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The Oil-for-Food Scandal – the Canadian Connection (pg. 2)
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| ShadoWolf |
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Colum.../31/977488.html
UN scandal inquiry has Frechette questions
By GREG WESTON
An international commission probing the worst corruption scandal ever to rock the United Nations is training its sights on a former high-ranking Canadian government official.
The Volcker commission recently cited Louise Frechette, a former deputy minister in Jean Chretien's government, for helping to cover up damning internal UN audits of the organization's scandalous Oil-for-Food program.
Now she is back in the spotlight as the commission probes her role in the overall mismanagement of the $80-billion humanitarian scheme, a fiasco threatening to topple UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Frechette has been the UN's first-ever deputy secretary-general and Annan's chief administrator since 1998, making her one of the organization's most powerful mandarins during the worst years of the Oil-for-Food fiasco.
Investigators believe a staggering $8 billion was embezzled or otherwise disappeared from the humanitarian program between 1997 and 2003.
There is no evidence to date that Frechette was in any way connected to the massive wrongdoing that befell the UN program, nor how much she even knew about the widening problem of corruption.
But her key position atop the UN secretariat, and her involvement with internal auditors, have put her in the crosshairs of the Volcker inquiry.
The UN-administered program was intended to allow Saddam Hussein to export about $40 billion of embargoed Iraqi oil in return for a similar amount of desperately needed imports of food, medical supplies and other humanitarian aid for his country.
According to an interim report of the Volcker inquiry, released in February, UN auditors began smelling something amiss early in the program -- and ultimately produced a total of 55 audits of it.
But for almost four years, as the humanitarian scheme became riddled with kickbacks and mismanagement, the auditors were stifled by the program's now-disgraced director, Benon Sevan.
Finally in frustration, the chief spending watchdog announced in late 2000 that future audits would be sent over Sevan's head, directly to the UN Security Council.
This time, it was Frechette who intervened. The Volcker inquiry reports that Frechette personally telephoned the head of audits, "denying this proposal."
"(The auditor) then abandoned the effort to report directly to the Security Council on (oil-for-food) related matters."
The UN audits remained under wraps for another four years until the Volcker inquiry began making them public only weeks ago. (Frechette said recently she believed the audits "were a management tool to be used only by internal managers.")
Frechette was Canada's deputy minister of defence in 1997 when Jean Chretien's government shut down the Somalia inquiry. She is also no stranger to the man heading the Volcker team of 75 investigators and forensic accountants.
Reid Morden is the former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
He was also Frechette's boss in 1993, when she was a diplomat and he was deputy minister of Foreign Affairs.
In a wide-ranging interview with me yesterday, Morden said the inquiry has so far tried to follow the money from the sale of Iraqi oil and purchase of humanitarian aid.
"What we will do now is try to give an overall picture of the management, mismanagement and possible corruption within the program overall," Morden said.
"And in that, we will be following up with Louise Frechette on whatever her role might have been or was not. "What we'll try to focus on is ... was the management structure appropriate and sufficient for a program of that size and complexity? And I think it is more on that side that we will be taking a look at her role."
Stay tuned. |
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| ShadoWolf |
http://www.canada.com/fortstjohn/st...7d-c841c24db723
UN probes Wheat Pool
Payments of $23.15M made in oil-for-food scandal congressional hearing told
Steven Edwards
CanWest News Service
Saturday, April 30, 2005
UNITED NATIONS -- The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool has emerged as one of the companies involved in Iraq oil-for-food deals now under investigation by a U.S. congressional committee probing the United Nations aid program, which Saddam Hussein manipulated to skim off billions of dollars for himself.
The focus on the company comes as the UN announced Friday it had discovered a staff-rule violation by Canadian businessperson and international diplomat Maurice Strong, whose long record at the world body is being reviewed after he, too, was recently swept up in the swirl of oil-for-food allegations and inquiries.
Six U.S. congressional committees and the UN itself are investigating the $50.92-billion program following allegations of mismanagement and corruption that helped Saddam siphon off funds through kickbacks and other forms of manipulation. A U.S. federal investigation is also underway in New York, and has already issued several indictments.
Among those indictments are charges against Korean businessperson Tongsun Park for allegedly trying to bribe UN officials with Iraqi funds.
Strong, named in 2003 as UN special adviser on North Korea because of his abundance of contacts in the region, subsequently acknowledged he'd had business ties with Park. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said a review of Strong's employment by the UN showed the Canadian had put his stepdaughter on his payroll in violation of UN rules.
