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ITN Source
UN/FILE: Benon Sevan, the former head of the U.N.'s oil-for-food program, is charged with bribery by U.S. prosecutors.
UN/FILE: Benon Sevan, the former head of the U.N.'s oil-for-food program, is charged with bribery by U.S. prosecutors.
Benon Sevan, the former director of the U.N.'s oil-for-food program, was charged with bribery on Tuesday (January 16). Authorities have called for Sevan's arrest and extradition to New York City where he would face the indictment. A former executive director of the United Nations oil-for-food program for Iraq and a brother-in-law of a former U.N. Secretary-General have been charged with bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud tied to the program, a U.S. federal prosecutor said on Tuesday (January 16). Former Executive Director Benon Sevan, the highest ranking U.N. official to be charged in relation to the program, and Ephraim Nadler, brother-in-law of Boutros Boutros-Ghali, were named in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday. Michael Garcia, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that Sevan, a Cypriot, allegedly received about 160,000 U.S. dollars from Nadler on behalf of the Iraqi government. U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters that the international body is encouraging all parties to cooperate with authorities. "We have yet to actually see the formal indictment. So I would wait until we have that to have any details on that. Obviously what we have been urging is for all parties to cooperate with authorities on this matter and the Secretary General today did reiterate that we would continue to cooperate as we can," he said. Garcia said the United States had issued warrants for the arrest of Nadler and Sevan and will seek their arrest and extradition to New York. The oil-for-food program was designed to soften the blow to civilians of international sanctions, imposed against Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, by allowing Iraq to sell oil to finance purchases of humanitarian goods. More than 2,300 companies have been investigated and some governments accused of having abused the 64 billion U.S. dollar humanitarian program, which ran from 1996 until 2003.
ITN Source | January 17, 2007
