will begin, at the invitation of the
Governor of Hatay, His Excellency Abdulkadir Sari.

PRESS RELEASE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia & New Zealand
10 Macquarie Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
AUSTRALIA
Contact: Laura Artinian
Tel: (02) 9419-8056
Fax: (02) 9904-8446
Email: [email protected]

6 August 2005

ARMENIAN-AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY OUTRAGED AT FALSE REPORT

Sydney, Australia – The Armenian-Australian Community was outraged
this week demanding an apology and full retraction of a falsely
reported column headlined “Pope Shot by Armenian Gunman” posted in
The Canberra Times on 4 August 2005. The correspondent erroneously
reported the would-be assassin of His Holiness Pope John Paul II of
blessed memory, in May 1981, was of Armenian origin. Mehmet Ali Agca
was in fact a Turkish militant with absolutely no Armenian connection.

The outpouring of rage and resentment by the local and international
Armenian Community at such sloppy journalism is totally justifiable
particularly when The Canberra Times claims to be “Canberra’s primary
source of news, views and advertising information” and bears as its
motto ‘To serve the national city and through it the nation’.

Letters denouncing the Armenian link to the Turkish assassin,
the falsity of the report and the slur on the Armenian name were
affirmed to the Editor calling for an unequivocal apology. All
Armenian organisations and individuals are urged to make their own
protest against this profound mistruth, in a voice of unity that is
blasphemous for Armenians.

In his letter to The Canberra Times, Primate of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of Australia and New Zealand, His Eminence Archbishop
Aghan Baliozian wrote ~ “I trust this egregious and damaging error will
elicit an immediate and sincere apology to the Armenian-Australian
Community. In turn, as true followers of Christ’s teachings, and as
the example set by His Holiness in forgiving Agca for the error of
his ways, the Armenian-Australian Community will forgive The Canberra
Times for the gross error it has made.”

A response from The Canberra Times is pending.

Former oil-for-food chief quits U.N.

Sevan calls payoff allegations false, says Annan ‘sacrificed’ him

CNN.com
Sunday, August 7, 2005

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) — The former director of the U.N. oil-for-food
program resigned Sunday, denying wrongdoing and blasting the
organization and its leadership a day before he is to be accused of
profiting from illegal deals.

Benon Sevan resigned from the United Nations in a letter to Kofi
Annan, accusing the secretary-general of “sacrificing” him for
political expediency.

A spokesman for the U.N.-appointed Independent Inquiry Committee
investigating the program told CNN last week that the committee’s
latest report on the topic, to be issued Monday, would address
allegations against Sevan.

Sevan was suspended after an initial report was issued in
February. (Full story)

Sevan became a U.N. “adviser” after the oil-for-food program ended
in 2003, and his attorney, Eric Lewis, said Sevan retired with the
title of undersecretary-general.

Lewis said Thursday that he had been given the findings in advance,
and in a written statement vehemently denied any wrongdoing by his
client. (Full story)

Lewis told CNN on Sunday night that Sevan is in Cyprus, his home
country, and he didn’t know when he might return. Asked about the
timing of the resignation, the attorney said, “Sevan lost confidence
that the (secretary-general) or the (committee) would treat him
fairly.”

In the career diplomat’s three-page letter to Annan, released by Lewis’
office, Sevan called his management of the program “transparent.”

He said he was proud of what he and his staff accomplished and dismayed
at the lack of support from the United Nations. Sevan, 67, noted that
he has worked with Annan for nearly 40 years on various projects.

“I am disappointed by the tepid manner in which the United Nations
has spoken out in defending the program against the scandalous
accusations,” Sevan said.

“As I predicted, a high-profile legislative body invested with absolute
power would feel compelled to target someone, and that someone has
turned out to be me,” he said. “The charges are false, and you,
who have known me all these years, should know that they are false.

“I fully understand the pressure that you are under, and that there
are those who are trying to destroy your reputation as well as my own,
but sacrificing me for political expediency will never appease our
critics or help you or the organization.”