Strong has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the oil-for-food program, and has denied any connection to it. Pending investigation by the UN oil-for-food probe into his business ties with Park, he has nevertheless stepped down as North Korea envoy.
The congressional hearing in which the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was mentioned Thursday saw BNP Paribas, the bank the UN used to broker deals in the oil-for-food program, acknowledge it improperly made 403 payments to third parties or their banks rather than to companies approved by the UN to deliver goods for Iraq.
Four of those payments are listed as going to the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool from 1999-2000, total value $23.15 million, and another two went to a Canadian-registered company called Limpex Trading in 2001, total value $124.1 million.
No allegation of corruption has surfaced, but congressional officials want to know more about the payments.
Officials of the Pool, Saskatchewan's largest grain handler and marketer, say that "as an accredited exporter for the Canadian Wheat Board," the Pool sent wheat to Iraq at that time.
They explain five vessels carried the shipments under the oil-for-food program, which the UN launched in late 1996 as a way to provide food and medicine to ordinary Iraqis as it pressed sanctions against the Saddam regime over weapons inspections.
"We received all the required verified approvals, and I have no reason to question the documentation wasn't valid," Mayo Schmidt, chief executive officer of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, said Friday in an interview.
"We disclosed in our annual report of 2000 that there were shipments to Iraq. In fact, we ended up suffering an $8.7-million loss because portions of the CWB wheat were rejected, and there were costs related to unloading delays and the transfer of the wheat to alternative buyers."
The UN directed the New York branch of Banque Nationale de Paris, which later became BNP Paribas, to handle finances for the six-year program, which ended following Saddam's overthrow.
Appearing at the hearing, held by the U.S. House subcommittee on oversight investigations, Everett Schenk, chief executive of BNP Paribas North America, said "some mistakes were made" as the bank processed 54,000 payments. But of the 403 he said "should not have occurred," he said the bank has uncovered no evidence any were "related to any corruption which may have occurred in the oil-for-food program."
Schmidt said the Pool will provide documentation of its shipments to Iraq "if asked by an agency of government that requires information about" them.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2005 |
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| dEsidEL |
why RED when u can also use GREEN!
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| naesean3 |
it is truly digusting really - for the last 30 years we seemed to have had our hands in this mess - I kinda figured something else was afoot - I heard about the Cretien connection a couple of years ago - but never saw anything actually published...:eyespop:
Cretien, Mulroney, Rae, Martin, Mazankowski - even TRUDEAU?? they are all in this pot'o'mess. Interesting reading for sure - there has to be more with France saying no to the war in IRAQ then - I assume as they got involved in IRAQ oil back in the 30's or 40's - until the US basically tried to take over. No wonder the US was pissed at us at the time - but I say better us than them....we (Canadian Corporations) might have made some money from this set-up but not nearly as much as the Americans stand to make in the years to come from occupying/hi-jacking the IRAQI government and controlling their interests - there is a plan for a pipeline through AFGHANISTAN hence this 9/11 bull/ENRON cover-up crap we are dealing with - I don't think we ourselves as a Canadian nation have raped/destroyed/ed over as many countries/regimes/governments - and for less of a pay-off - as the US have. IMO - In relative terms for our population and age as an actual country - we are still pretty naive on the WORLD scene and not that corrupt yet!!
my 2 cents......;) |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by naesean3
IMO - In relative terms for our population and age as an actual country - we are still pretty naive on the WORLD scene and not that corrupt yet!!
my 2 cents......;) |
Obviously not!
It sure looks like Canada was used as a syphon for corrupt $$$ based on the world's naivety of Canada's place in the world of business.:mad:
Forget Enron; everytime I hear about Power Corporation I can't believe the tentacles this corp. has all over the world!
That wouldn't be bad if the tentacles weren't always seemingly draped over the shoudlers of shadowy figures and just plain bad people. :wtf: |
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| ShadoWolf |
http://www.torontofreepress.com/2005/cover052005.htm
Liberals won't bring Canadian oil-for-food angle under microscope
by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Wilmington, N.C. The long known Canadian angle in the UN oil for food scandal will never come under the microscope. That's as far as the Liberal Party of Canada is concerned.
The minority-status Liberals, who managed to squeak by a non-confidence vote threatened by the Official Opposition, and now on the proverbial role, seem more than willing to protect Canadian friends.
