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June 4, 2005 -- WASHINGTON The lawyer for a U.N. staffer fired for wrongdoing in the oil-for-food scandal insisted yesterday that his client acted on orders of higher-ups and is being used as a "scapegoat" to take the heat off Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other bigwigs.
Coming out swinging two days after his client was canned, the lawyer for Cypriot mid-level bureaucrat Joseph Stephanides said he plans a major battle against U.N. leadership to get reinstated and refute charges he engaged in "serious misconduct" in the award of a lucrative inspection contract to a British firm.
Lawyer George Irving told The Post Stephanides was "essentially the messenger" when he warned the British mission to the United Nations in 1996 that the company Lloyd's Register needed to substantially lower its tender in order to beat out a French firm that submitted the lowest bid.
The commission investigating the oil-for-food scandal headed by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker charged Stephanides was acting independently during his talks with the British mission.
But Irving provided The Post with internal documents dated in August 1996 that show Stephanides made at least five superiors aware that Lloyd's was better-suited to handle the oil-for-food inspection contract and that he was recommending that it lower the cost of the bid.
"My client has been made a scapegoat to divert attention from others," Irving said.
Bullypulpit said:Scapegoats...plenty of those coming out of Abu Ghraib. Just some grunts taking it in the neck for the sins of their leaders.
Kathianne said:Bully you are losing it, (how many times have I written that?) What does the one have to do with the other? Are you moonlighting writing copy for Reuters? I'm getting whiplash here!
On your last point Bully, 'so what?' If it's not true, trust me, THAT would get reported!Bullypulpit said:The Bush Administraiton has been seeking a means to oust Annan ever since he first spoke in opposition to the war in Iraq, and especially since he named it for what it is...an illegal war.
Wheels within wheels dear lady...It's all tied in to the Administration's Iraq policy.
Oh, and don't forget...The New York Post is a Rupert Murdoch paper...He's a loyal Fan O' Dubbyuh
Kathianne said:On your last point Bully, 'so what?' If it's not true, trust me, THAT would get reported!
What happened in that prison was wrong, but the military was investigating and charging those involved long before it became a story because of pics. You know it, I know it, you just want to bash Bush.
So Bully, you think the whole Oil-for-Food scandal is a cover-up? A diversion? What?