U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Sunday night that the world body
would have no comment on the resignation or the report until it
is released.

Lewis said the inquiry committee — led by former U.S. Federal Reserve
Chairman Paul Volcker — will contend that Sevan took $160,000 from
the trading company American Middle Eastern Petroleum, known as AMEP,
to help it secure lucrative oil contracts from the regime of former
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The committee accuses Sevan of acting “in concert” with Eric Nadler,
a friend related to AMEP’s owner, Fakhry Abdelnour.

Volcker’s panel will cite as evidence telephone contacts with Nadler
that occurred during “significant periods,” such as “just before and
after” oil allocations and contract negotiations, Lewis said.

AMEP has admitted to the panel’s investigators that it paid an illegal
surcharge of $160,000 in October 2001 to guarantee oil contracts
from Iraq.

According to U.N. financial disclosure forms, Sevan received $160,000
in four cash payments from 1999 to 2003. He described them on financial
disclosure forms as cash gifts from an aunt, a retired government
photographer who lives in Cyprus.

“According to a long-time family friend, she never had shown signs
of having access to large amounts of cash,” the panel’s February
report stated.

That report said Iraq provided the oil to Sevan in an effort to gain
his support on several issues, including the repair and rebuilding
of Iraq’s infrastructure.

Volcker accused Sevan of placing himself in a “continuing
conflict-of-interest situation that violated explicit U.N. rules
and violated the standards of integrity essential to a high-level,
international civil servant.”

However, Sevan wrote Sunday: “I managed a $64 billion program, and
the (committee) thinks I would compromise my career for $160,000
and then report it publicly. This is what happens when you appoint
an unaccountable ‘special prosecutor’ with an unlimited budget and
mission to find someone, anyone to blame.”

According to Sevan, the United Nations transferred nearly $10 billion
to the Development Fund for Iraq after the oil-for-food program ended,
in November 2003.

Under the program, Iraq was permitted to export a limited amount of
its crude oil to buy food, medicine and supplies.

The program, the largest humanitarian operation in U.N. history, was
designed to help Iraq deal with the international economic sanctions
imposed after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

It generated $64 billion in revenue from its launch in late 1996 until
the U.S.-led invasion toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Over seven years, 248 companies incorporated in 61 countries bought 3.4
billion barrels of Iraqi crude oil, with the proceeds deposited in a
U.N.-controlled bank account that paid vendors who sold U.N.-approved
goods back to Iraq. The oil revenue also paid for weapons inspectors.

Multiple investigations were prompted by reports that Saddam extorted
billions of dollars in surcharges from chosen oil buyers, received
kickbacks from suppliers of goods and may have awarded rights to
buy oil as political favors to countries that supported rolling
back sanctions.

Sevan also is the focus of an investigation into the oil-for-food
program by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of
New York.

Lewis said he couldn’t address the status of Sevan’s diplomatic
immunity.

CNN’s Lauren Rivera contributed to this report.

Find this article at:

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Oil-for-food probe expected to accuse UN director
By Evelyn Leopold

Reuters
Sunday, August 7, 2005

An investigation into the oil-for-food program will accuse for
the first time on Monday the director of the defunct $67 billion
U.N. operation of getting cash from oil deals.

A U.N.-established Independent Inquiry Committee, led by former
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, plans to release on
Monday its third interim report on allegations of corruption in the
humanitarian program for Iraq, which began in 1996 and ended in 2003.

Benon Sevan, the executive director of the program, is to be accused
of getting a kickback for steering Iraqi oil contracts to an Egyptian
trader and of refusing to cooperate with the Volcker panel, his
attorney Eric Lewis said.

Lewis called the charges “flatly false.” He released Sevan’s side
of the story in lengthy documents on Thursday after receiving a
letter from the panel outlining “adverse findings” that the report
would contain.

On Sunday, Lewis distributed a letter from Sevan, 67, to
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan resigning from his current job,
which he was given after he retired. The $1-a-year post carries
immunity and was meant to ensure he would cooperate with the probe.

He blamed the secretary-general and his staff for not defending the
program and making him a scapegoat.

