Ex-UN aide alleged to have taken Iraqi money
By Evelyn Leopold
Reuters
Thursday, August 4, 2005
Benon Sevan, the former head of the U.N.’s Iraq oil-for-food program,
expects to be accused of kickbacks from oil deals “in concert” with
the brother-in-law of ex-U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali,
his lawyer said on Thursday.
“The charge is categorically untrue and no evidence has been adduced
to substantiate it,” attorney Eric Lewis said.
In a lengthy statement, Lewis anticipated a report next Tuesday from
a U.N.-appointed Independent Inquiry Committee, led by Paul Volcker,
the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman.
Volcker is also expected to allege that Sevan is not cooperating with
his probe of the program.
Such findings would be the first to accuse a U.N. official, especially
one who had control over the $67 billion humanitarian program for Iraq,
of personal profit.
Lewis told Reuters he had not been told of any amount for the
kickbacks.
Sevan himself had declared to the United Nations a receipt of $160,000
from a now-deceased aunt in Cyprus in four payments from 1999 to 2003.
The Volcker panel, in a Feb. 3 report, said it was doubtful the aunt
could have saved that much but Lewis said the panel’s sources had no
real contact with the aunt.
There was no comment from the Volcker panel.
The probe was commissioned by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to examine
charges of corruption in the oil-for-food program that began in
December 1996 and ended in 2003. The plan was designed to ease the
impact on Iraqis of U.N. sanctions, imposed in the mid-1990s after
Baghdad’s troops invaded Kuwait.
OIL ALLOCATIONS
The Volcker inquiry, in an interim report in February, accused Sevan,
a veteran U.N. employee from Cyprus, of a “grave conflict of interest”
by allegedly soliciting oil allocations for a firm, African Middle
East Petroleum, known as AMEP.
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has opened a criminal
investigation of Sevan.
“The Independent Inquiry Committee now claims that Mr. Sevan received
money from AMEP ‘in concert with’ Fred Nadler, a friend of Mr. Sevan
since 1992 and a relative by marriage of (Fahkry) Abdelnour, the
principal of AMEP,” Lewis said.
Nadler is the brother of Boutros-Ghali’s wife, Leia.
The lawyer said Sevan had no interest in that company and that the
committee was basing its information on “statements by officials of
the former Saddam Hussein regime.”
Sevan has acknowledged mentioning AMEP to Iraqi oil officials as a
company interested in doing business. Lewis said that was “neither
unusual nor inappropriate” and was an effort to help the program
succeed.
Lewis also implied the Volcker investigation was targeting Sevan to
cover up for the role of higher-ups, including Annan, whose son was
working for the Swiss firm Cotecna, which was awarded a lucrative U.N.
contract in Iraq.
In contrast to Sevan, Annan failed to recall two meetings with the
chairman of Cotecna, but that was treated “as a busy official’s
genuine lack of recollection,” Lewis wrote.
On the expected allegation by the panel that Sevan was not cooperating
with investigators, Lewis said Sevan had given the inquiry blank
authorizations to investigate all bank accounts.
But he said Sevan wanted to answer questions in writing rather than
orally so he could not be accused of purposely omitting information.
Defending administration of the program, Lewis invited comparison of
the management of the U.N. program with that of the U.S.-led Coalition
Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq after the March 2003 invasion.
He said it was known the CPA program could not account for billions
of dollars as well as “massive overcharging, unbridled awarding of
no-bid contracts and millions in cash simply walking out the door of
the CPA offices in Baghdad.”
;u=/nm/20050804/wl_nm/iraq_un_probe_dc_1

