Concerned by allegations regarding the administration and management of the United Nations oil-for-food programme, the Security Council Wednesday welcomed the Secretary-Generals appointment of an independent high-level inquiry to investigate the matter.
One of the persons under investigation is the former head of the programme, Benon Sevan.
Unanimously adopting resolution 1538 (2004), the Council also called on the Coalition Provisional Authority, Iraq and all other Member States, including their national regulatory authorities, to cooperate fully by all appropriate means with the inquiry.
The members of the inquiry are Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve; Mark Pieth of Switzerland, an expert on money-laundering in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); and Richard Goldstone of South Africa, former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
Begun in 1996, the United Nations oil-for-food programme allowed Iraq to use a portion of its petroleum revenues to purchase humanitarian relief. The effort was monitored by the Security Councils 661 committee, which included representatives from all 15 Council members.
Until its termination in November 2003, the programme oversaw the delivery of some 39 billion dollars in humanitarian assistance to about 22 million people, many of whom were largely dependent on outside aid to survive since normal economic activity was severely constrained by sanctions imposed after Iraqs 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Kilde: FN og Frederiksborg Amts Avis
