CONGRESS GETS SIZZLING KOFI PAPERS
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By NILES LATHEM Post CorrespondentWASHINGTON — Documents potentially devastating to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan were handed over yesterday to a congressional committee in an explosive new development in the U.N. oil-for- food scandal.
House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) announced that Robert Parton, who resigned in protest from the investigation headed by Paul Volcker, had complied with the panel's subpoena.
Parton, who claimed Volcker probers had been too soft on Annan in their last report, turned over boxes of documents on Annan's son, Kojo.
He also provided two drafts far more critical of Kofi Annan than last month's final report, sources told The Post.
There was high drama surrounding the subpoena of Parton because he was subject to a confidentiality agreement with the Volcker panel. Immunity laws typically keep U.N. officials out of reach of congressional subpoenas.
After secretly receiving the subpoena last Friday, Parton's lawyer, Lanny Davis, asked Volcker and U.N. lawyers if they would instruct Parton to defy a congressional subpoena — but did not actually tell them he had been subpoenaed.
When the Volcker committee and the United Nations did not reply, Parton had "no choice" but to comply with the committee's subpoena, a source said.
News that Parton had turned over sensitive documents to Congress infuriated Volcker.
The Volcker panel's chief counsel, Susan Ringler, accused Parton of blindsiding the panel by not telling it about the subpoena.
"[This] calls into question your motivation," Ringler wrote to Davis, in a letter released last night.
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Reply 1 - Posted by: rekfan, 5/6/2005 6:53:01 AM
Why are the worst crimes so hard to adjudicate? Is it because those who sit in judgement are so compromised by their own behavior?
Reply 2 - Posted by: saryden, 5/6/2005 7:11:17 AM
Perhaps Kofi is being "thrown to the wolves" in order to retain confidence/approval for the UN.
I think that entire ship should sink, not just the chairman. The UN and the whole world-government concept is a recipe for future misery.
Reply 3 - Posted by: janylou, 5/6/2005 7:53:23 AM
"The Volcker panel's chief counsel, Susan Ringler, accused Parton of blindsiding the panel by not telling it about the subpoena.
"[This] calls into question your motivation," Ringler wrote to Davis, in a letter released last night."
Cat fight!!!
Reply 4 - Posted by: cap MarineTet68, 5/6/2005 8:03:26 AM
OK, so now we attack the "motivation" of the guy who unveils some documents that can shed light on the matter, and thus detract from the documents. I believe the technical term is "ad hominem attack".
Pah! Ptooie!
Reply 5 - Posted by: Hoosier, 5/6/2005 8:28:39 AM
Why isn't the press treating this guy like one of their vaunted "whistleblowers"? I thought they liked whistleblowers.
Reply 6 - Posted by: Betty Jean, 5/6/2005 8:52:31 AM
Can someone tell me just ONE good thing the UN has done or been involved in in the past ten years? I'm just curious.
Reply 7 - Posted by: dodger32, 5/6/2005 9:25:31 AM
a. Bush on Borders: ( )
b. Bush on deficit spending ( )
c. Bush on Kofi ( )
Analysis: Oh yeah - Kofi's goin' down(not).
Reply 8 - Posted by: nevernaught, 5/6/2005 9:35:57 AM
Sifting through this debris, it appears that Volker's committee is nothing more than a dirt filter for the most outrageous acts of the UN and it's fearless leader Kofi Koverup.
It seems that these infamous investigative groups are only assigned for damage control. The mere fact that Lanny Davis appeared on the scene should have tipped everyone off that crimes were being covered up and papers were being burned. Sandy Berger couldn't have been very far behind. I suppose all those boxes wouldn't fit in his very baggy pants.
Reply 9 - Posted by: cpmjohn, 5/6/2005 9:38:01 AM
Sorry, but until I see it, I can't believe that Lanny Davis will present, or be involved with, any material damaging to Kofi.
He's in too tight with the Clintons.
Reply 10 - Posted by: Primal Screamer, 5/6/2005 9:49:01 AM
I hope most of the iceburg hasn't been shredded yet.
Reply 11 - Posted by: RetroZone, 5/6/2005 10:11:52 AM
Seems to me that whatever Parton's ''motivation'' was, it equals truth - which exposes Volcker's spinelessness or alternate agenda.
Reply 12 - Posted by: aspiringHermit, 5/6/2005 10:25:23 AM
Immunity laws typically keep U.N. officials out of reach of congressional subpoenas.
Reason enough to boot the UN from US soil!
Reply 13 - Posted by: Christie, 5/6/2005 10:25:42 AM
My best lefty friend recently told me that she was 'up to here' with the move to global gov't. We agree wholeheartedly on that but I suspect that she thinks that the WOT carried out by the 'Industrial Miltary Complex' of the Bush administration is behind it. (Dubya's fault). Noooooo, it's HER party, led by the Clintoons and the Goon N. I haven't pointed that out--yet.
Reply 14 - Posted by: James Beam, 5/6/2005 10:40:51 AM
Break the bad news to her gently. She'll have to go throught the seven stages of grief.
/compassionate-conservatism off
Reply 15 - Posted by: doublenickel, 5/6/2005 1:12:54 PM
Boxes of incriminating documents do not drop in Republicans' laps. This sounds like a set-up.
Reply 16 - Posted by: amereagle, 5/6/2005 1:53:11 PM
Where Kofi's from, it is believed you can cure a fatal virus with beetroot and bark.
We need more Kipling and less UN.
Reply 17 - Posted by: Freedomlover, 5/6/2005 2:25:53 PM
#9 is on to it. The entire Clinton impeachment defense team is involved. They are on both sides of the fight. There job is to protect the Clintons. If this means Kofi, Kojo, Volcker, and many others must be tossed to the wolves, so be it. Kofi and Volcker are learning what it means to be a friend of the Clintons.
Reply 18 - Posted by: TnEm, 5/6/2005 2:42:57 PM
If Kofi is given the boot, can Clinton (Bill) be appointed to fill the vacancy? Hate to express my ignorance on how that job is filled but there you are.
Reply 19 - Posted by: Sparty76, 5/6/2005 3:01:30 PM
I heard or read somewhere that no one from a Security Council Permanent member nation can serve as Secty Gen.
Reply 20 - Posted by: walcb, 5/6/2005 3:23:55 PM
#18--No.
Reply 21 - Posted by: thefield, 5/6/2005 3:47:19 PM
BJ never met any law that he has complied with. I wish we would slow down on Koffee, if his successor is appointed, lets say during W's last year in office, then there would be no chance for BJ to get in, no matter who is the next president.
Reply 22 - Posted by: Society Dweller, 5/6/2005 5:51:35 PM
WQe have had Kofi and Kujo and look what we ended up with. The biggest fraud scandal in recorded history. Now what could possibly top a record like that? I nominate His Royal Highness Bill Clinton and Her Majesty Hillary Clinton as the next Co-Presidents of the U.N. I am sure they will vow to run the most ethical administration in history as a campain promise.