“I fully understand the pressure that you are under, and that there
are those who are trying to destroy your reputation as well as my own,
but sacrificing me for political expediency will never appease our
critics or help you or the Organization,” Sevan wrote.

The Volcker committee, in a Feb. 3 interim report, expressed suspicion
about four payments, amounting to $160,000, that Sevan had declared
to the United Nations as funds from his now-deceased aunt.

But Sevan noted on Sunday it was not credible he that would have
compromised his career for $160,000 after handling billions of dollars
in the program.

Sevan, a Cypriot with a distinguished 40-year career in the United
Nations, is alleged to have taken bribes “in concert with” the
brother-in-law of former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali,
Lewis said.

“The IIC claims that Mr. Sevan received money from African Middle
East Petroleum in concert with Fred Nadler, a friend, and a relative
by marriage of Mr. (Fakhry) Abdelnour, the principal of AMEP,”
Lewis said.

Nadler is the brother of Leia Boutros-Ghali, wife of the former
secretary-general. Abdelnour, the owner of AMEP, is a cousin of
Boutros-Ghali, U.N. chief from 1992 to 1996. Boutros-Ghali himself
has been questioned by the panel but is not linked to the bribe
allegations.

AMEP earned some $1.5 million from oil allocations that the panel
says Sevan steered to the Egyptian trading firm.

SECOND U.N. OFFICIAL

The report is also expected to discuss the role of Alexander Yakovlev,
a senior purchasing officer, involved in awarding a series of contracts
in the program, including the one to Cotecna.

Yakovlev, a Russian, resigned last month after the United Nations said
he was under investigation for possible conflict of interest in helping
his son get a job with a company that did business with the United
Nations. That company was not involved in the oil-for-food program.

Nevertheless, the Volcker inquiry sealed Yakovlev’s office. Its
investigators are also looking into his personal financial records,
sources close to the probe said.

The Volcker panel was commissioned by Annan to examine charges of
corruption in the program, which was designed to ease the impact
on ordinary Iraqis of U.N. sanctions imposed in August 1990 after
Baghdad’s troops invaded Kuwait.

;u=/nm/20050807/pl_nm/iraq_un_probe_dc_6

Ex-UN oil-for-food chief resigns

Benon Sevan addressing Kofi Annan: “The charges are
false and you, who have known me all these years,
should know they are false.”

BBC News
2005/08/08

The former head of the United Nations’ oil-for-food
programme has quit the UN, lashing out at Secretary
General Kofi Annan for “sacrificing” him.

Benon Sevan’s decision comes a day before a third
report on the scandal-plagued programme is published.

It is expected to accuse Mr Sevan of receiving cash in
return for allocating Iraqi oil contracts in the
mid-1990s.

The oil-for-food programme allowed Saddam Hussein to
sell limited amounts of oil to buy humanitarian goods.

Mr Sevan’s lawyers have already said the report will
falsely accuse him of receiving cash kick-backs for
helping a company obtain lucrative oil contracts under
the scheme.

Mr Sevan, a Cypriot who had worked with the
organisation for four decades, tendered his
resignation in a letter addressed personally to Kofi
Annan.

‘False charges’

“I fully understand the pressure you are under […]
but sacrificing me for political expediency will never
appease our critics or help you or the Organization,”
he wrote.

Mr Sevan was suspended in February but was retained an
honorary post so that he could help the investigation,
receiving a nominal annual salary of $1.

The report is the third in a series produced by an
independent inquiry committee established by the UN.

In his letter he insisted he was innocent of any
charges that would be made against him.

“The charges are false and you, who have known me all
these years, should know they are false,” he wrote.

In February, the independent panel investigating the
allegations of corruption in the oil-for-food scandal
had said that Mr Sevan had received payments of cash
as well as oil allocations.

Mr Sevan said the real oil-for-food scandal was the
way the programme was misrepresented by those who were
against the UN.

He said he was disappointed by Mr Annan’s “failure to
defend the historic achievements of the oil-for-food
programme.”

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