quote:

Walkouts add to heat on Annan David Nason, New York correspondent April 22, 2005 THE credibility of UN chief Kofi Annan has been dealt another blow by the resignations of two senior investigators who claim the Secretary-General was given favourable treatment in a report that cleared him of misconduct in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal. The resignations were revealed on the same day Mr Annan's friend and adviser Maurice Strong stood down from his post as UN envoy to North Korea after questions about his financial relationship with Tongsun Park, a South Korean businessman with an alleged history of bribing public officials. The formerly US-based Mr Park, 70, is wanted by the FBI for failing to disclose to US authorities that he was on Saddam Hussein's payroll, a charge that could see him jailed for five years. He is believed to be in hiding in Japan and is reportedly considering a plea bargain with the US Attorney's Office, which has vowed to "wring the towel dry" in its search for corrupt UN officials. As well as further damaging Mr Annan's standing, the developments are a distraction from a critically important process of reform at the UN due to culminate at a world leaders' summit in September. There is mounting speculation that Mr Annan, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who initiated the reform process with his In Larger Freedom report last month, may have to stand aside for any genuine progress to be made. The investigators who quit -- lawyer and ex-FBI agent Robert Parton and Rockefeller fortune heiress Miranda Duncan -- were part of the Paul Volcker inquiry, which is investigating massive corruption in the $US67billion ($86billion) oil-for-food program operated by the UN in Iraq from 1996 to 2003. The program allowed Iraq to sell limited amounts of oil in exchange for humanitarian goods, but corruption flourished when the UN allowed Saddam's cronies to select which traders could have oil vouchers and which companies could provide the aid. Mr Parton was the lead investigator into allegations of impropriety against Mr Annan in relation to lucrative oil-for-food contracts awarded to Cotecna Inspections, a Swiss company that employed the Secretary-General's son, Kojo. Mr Volcker, a former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, released an interim report last month that raised serious doubts about the integrity of Kojo Annan but found no evidence that the Secretary-General tried to influence the tender process in favour of his son's company. Mr Annan claimed afterwards he had been "exonerated" by the report. While Mr Parton and Ms Duncan have declined to comment, Mark Pieth -- one of the three senior members of the inquiry who assess the information gathered by investigators and write the reports -- said they had objected to the findings in relation to Mr Annan. The final report of the Volcker inquiry is scheduled for mid-year and its findings may well overshadow the leaders' summit. Among the criticisms endured by Mr Annan is his choice of veteran diplomat Benon Sevan to run the oil-for-food program. The Volcker inquiry has established that Mr Sevan lobbied Saddam to provide oil vouchers to a Swiss-based oil trader he was associated with, who later admitted to paying illegal kickbacks to Iraq. Mr Annan also raised eyebrows when it was revealed his chief of staff ordered three years of documents held in his office to be shredded the day after the Volcker inquiry was established by the UN Security Council. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.a...255E601,00.html

Heres a good article on Maurice Strong and Tongsun Park.