Tim Blair

UNSCAM WHISTLEBLOWER SPOOKED

The Chicago Tribune on UNSCAM:

How much money illegally went to Hussein for palaces, for weapons, for oppression, for mischief? The General Accounting Office, an arm of Congress, puts the total at more than $10 billion.

Annan's response essentially is that the UN is being blamed unfairly for corruption over which it had no control. We'll see.

Via MEPND. Meanwhile Britain’s Daily Telegraph has tracked Benon Sevan down to some fancy digs in Cyprus:

"I am going back to America tomorrow morning - I am not running away," he said. "I will talk about this when it's all over. Please don't underestimate me."

Nobody does, Mr. Sevan.

Mr Sevan's office ... was criticised last week for sending at least three letters to potential witnesses demanding their silence. The letters were unearthed by the US Congress after witnesses to its own inquiry into the oil-for-food debacle suddenly fell silent.

One letter, written in Mr Sevan's name, was sent to a consultant to the programme who had been identified by congressional investigators as a potential whistleblower.

A congressional investigator said: "This particular individual is someone we have been in contact with for more than a month. This letter has chilled his willingness to co-operate with the congressional investigation. This individual also appears to be genuinely frightened by the implications inherent in the letter."

Posted by Tim Blair at May 10, 2004 01:53 PM