Oil-for-food probe accuses former chief
Associated Press
8/4/2005
NEW YORK (AP) – Investigators have concluded that the former chief
of the Iraq oil-for-food program, Benon Sevan, took kickbacks under
the $64 billion humanitarian operation and refused to cooperate with
their probe, his lawyer said Thursday.
While the amount of money Sevan allegedly took wasn’t immediately
known – and may be as little as $160,000 – the findings would be a
major blow because of his stature in the organization and the control
he had over it. The program was one of the largest in history.
The Independent Inquiry Committee had planned to release its findings
about Sevan on Tuesday, and had sent advance notice to Sevan’s lawyer,
Eric Lewis, last week. Lewis revealed the findings early and vehemently
denied both claims against Sevan, whom the U.N. is paying a symbolic
one dollar a year to keep him on payroll so he’ll cooperate.
“The fact is, the committee’s allegations are baseless,” Lewis said
in a statement. “Mr. Sevan never took a penny, as he has said from
the beginning.”
The committee, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul
Volcker, refused to comment on Lewis’ claims. Committee spokesman
Mike Holtzman had said earlier Sevan would be one of several people
considered in the Tuesday report.
“Our final judgment on him will be rendered on Tuesday,” Holtzman said.
The oil-for-food program, launched in December 1996 to help ordinary
Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein’s 1990
invasion of Kuwait, quickly became a lifeline for 90% of the country’s
population of 26 million.
Under the program, Saddam’s regime could sell oil, provided
the proceeds went to buy humanitarian goods or pay war
reparations. Saddam’s government decided on the goods it wanted,
who should provide them and who could buy Iraqi oil. But the Security
Council committee overseeing sanctions monitored the contracts.
In a bid to curry favor and end sanctions, Saddam allegedly gave
former government officials, activists, journalists and U.N. officials
vouchers for Iraqi oil that could then be resold at a profit.
According to Lewis, the committee will find that a small trading
company called African Middle East Petroleum Co. Ltd. Inc. paid Sevan
in exchange for his helping it win oil contracts from Saddam Hussein’s
regime. It will say that he acted “in concert” with a friend named
Fred Nadler.
Lewis said the letter of findings that Volcker’s team sent to him
does not spell how much he got in kickbacks.
Volcker’s team has been investigating oil-for-food for more than
a year. In an interim report released in February, the committee
concluded that Sevan solicited oil allocations from Saddam Hussein’s
regime on behalf of the company, known as AMEP, between 1998 and
2001. It said Nadler was essentially his middleman and accused Sevan
of a “grave conflict of interest.”
In its report, Volcker’s team mentioned $160,000 in “unexplained
funds” belonging to Sevan. Sevan had disclosed the money earlier,
saying it was from an aunt in Cyprus.
Lewis said Volcker’s committee will also say that Sevan refused to
cooperate with its investigators, apparently because he would not meet
face-to-face with them in recent months. Lewis acknowledged that Sevan
had refused to do so since January because investigators accused him
of lying or changing his testimony when he didn’t remember meetings
or phone calls he’d had years before.
He said instead Sevan had agreed to respond to written questions.
Lewis accused Volcker’s team of treating Sevan unfairly by concealing
evidence from him, relying on secret interviews with jailed members of
Saddam’s former regime and questioning his integrity when he couldn’t
remember phone calls that took place years before.
He said it was trying to look tough and appease critics in the United
States who have accused it of bungling the investigation.
“The IIC wants cartoon villains, not the truth,” Lewis said in the
statement. “Mr. Sevan has now reached a point in his dealings with
the IIC where he questions the Committee’s commitment to objective
and evenhanded fact-finding and doubts he can receive a fair hearing
in this forum.”
After the February report, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced
disciplinary proceedings against Sevan but said he would wait until
the report came out before making a decision.
It is almost certain that Sevan would be fired if the United Nations
accepts the Volcker committee claims. Sevan is also being investigated
by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.

