After a year-long investigation, a committee has found that Kofi Annan, head of the United Nations, failed to halt corruption in the Oil for Food program, which was supposed to provide food to impoverished Iraqi citizens.
According to Paul Volcker, head of the Independent Inquiry Committee, "Our assignment has been to look for mis-or mal-administration in the oil-for-food program and for evidence of corruption within the UN organization and by contractors. Unhappily, we found both."
The report emphasized that Annan knowingly allowed Saddam Hussein to continue making huge unethical profits off of the program.
While Annan acknowledged that there was blame to pass around, he stated that "None of us -- member states, Secretariat, agencies, funds and programs -- can be proud of what it has found." Annan also says that he was at least partly at fault for the corruption; "The report is critical of me personally, and I accept its criticism."
On a lighter note, while the report is critical of Annan, it also says that the Oil for Food program did help get food to many Iraqis.
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
The text of this article has been released into the public domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication.
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
The text of this article has been released into the public domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication.
