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Oil-for-Food Probe Eyes Annan Papers

 

By Unnamed UN Apologist (Direct descendent of Karl Marx! - tha malcontent)
Associated Press Writer Feb 5, 4:34 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) � Investigators probing alleged corruption at the United Nations oil-for-food program are scrutinizing thousands of pages of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's documents, including e-mail and phone records, to determine whether he exerted influence in securing a contract for a Swiss company that employed his son.

 

(ap) - The 3rd word into this story is "alleged"... Very telling!  The title of this AP/UN Protection Piece is just as Vague, non-Specific and Apologetic.  In regard to Enron, the tone was not so, "Let's wait until all of the Facts are known!", as it seems the "Free Press" is regarding one of their Sacred Cows, the United Nations. By comparison of "Scandals", Enron was a walk in the park. Enron did not directly or indirectly assist in the Death of untold thousands. Enron did not help to prop up a Dictator who's Rule saw countless Murders and Genocide, the totals of which may never be known. The UN has Degraded to nothing more than a Black Market Clearing House for the Terrorists of the World who's main function is to let the Arab nations whip Israel with endless Resolutions denouncing Israel, while the Obviously Oppressive Arabs hide behind the UN's protection. When they allowed Saddam 5 more months to hide, move and or destroy the WMD stockpiles that the UN had documented leading up to our War, we should have withdrawn from that Failed Organization and then asked them to relocate their Headquarters in another Country. When Syria, a known and Egregious Human Rights Violator replaced the United States on the Human Rights Commission, that should have been the day we packed up and left that Patently Corrupt institution... I hope that the Truth comes out of this "Oil for Food" Scandal, and that it is the end of that outdated piece of Human History's Failures.  The UN has so much blood on it's hands, that continuing to Respect it with our Membership is getting blood on our hands! - tha malcontent)

Paul Volcker, the head of the independent investigation, confirmed the document search and told The Associated Press that new information had led investigators to delay publishing their findings about Annan's son Kojo, whose activities have embroiled the U.N. chief in the growing scandal.

 

(It would not be a "growing scandal" if the Organization's name was "Haliburton"!  There isn't even a scandal with Haliburton, but it sure seems like there is thanks to the "Free Press" and their Abject Bias! - tha malcontent)

"There were things that came along that threw us back," Volcker said in an AP interview.

The United Nations' oil-for-food program was its largest humanitarian aid operation and ran from 1996 to 2003 when it ended. It was designed to allow the former Iraqi government to sell limited amounts of oil in exchange for humanitarian goods as an exemption from sanctions in place since 1991.

 

(How much blood is on the hands of France and Germany during that period! - tha malcontent)

Dr. Mohammed al-Jibouri, Iraq's trade minister, said on Saturday that more has yet to be revealed on specific individuals' roles in the scandal. He did not specify any names in his comments, made to Associated Press Television News.

 

(Is it me, or is the AP going out of it's way to not tell the reader what the scandal is really about? - tha malcontent)

"There are a lot of names, and I hope there will be some fairness on that - not to shut out the light, and put this in the dark, under the carpet," al-Jibouri said.

 

(If it was not for alternatives to the Leftist Monopoly that was the "Free Press", such as FOXNews, this AP story would not even exist!  Dan Rather (D) was too busy telling us how "less than average" Bush (43) was in this final 2 years of his Air National Guard Service, 30 YEARS AGO, to be bothered with the "Oil for Food" Scandal! - tha malcontent)

Al-Jibouri said the program initially had been a "huge success" in helping ordinary Iraqis contend with U.N. sanctions imposed on Saddam's regime after the 1991 Gulf War.

 

("UN Sanctions" that somehow are the REPUBLICans fault, if you were at all moved by the "Free Presses" Perception Campaign over the years! - tha malcontent)

Problems began when Iraq began imposing a surcharge on contracts for goods bought under the program, he said."A lot of companies refused to do this, so a lot of them actually withdrew from that program," he said.

As Volcker issued an interim investigative report Thursday, he said he had planned to include the findings about Kojo Annan's employment with Cotecna Inspection SA. The company had a U.N. contract to certify deals for humanitarian supplies imported by Iraq under the oil-for-food program.