The Really Easy Rider
By MICHELLE HIGGINS
The New York Times
August 5, 2005
Like pilgrims to some holy land, but tattooed and on two wheels,
thousands of motorcyclists will converge in Sturgis, S.D., next week to
be part of one of the country’s largest and longest-running gatherings
of bikers. Many will ride for days, enduring miles of blistering sun,
bouts of rain and the occasional mouthful of bugs before arriving in
a cloud of dust at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
Chevalier Kevorkian will be there, too, just as he has been about a
dozen times before. But his bike will roll into town another way –
in the back of a tractor trailer. For roughly $675, Mr. Kevorkian,
a 57-year-old screenwriter from Palm Springs, Calif., is having his
Harley shipped from his hometown to Sturgis and back. Instead of
taking three long days of riding just to get there, he’ll arrive
fresh off a flight and pick up his bike at a local hotel.
“I just don’t have the schedule to do it this year,” said
Mr. Kevorkian, who has ridden to Sturgis from Los Angeles in the
past. “At least I’ll be there and be on my own bike.”
In a major shift from tradition, a small but growing number of
enthusiasts, who like to ride but not to rough it, are shipping
instead of riding their bikes to motorcycle events. For the months
of May through August, the Federal Warehouse Company in East Peoria,
Ill., an affiliate of Allied Van Lines, expects to ship 3,000 bikes
for individuals and groups to various places this year, up from 2,800
as recently as 2003.
Taking notice of the niche, FedEx began marketing a vehicle shipping
service in January – a venture the company bought in 2000 and rebranded
last year. FedEx is marketing the service for groups. For example, it
will ship 12 motorcycles one-way from Los Angeles to Sturgis for $617
each. That’s $895 below the charge for shipping an individual bike.
Even more motorcycle enthusiasts are driving to events on four wheels,
pulling their bikes behind them in trailers. Lisa Weyer, director of
the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, estimates that the number of people who
ride to town has fallen to below half of all attendees. “Most people
trailer nowadays,” she said.
Not surprisingly, some hard-core bikers aren’t pleased with the trend.
At Sturgis and other big gatherings like Laconia Motorcycle Week in
New Hampshire some attendees wear T-shirts with a slogan that reads:
“I rode my bike to trailer week.”
Lee Bruns, 37, a machinist from Watertown, S.D., and his wife, Donna,
stopped going to the Sturgis rally several years ago. “The overwhelming
number of trailers have so overrun the event that we no longer wish
to attend,” he said. “The whole idea of motorcycle ownership is not,
nor has ever been, about the destination. It is and always will be
about the journey.”
THE popularity of custom motorcycles, sparked by shows like “American
Chopper” on the Discovery Channel, is contributing to the trend. Many
of these bikes, built for fashion rather than function, are just not
comfortable for long rides. And after paying thousands for a custom
paint job, most owners aren’t willing to risk the kind of damage many
miles of kicking up dirt and gravel could cause.
As a result, motorcycle trailer makers say their business has taken
off in recent years. Haulmark Industries in Bristol, Ind., said sales
of its motorcycle trailers are up about 25 percent in the last few
years. The company plans to introduce two new models at the Sturgis
rally this year that are priced from $25,000 to $35,000. The enclosed
trailers come equipped with air-conditioning, two fold-down beds,
a bathroom, maple cabinets and stainless steel appliances. There’s
also room for two motorcycles.
Some shippers cater specifically to bikers headed to events. “This
year, we’re turning lots of people away for Sturgis because we’re
simply full,” said Kristy Garcia, who runs Harley Haul in Pottstown,
Pa., with her husband, Rob. The business, which currently uses one
tractor-trailer, is doing so well they plan to add another next year.
Putting a bike on a truck doesn’t mean it’s safe from accidents. Last
month, Tommy Simmons, a pharmacist from Darlington, S.C., watched as
Federal Warehouse loaded his Harley onto a tractor-trailer headed
for Sturgis. But just days before his trip, Mr. Simmons got a call
telling him his bike had been badly damaged in transit. “It’s just
a disaster,” said Mr. Simmons, who had been planning the trip for a
year. “There’s nothing to do if you don’t have a bike.”
Such accidents are “very rare” said Jackie Taylor, manager of
motorcycle transportation at Federal Warehouse. About 3 percent of the
13,000 bikes it ships each year are damaged, according to Federal’s
Web site (), and the average claim is usually
around $500. Though the company won’t refund Mr. Simmons his money,
it has offered to ship out a spare bike he owns for free.
The new approach to getting to Sturgis is a big change from the days
when dust-encrusted biker gangs would take over the town and residents
would board up their homes and leave.
The demographic of motorcycle buyers has shifted in recent years. In
2003, the average motorcycle owner earned $55,850, up about 26
percent from $44,250 in 1998, according to the most recent data from
the Motorcycle Industry Council. On average, Harley-Davidson owners
earn more than $80,000 a year, according to the company.
For many of these riders, motorcycles are more a hobby than a
lifestyle. As a result, some motorcycle gatherings are losing their
rough edge. “People used to think Bandidos and Hell’s Angels,” said
Tom Griffith, a spokesman for the Sturgis rally. “Now, you’re just
as likely to see a bunch of lawyers driving, and for the first time
in 51 weeks they haven’t shaved.”
Of course, many bikers still ride to events. Last year, Steve Quarles,
48, president of an ad agency in Nashville, Tenn., traveled roughly
1,300 miles on his Harley Road Glide to get to Sturgis. This year he
plans to do it again. “It’s really a point of pride and distinction
for those of us who ride,” said Mr. Quarles, who has a sticker on
his helmet that says, “I rode mine to Sturgis 2004.”
For bikers who don’t ride, there can be consequences. “Everybody
rags on you a bit,” said Dan Dunham, owner of Kickstart, a motorcycle
shipping company in Lakeland, Fla., “but at least you’re there.”
Some riders simply fake it. Last year, Eric Fierst, who works for a
moving company in Landover, Md., that is affiliated with Allied, said
that he and his buddies got some flak for trailering their motorcycles.
“This year, nobody is really going to know, because we’re having our
bikes delivered to the house we’re renting,” Mr. Fierst said. Before
riding into town, he and his friends will take an extra precaution.
“We’ll wipe a little bit of dirt on our faces,” he said.

