Kofi Should Be Getting Nervous

[Annie]

Funny thing about US Congressmen, they can bash the other party, but not too keen on UN serving as a forum for bashing the US:

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/08/wun08.xml

FBI arrests businessman in UN oil-for-food scandal
Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 08/01/2006)

A South Korean businessman accused of receiving millions of dollars from Saddam Hussein's regime to bribe top United Nations officials over the controversial oil-for-food programme has been arrested by FBI agents in Houston, Texas.

Tongsun Park** is expected to co-operate with the US authorities in a deal that could throw fresh light on rampant corruption surrounding the UN-administered programme.

The indictment, released on Friday, refers to attempts to buy the influence of two unnamed UN officials. A separate investigation - led by Paul Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman - into the scandal concluded that Mr Park and another accused man tried to pass $1 million to the former UN secretary-general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

The report said there was no evidence that Mr Boutros-Ghali received or agreed to receive the money. The Volcker commission also found that in 1997 Mr Park invested $1 million in a Canadian company linked to the son of Maurice Strong, a close aide to Kofi Annan, the current secretary-general, in an attempt to secure his help for Iraq. The report found no evidence that Mr Strong was involved.

"Park's arrest is an important step in the federal government's efforts to bring to justice those who broke US law in undermining the humanitarian purpose of that programme," said Michael Garcia, the US attorney in Manhattan.

He said Mr Park arranged meetings in 1993 between himself, a UN official and another co-operating witness, including one at the official's Manhattan apartment. Mr Park and the other witness also allegedly arranged a meeting in 1993, in Geneva, between the official, identified as "UN Official No 1", and two Iraqi representatives.

The FBI said in a court document that at a New York restaurant in 1996 the government witness met Mr Park, an Iraqi official and another high-ranking figure (referred to as "UN Official No 2"), who left the meeting early.

Mr Park told the government witness in 1997 or 1998 that he had invested about $1 million he had received from Iraq in a Canadian company, established by the son of UN Official No 2.

Mr Park, who was allegedly paid $2 million, was first indicted for his role in the programme last April. His whereabouts have not been publicly known since then, but he is thought to have been negotiating a possible deal with US officials.

Mr Annan had been hoping that the Volcker report, in which he was sharply criticised, would put an end to the scandal, but federal prosecutors are determined to pursue the bribery allegations.

** If the name sounds famiiar, it should:

http://www.rickross.com/reference/unif/Unif11.html