 

(This program helped to sustain Saddam's Power, and pay all who were involved BILLIONS over the span, and our War helped to uncover it, hence the UN's reluctance, along with France and Germany, to Authorize our Just War after 12 years of games!  Why can't the AP just illustrate this as what it is? - tha malcontent)

But Volcker's committee decided to issue that part of the report along with other conclusions later this winter to give investigators time to review the new information. About 10 investigators have focused solely on the Annan files.

There were delays in organizing access to U.N. files, including those stored on hard-drives in Annan's office, but Volcker said the United Nations has been cooperating with his requests.

 

("Delays in organizing access"?...  When it's Enron, it's "Deliberately stalling"... The same was the case regarding Bush (43)'s nearly meaningless Air National Guard files.  But then again, the AP only sued Bush (43) for his Records, even after Bush (43) signed a Form 180, something that John Kerry never did...  And of course, the AP did not sue Kerry for his records.  Why would they, they Voted for him! - tha malcontent)

"It is supposed to be an open book and we have not identified conscious deliberate evasions, like shredding papers before we got there," Volcker said. "But we have been slowed - and I am not criticizing this - by a sensitivity on the part of the U.N."

 

("And I am not criticizing this..."?!?!  This is so laughable, but really, it's Concerning!  We are talking about an issue that is probably the most Serious Scandal of our Age. - tha malcontent)

He explained that officials were sensitive about his investigative panel's access to personal e-mails, but that they had resolved the matter.

 

(You will never read this: "He explained that Enron officials were sensitive about his investigative panel's access to personal e-mails, but that they had resolved the matter."  I can assure you of that!  Memo to the AP: The word "sensitive" is being gratuitously used at this point!  We understand, you are "sensitive" to the UN! - tha malcontent)

Kofi Annan, who has been interviewed at least three times during the investigation, has said Volcker's panel would have complete access to U.N. officials and documents.

 

(Keywords: "Would have complete access".  That is, complete access to the information that is still existing at whatever time it is that access is finally fully granted!  The UN seems like Saddam at this point, don't they! - tha malcontent)

Investigators also have interviewed Kojo Annan several times, but Volcker said there had been some frustrations.

"He is a little difficult to get a hold of, but he doesn't refuse to be interviewed," Volcker said. "How forthcoming he is for the interview is another question."

 

(Another thing you will never read: "Ken Lay is a little difficult to get a hold of..."  Pathetic display of the AP's inability to be Objective in it's reporting!  If an Investigator sounded this way during Enron, the AP would have been very Critical in tone, not Excusatory, as they do with the UN. - tha malcontent)

Kojo Annan, 31, worked for Cotecna from 1996 to 1998, leaving at about the time the company received the U.N. contract. He has said that he only worked for the company in Africa and has denied any involvement in its oil-for-food dealings.

 

(Why has the AP not launched it's own Investigation?... SeeBS's 60 Minutes?... ABC's 20/20?... NBC's Today program?...  I'm sorry, Katie doesn't have the time, she is simply too busy re-interviewing the couple of 9-11 Widows who hammer Bush (43) with a regularity that is worthy of an Investigation itself! - tha malcontent)

Kofi Annan has also denied that his son's employment played a role in the contracting. But the U.N. chief expressed "disappointment and surprise" in November when it emerged that Kojo Annan had not disclosed that Cotecna continued to pay him $30,000 a year for five years after he left. The payments were compensation for an agreement not to work for competitors.

 

(I am a little more than "disappointed and surprised" at the UN at this point! - tha malcontent)

Volcker said investigators were following new leads that seemed to broaden the probe involving Kojo Annan beyond his Cotecna ties.

 

(An Obviously Incurious AP is forced to reluctantly report! - tha malcontent)

For example, an article published in the Times of London late last month detailed contact between Kojo Annan and Hani Yamani, the son of a former Saudi oil minister, in a failed bid for an oil-for-food deal. The paper quoted two unnamed "business associates" of Yamani, who claimed Kojo traveled to Morocco to help finalize the $60 million oil sale which later fell through.