IFEX – News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________ ________________
ALERT – ARMENIA
5 August 2005
Anthropology student jailed, facing up to 8 years in prison for possession
of antique books
SOURCE: Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC), International PEN, London
(WiPC/IFEX) – Members of the world association of writers, International
PEN, have been alerted to the plight of Yektan Turkyilmaz, a Turkish PhD
student of cultural anthropology who has been in prison in Armenia since mid
June 2005. Turkyilmaz was arrested for not declaring that he was in
possession of antique books as he was leaving the country. PEN has learned
that his trial is set to take place on 9 August.
International PEN is concerned that Turkyilmaz has been imprisoned pending
trial for over six weeks and that he is threatened with a sentence of up to
eight years in prison. It is concerned that he is being treated particularly
harshly because of the nature of his studies. PEN is urging that he be freed
pending trial, that his claims that he was unaware of the export regulations
on the books be taken into consideration and that assurances be given that
the action against him has not been taken as a means of preventing him from
continuing his research.
Turkyilmaz, aged 33, was arrested at Yerevan Airport on 17 June as he
attempted to leave Armenia. He was on his fourth research trip to the
country and had planned to travel on to Paris and Istanbul before returning
to Duke University in the USA, where he has a John Hope Franklin Institute
fellowship.
During his visit, Turkyilmaz had purchased around 100 books ranging from the
17th to 20th centuries, which he mostly bought from Armenian second-hand
book shops. The student has been collecting such books for his own research
as well as to build up a library of Armenian books that would otherwise be
lost. He maintains he was unaware of requirements to declare any books over
50 years old at customs. A large number of CDs containing research material
was also seized and has not been returned.
On 21 July, prosecuting authorities announced that Turkyilmaz was to be
tried under Article 215 of the Armenian Criminal Code relating to the export
of “contraband” goods, including drugs, arms, materials for the manufacture
of weapons of mass destruction and “cultural values for the transportation
of which special rules are established”. He faces up to 8 years in prison.
There is deep concern that Turkyilmaz has limited access to his lawyer and
friends, and that he is denied access to the telephone, or to write and
receive letters.
For full details go to:
To see a letter of protest to Armenian President Robert Kocharian signed by
over 240 writers and academics world wide, click:
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Send appeals to authorities:
– expressing deep concern about the arrest of Yektan Turkyilmaz for
inadvertently attempting to take books out of Armenia without permission;
– pointing out that his continued detention and proposed trial under charges
carrying a maximum of eight years in prison is unreasonably harsh;
– referring to suggestions that these measures have been taken as a means of
deterring Turkyilmaz from further research into the issue of
Armenian-Turkish relations
– calling for Turkyilmaz to be freed pending trial and for all restrictions
on his visits and communications to be lifted.
APPEALS TO:
His Excellency Robert Kocharian,
President
Office of the President
Marshal Bagharmaina St 26
375077 Yerevan
Armenia
Fax: +374 10 521 581
Please copy appeals to the source if possible. Appeals should also be copied
to the Armenian embassies in your own countries. For addresses click:
For further information, contact the WiPC, International PEN, 9/10
Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7AT, U.K., tel: +44 207
253 3226, fax: +44 207 253 5711, e-mail: [email protected], Internet:
The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of WiPC.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit WiPC.
_________________________________________________________________
DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
489 College Street, Suite 403, Toronto (ON) M6G 1A5 CANADA
tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879
alerts e-mail: [email protected] general e-mail [email protected]
Internet site:
__________________________________________________________________

DENMARK AGAINST TURKEY’S ACCESSION TO EU
PanArmenian News Network
Aug 5 2005
05.08.2005 07:16
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Denmark is the third state after France and Belgium
protesting against Turkey’s EU membership. About 62% of the Danish
population said “no” to Turkey’s joining to the European family.

