The U.N.'s own investigation panel denounced Mr. Sevan for his central role in the oil-for-food scandal that has engulfed the world body.It really isn't amazing that the UN stonewalled for as long as it did. They could get away with it. Or, at least they thought that they could get away with it. By "they," I mean the Secretariat - those involed with the sanctioning of the monies to Sevan's defense fund and those involved in the decision making process.
Questions regarding whether the U.N. would cover Mr. Sevan's legal fees were raised soon after the name of the oil-for-food program chief appeared on a list published by the Iraqi newspaper al-Mada shortly after the start of the Iraq war. The newspaper accused world diplomats, businessmen, and U.N. officials of accepting bribes from Saddam Hussein in the form of oil allocations.
Up until late last week, the U.N. said it had not paid any of Mr. Sevan's legal fees. But yesterday, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard told The New York Sun that the U.N. had been paying his legal bills up until last month.
There should be more accountability from the top down. It has been abundantly clear for far too long that Kofi Annan is completely unprepared or unwilling to be accountable. His latest move, calling for reform, is merely a cover for larger deficiencies - his reform calls for the US and other nations paying while there is no transparancy and oversight by member nations, which is a key failing from UNSCAM. He would rather rename the Human Rights Commission than reform the membership allowed to sit on that panel. Thus, you have the absurd position where Sudan can sit on the panel while the US does not. Sudan, by the way, has been site of the latest genocide, a genocide that the UN claims has not happened and where over 200,000 have been killed by the Janjaweed and Sudanese militias, some of whom have been condoned by the Sudanese government.
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