UN reports find mismanagement but no corruption in Oil-for-Food program News
UN reports find mismanagement but no corruption in Oil-for-Food program

[JURIST] An internal probe of the scandal-ridden UN Oil-for-Food Program has concluded that although the program was plagued by mismanagement, especially in the handling of contracts, there was no evidence of corruption on the part of UN officials. The probe was conducted by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services; its findings, in the form of 58 reports, were presented Sunday in New York by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, now heading an independent panel investigating the program (visit the website of the Independent Inquiry Committee Into the UN Oil-for-Food Programme). During the late 1990s Oil-for-Food allowed Iraq to sell some of its oil for foodstuffs in an effort to ease the burden of UN sanctions on children and other vulnerable members of Iraqi society. Sunday's report did not, however, directly address allegations that Saddam Hussein's regime had bribed program officials to permit the sale of more oil than was allowed. Review the full texts of the 58 internal UN audit reports. The Volcker Committee's has released an accompanying briefing paper [PDF]. Reuters has more.