U.S. ANCHORS HOPE WITH KARABAKH SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS
PanArmenian News Network
Aug 5 2005
05.08.2005 08:13
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ When commenting on the meetings of Azeri Foreign
Minister Elmar Maamadyarov in Washington, OSCE Minsk Group U.S.
Co-Chair Steven Mann stated that the negotiations proceeded
a fruitful and calm atmosphere peculiar to the American-Azeri
relations. “We focused discussion at the Karabakh conflict. My
government anchors hopes with the peaceful negotiations based on a
serious dialogue continuing for two years already between the parties”,
the U.S. diplomat said. In his words, the Armenian and Azeri leaders
decided to settle the conflict peacefully and certain progress is
obvious, however the process should advance till the signing of a
peaceful agreement, AzerTage agency reports.

WITHDRAWAL OF RUSSIAN TROOPS FROM SAMTSKHE JAVAKHETIA STARTED
PanArmenian News Network
Aug 5 2005
05.08.2005 07:12
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today the withdrawal of the Russian military
equipment from the 62-nd base located in Akhalkalaki, the center of
the Armenian-populated Samtskhe Javakhati region of Georgia started.
The first autocade consisting of 11 staff vehicles and vehicles
of technical support made for the town of Mtskhet situated 300 km
from Tbilisi. Then it will cross the Russian-Georgian state border
through Verkhni Lars checkpoint. However, the autocade cannot cross
the border according to the schedule, as heavy rains have eroded a
30-meter sector of the road. The Georgian authorities forbade traffic
along the Military Georgian highway in the direction of Verkhni Lars
checkpoint, IA Regnum reports.

Blagojevich signs law requiring genocide education for public schools
KWQC-TV, IA
Aug 5 2005
CHICAGO Governor Rod Blagojevich today signed a bill that requires
Illinois public elementary and high schools to teach about recent
acts of genocide around the world.
The measure takes effect immediately and expands the previous
requirement that students learn about the Holocaust to include a unit
on genocide in Armenia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Rwanda, Sudan and Ukraine.
Blagojevich says it’s important that students understand that racial,
national, ethnic and religious hatred can lead to tragedies.
The measure was sponsored by state Representative John Fritchey and
state Senator Jacqueline Collins, both Chicago Democrats.
Glenn McGee is the former state schools superintendent who is now a
superintendent in Wilmette. He says learning about genocide should
be a component of educating tomorrow’s leaders. But he worries the
requirement could become an unfunded mandate.

OSCE PROVOKES ARMAMENT TRANSPORTATION FROM GEORGIA TO ARMENIA, BAKU CONSIDERS
PanArmenian News Network
Aug 5 2005
05.08.2005 03:04
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov
considers that the OSCE creates possibilities for the transportation
of armament from Georgia to Armenia, thus provoking the violation
of military balance in the region. According to the diplomat, the
“transportation of Russian armament from Georgia to Armenia tenses
situation in the region.” “Not only Azerbaijan but also all the
states of the region should be concerned over this step” he stressed.
At the same time Khalafov noted that the Kremlin informed Azerbaijan
of the transportation and guaranteed that it is not targeted against
the Azerbaijani Republic. “However it will break military balance in
the region and the OSCE should be careful about the fact”, he resumed.

ARMENIAN “MACBETH” ON POLISH STAGE
PanArmenian News Network
Aug 5 2005
05.08.2005 04:17
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Yerevan Drama Theater after Hrachya Kaplanian
will take part in the Shakespeare International Theater Festival to
be held in Gdansk and Gdynia (Poland) August 6-13, Gazeta Wyborcza
reports. The festival will open with the performance “Comedy of
Mistakes” staged by the New Theater from Lodz. Polish theater-lovers
can appreciate the art of Armenian actors on August 8 and 9. The
Yerevan Drama Theater will perform Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”
directed by Armen Khandikian. To note, theaters form Germany and
Ukraine will present the same play. Theaters from Israel, Ukraine,
Hungary, Italy, Belarus and other states will take part in the
festival.
From: Baghdasarian