NEWS

House Foreign Affairs Committee

U.S. House of Representatives

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Republican

CONTACT: Sam Stratman, (202) 226-7875, January 16, 2007

Lee Cohen (202) 225-1139

For IMMEDIATE Release

Ros-Lehtinen Comments on U.S. Indictment

Of Former UN Manager of Oil-for-Food Program

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, commented today on the indictment of Benon Sevan, a career UN official and former director of the ill-fated U.N. Oil-for-Food Program. The program was created in the mid-1990s as a way for the international community to track the sale of oil by Saddam Hussein and ensure proceeds were used to purchase food, medicine and other items to benefit the Iraqi people. Sevan is alleged to have accepted bribes from Saddam Hussein which allowed the regime to steer billions of dollars in oil revenue for military and other uses that violated UN sanctions. In 2005, the Volcker Commission, which was tasked with investigating the oil-for food scandal, concluded that Sevan had accepted bribes. Statement of Ros-Lehtinen:

“I welcome the decision by the U.S. Attorney to indict Mr. Sevan.

“A public trial would unearth more details about how the regime of Saddam Hussein, with the complicity of many in UN senior management, turned a program designed to provide food and medicine for the Iraqi people into an international rip-off of staggering dimensions.

“In order to address this and other scandals, we need to understand why the United Nations repeatedly turned a blind-eye to criminal behavior in its own ranks, and why it has yet to reform itself.

“It is my hope that during his tenure, Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon will demand higher standards of integrity from the people who serve the United Nations. It is also vital that the Secretary General provide public access to all of the records of the Volcker Commission.”

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