CORRECTED: Ex-head of oil-for-food program accused

Please read date in dateline as Aug 8 instead of Aug 7

By Evelyn Leopold and Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The former head of the U.N.
oil-for-food program, Benon Sevan, was accused on Monday of
getting nearly $150,000 in kickbacks funneled to him by a
relative of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali.

The U.N.-established Independent Inquiry Committee, headed
by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker,
recommended U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan waive immunity
for “purposes of a criminal investigation” of Sevan. But Sevan,
who has denied any wrongdoing, resigned from the United Nations
on Sunday, which automatically lifts his immunity.

In its third interim report, the panel also accused a U.N.
purchasing officer, Alexander Yakovlev, of soliciting a bribe
from a contractor that did business with the now-defunct $67
billion U.N. humanitarian program for Iraq.

According to the inquiry, Sevan worked with a cousin of
Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian Fakhry Abdelnour, who owned a small
trading firm, called African Middle East Petroleum (AMEP). This
firm transferred $580,000 to the account of Fred Nadler, the
brother of Boutros-Ghali’s wife Leia.

Of this amount, Nadler then deposited in cash $147,184 to
the New York bank accounts of Sevan and his wife.

“Mr Sevan corruptly and in concert with (Mr) Nadler and
(Mr) Abdelnour derived personal pecuniary benefit through the
program through cash receipts from the sale of oil allocated by
Iraq to Mr Sevan and bought by African Middle East Petroleum
Co.,” the report said.

“The participants had knowledge that some of the oil was
purchased by paying an illegal surcharge to Iraq in violation
of United Nations sanctions and rules of the program.