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The U.N.'s Spreading Bribery Scandal: Russian Ties and Global Reach
By Claudia Rosett, George Russell
FoxNews.com
September 6, 2005
Web site: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168591,00.html
The U.N.'s Spreading Bribery Scandal: Russian Ties and Global Reach How widespread is the corruption at the United Nations? The multibillion-dollar Iraq Oil-for-Food scandal was just the beginning.
Now the issue is becoming the scale of corruption in the U.N.'s normal operations and which individuals and corporations are reaping the benefits of a network of bribery and conspiracy that investigators have just begun to uncover. So far, those identities are still a mystery but perhaps not for much longer.
Last Friday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan indicted the head of the U.N.'s own budget oversight committee, a Russian named Vladimir Kuznetsov, on charges of laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes paid by companies seeking contracts with the United Nations.
Kuznetsov, who has pleaded innocent, allegedly took a cut so openly that he had part of it deposited into the United Nations' own staff credit union in New York.
Kuznetsov's arrest is the latest twist in the scandal involving the U.N. procurement department, which was the longtime post of Alexander Yakovlev (search), another Russian U.N. official recently fingered by U.S. federal investigators.
On Aug. 8, Yakovlev pleaded guilty to federal charges of corruption, wire fraud and money laundering, after a FOX News investigation revealed his unauthorized ties with a U.N. contractor, IHC Services, and details leading to his secret offshore bank account. Federal investigators have now alleged that from 2000 on, Yakovlev did at least some of his grafting in partnership with Kuznetsov, transferring bribe money to him via the Antigua Overseas Bank in the West Indies. Allegedly the bribe money was obtained in exchange for providing inside information to companies seeking U.N. contracts...
Kofi Braces for More Criticism
** With the next draft on the Oil for Food Scandal due out on Wednesday, Kofi is bracing for more bad news. **
KOFI ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON OIL FOR FOOD, JOHN BOLTON, HIS SON KOJO,
VIDEO HERE
(entire video clip 7 minutes but well worth the information shared)
A few of the major points discussed:
* John Bolton has recommended 750 changes to a new proposal
* Kofi says the US must give and take
* Kofi repeats how the US must remember there are 190 other countries in UN
* A 7% tax on development aid (?)
* He wishes the UN were never given the Oil for Food Program
Kofi Annan says he wishes the UN had never been asked to take part in Iraq's oil-for-food programme as he braced himself for the results of the most detailed report yet into the scandal. (AFP)
Kofi says it was "unfortunate" the US waited until the last moment to propose its 750 changes to the final document that would overhaul the UN:
He said in a British Broadcasting Corp. interview it was "unfortunate" that the United States waited until just last month to propose hundreds of amendments to a final document for world leaders to consider adopting. Annan said it opened "the floodgates" to other amendments and changed the dynamics of the negotiations.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton has said Washington had been making similar proposals since June to General Assembly President Jean Ping, who has been overseeing the document's preparation.
Among the issues: a Human Rights Council with more authority to replace the discredited Human Rights Commission; a Peace building Commission to help nations emerging from conflict; new responsibility for governments to protect civilians facing genocide and war crimes; disarmament and nonproliferation; overhauling U.N. management; and steps to fight poverty.
The proposed U.S. changes would also delete a call for rich nations to spend 0.7 percent of GNP on development aid. President Bush has almost doubled international assistance, but the United States still spent just 0.16 percent of GNP on development aid in 2004, according to a recent U.N. report.
The United States and an overwhelming majority of countries support a new Human Rights Council, although human rights organizations say about 15 countries led by Cuba were blocking changes.
John Bolton is turning out to be as critics feared he might be.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton insisted on Wednesday that Washington was not ignoring U.N. development goals but trying to make sure the Bush administration was not committed to a precise target for foreign aid when world leaders meet at a U.N. summit.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan had hoped a September 14-16 summit of 175 leaders would agree on how to revitalize the United Nations and map out new approaches to the international system. Rich nations were to agree on a development agenda in exchange for support on Western demands for human rights and internal management reforms. But six months of discussions have brought out sharp divisions on how to tackle poverty, human rights, terrorism, intervention in case of genocide and U.N. internal reforms.
"I am telling people loosen your ties, fire up the coffee pots, get ready for the weekend," Bolton told reporters during a break in negotiations. "We've got a lot of work to do." In this photo, Bolton, waves to the media at the United Nations Headquarters in New York August 31, 2005. (Reuters)
posted by Gateway Pundit at 9/06/2005