 

(The "Free Press" would not be collectively waiting for this Scandal to fall in it's lap if we were talking about Haliburton!  It makes me wish a comparable scandal surrounding Haliburton would surface, as Trent Lott's (R) ambiguous words about Strom at a Birthday Party did after DemocRAT Senator, Robert "There are White Niggers" Byrd's (D-KKK) Patently Racist words on Public Television were all but Ignored by the "Free Press"! - tha malcontent)

"The story did not surprise us," Volcker told AP on Thursday after releasing his report.

The documents from Annan's office are among 5 million pages digitally scanned by investigators, who also have copied hard-drives from scores of U.N. computers to search the files with keywords.

The document trail has proven a key tool and following it helped investigators untangle deceptions by oil-for-food program director Benon Sevan. Volcker's Thursday report accused him of conflicts of interest for soliciting oil allocations from Saddam Hussein's regime.

 

(Most Americans stopped reading this at the odd Headline.  They certainly have not gotten this far to start seeing hints of what the Scandal is really about!... And that's exactly what the AP is hoping for! - tha malcontent)

The report alleged Sevan had repeated contact with Iraqi officials requesting that they to give a small Swiss-based oil company, African Middle East Petroleum Co. Ltd. Inc., known as AMEP, the opportunity to buy oil.

AMEP later sold about 6.4 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil to The Royal Dutch/Shell Group. The contracts could be sold to international traders for a markup of up to 35 cents a barrel, The Financial Times reported.

Volcker's investigators confronted Sevan with information gained from interviews with Iraqi officials and Fakhry Abdelnour, the owner of AMEP.

 

(Iraqi Officials who were available thanks to our Militaries Removal of an Oppressive and Tyrannical Regime in March of 2003! - tha malcontent)

Abdelnour told them he paid an illegal surcharge of $160,000 to an Iraqi-controlled bank account in Jordan in October 2001, using some of the proceeds he had received from the sale of oil to Shell. Shell has denied any knowledge of the kickbacks.

The Iraqis told investigators that Sevan asked them in 1998 to allocate oil vouchers to AMEP to "help a friend," and said the friend's name was "Abdelnour," a charge that both Sevan and Abdelnour originally denied, saying that they had only met each other once.

But the apparent deception broke down when investigators produced documents and telephone records from Sevan's U.N. office.

 

("Apparent deception"... Classic! - tha malcontent)

Investigators found two business cards for Abdelnour in the U.N. office. The cards had different addresses, suggesting they had been obtained at different times. Detailed contact information for AMEP and Abdelnour was updated at least once as well, the report said.

 

(Oops! - tha malcontent)

And AMEP was the only company found on Sevan's telephone contact list, which investigators found on his computer.

When confronted with the documents along with detailed phone records showing numerous telephone contact with Abdelnour, Sevan's story changed.

 

(Sevan's story changed?!?... I am shocked... SHOCKED! - tha malcontent)

"His description of past contacts with Mr. Abdelnour evolved from a single meeting at the OPEC conference to acknowledging a second chance meeting at a restaurant in Geneva and then, after being confronted with phone record evidence, to having developed an acquaintanceship with Mr. Abdelnour lasting over several years: 'I came to like the guy. He is an interesting character you know, he's been around the world," the report said, quoting Sevan.

 

(Is it me, or is that one goofy ending for a news story?... It seems like the rest of this story found it's way to the shredder before it was Published the way it just seem to come to a end without proper form!  By the way, there is FAR more to this Scandal than the AP is willing to talk about.  When it comes out, I will be here to report on what the AP is Failing to!  In the meantime, let me give you a taste from the Washington Times of what the AP is avoiding like the plague!: "A federal grand-jury investigation of pardoned financier Marc Rich's role in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal has focused on whether he helped Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein reward the families of Palestinian bombers who carried out suicide attacks in Israel, sources said yesterday."  Marc Rich was "Pardoned" by Clinton as one of his last Cowardly and Reckless acts in Office... Along with the Commutation of Child Molesting Elected DemocRAT, Melvin Reynolds (D)... Did I mention that Clinton had a Golfing Partner in said Convicted Child Molesting DemocRAT?  There is more to come, believe me!  Until then, enjoy REPUBLICan Control... The Adults are at the wheel for at least 2 more years... Sleep well! - tha malcontent)
 

 

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