Some Canadians are thought to have played a pivotal if not leading role in the oil-for-food imbroglio. Maurice Strong, caught up in the scandal because of his association with "Koreagate Man" Tongsun Park, charged last month by American authorities, is a senior adviser to both Canada's Prime Minister Paul Martin and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Then there is the Desmarais family of the Montreal-based Power Corporation and their ties to BNP Paris, Saddam Hussein's favourite bank.
Both Strong and his protégé Prime Minister Paul Martin once worked for Power Corporation.
The Liberals nixed any notion for an examination of Canada's oil-for-food role and also opposed any mention of Canadian companies implicated in the affair. The examination was requested by Stockwell Day, the Official Opposition's Foreign Affairs critic.
"It speaks volumes about the Liberal Party, that they aren't willing to directly address the situation and hopefully clear up any suggestions of Canadian involvement in this scandal," said Day.
Martin is a part owner of Cordex Petroleum Inc., whose principals accepted $1-million from Saddam Hussein.
Those hoping to see chief Kyoto Accord architect Maurice Strong independently investigated for his alleged oil-for-food participation will have to rely on the Americans.
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more criminal activities of the Lieberal Party internationally:
http://primetimecrime.com/contribut...0050120Gray.htm |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | | Martin is a part owner of Cordex Petroleum Inc., whose principals accepted $1-million from Saddam Hussein. |
The real reason Canada didnt send troops maybe? |
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| ShadoWolf |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
The real reason Canada didnt send troops maybe? |
that's part of it, but it had more to do with:
| quote: |
Power Corporation CEO Andre Desmarais is the son-in-law of former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who went out of his way to oppose U.S. intervention in Iraq, where the family's business interests with the Saddam regime would be jeopardized. |
see the first few articles, above
So much for "Canadian values." :rolleyes: |
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| ShadoWolf |
Paul Martin's mentor just got fired... when will Canadians fire Paul Martin?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...Story/National/
UN gives Maurice Strong the boot
Monday, July 18, 2005 Updated at 6:45 PM EDT
Associated Press
United Nations — A Canadian businessman lost his job as the top UN envoy to North Korea amid questions about his connection to a suspect in the UN oil-for-food scandal, the world body said Monday.
The decision not to renew Maurice Strong's contract follows criticism that he gave his stepdaughter a job at the United Nations and concerns over his ties to a South Korean businessman accused of accepting kickbacks from Saddam Hussein's government.
Deputy UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said in response to a question that Mr. Strong's contract expired last week “and it has not been renewed.” She gave no reason.
Mr. Strong's office in Ottawa, said he was not there on Monday and no one else was available to comment.
Mr. Strong, who had been the UN point man on six-nation talks aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programs, took temporary leave from his post on April 20 during a probe of his ties to businessman Tongsun Park.
The next day his stepdaughter, Christina Mayo, resigned after a UN review discovered that she had worked at the United Nations for her stepfather for two years. UN staff regulations in most cases prohibit the hiring of immediate family members.
Mr. Park, a native of North Korea and citizen of South Korea, was charged in the United States in April with allegedly accepting millions of dollars from Saddam Hussein's government to lobby illegally for Iraq in the United States on behalf of the oil-for-food program.
Mr. Strong said Mr. Park had advised him on Korean issues, but he denied any involvement with the $64-billion humanitarian program in Iraq.
Prosecutors say Mr. Park met with an unidentified UN official in an apparent effort to influence the design of the oil-for-food program and invested $1-million in a company run by the official's son. Mr. Strong acknowledged that Mr. Park invested money in a company run by his son, the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper has reported.
Mr. Strong had been involved in UN environment and development issues since 1970 and in January 1997 was appointed a senior adviser to General-Secretary Kofi Annan on reforming the United Nations. |
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| baystreetboi |
| quote: | Originally posted by ShadoWolf
Paul Martin's mentor just got fired... when will Canadians fire Paul Martin?
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...when the Conservative party finally gets a leader that every-day moderate Canadians can actually tolerate / stomach. |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by baystreetboi
...when the Conservative party finally gets a leader that every-day moderate Canadians can actually tolerate / stomach. |
Took the words out of my mouth...
Canadians, overall, are afraid of change unless provoked. (provoked being like, touching their money directly, or a poke in the head with a stick).
We like status quo and would rather deal with the nail in our foot than actually admit we have a problem and deal with it.
What I don't get is how do we, Canadians, not understand that other countries aren't dumb and they see what's going on here; this is no small deal! :conf: |
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