U.N. SLICKSTER EYED IN LAUNDER SCHEME
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By NILES LATHEMDecember 8, 2004 -- WASHINGTON — Congressional investigators are examining whether the former head of the U.N. oil-for-food program laundered profits from shady oil deals with Saddam Hussein through family businesses in Cyprus to make it look as if his newfound wealth was coming from an "inheritance."
A spokesman for the House International Relations Committee told The Post yesterday the panel is investigating new information that ex-oil-for-food chief Benon Sevan concocted an elaborate scheme to hide profits he received from sweetheart oil deals by diverting money to family members in his native Cyprus.
"The information we received is that he diverted the money [from the deals] to family members in Cyprus," the spokesman said.
"We have been informed that it was set up so that if he were to be put in a room and asked where his money came from, he would say it came from inheritance from his grandmother or an aunt."
The committee is now searching for a money trail through banks in several countries, the spokesman said. Sevan hasn't been questioned by the congressional probers.
Sevan, an Armenian Cypriot, is a career U.N. bureaucrat at the center of the burgeoning oil-for-food scandal, which has thrown the world body into a crisis and threatens to topple Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Sevan, who owns homes in Manhattan and the Hamptons, is alleged to have made millions in profits through a scheme in which Saddam granted vouchers that allowed recipients to buy Iraqi oil at below-market prices and resell it on the open market at profits of up to 50 cents a barrel.
In one series of trades, revealed in Iraqi Oil Ministry documents earlier this year, Sevan earned $1.2 million through nine oil allocations from 1998 to 2003 through Africa Middle East Petroleum, a mysterious Panamanian-based company headed by a nephew of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
A report by CIA weapons inspector Charles Duelfer in October said Sevan received allocations from several other companies, including one based in Cyprus.
Duelfer also reported that an Egyptian middleman associated with Africa Middle East Petroleum would travel to Baghdad and sign documents on Sevan's behalf and pick up the oil vouchers.
Former Iraqi Vice President Taha Ramadan personally oversaw the deals involving Sevan, Duelfer reported.
Sevan eventually was cut off from the oil gravy train because Saddam was not satisfied he was doing enough for him and was angered that Sevan's companies were not paying kickbacks to his regime, investigators said.
Sevan has repeatedly denied he took oil bribes from Saddam.
He remains at the United Nations under a $1-a-year arrangement so he can cooperate with the independent commission headed by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker.
Sources said Sevan's oil dealings with Saddam are an early priority for Volcker, along with the relationship between Annan's son, Kojo, and a Swiss company that won a lucrative oil-for-food contract.
Volcker is expected to issue a preliminary report on his probe to Annan and congressional committees next month.
Sevan is considered a close associate of Annan and Boutros-Ghali, who was ousted from the United Nations in 1996 under pressure from the Clinton administration.
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Reply 1 - Posted by: danu, 12/8/2004 3:11:03 AM
slickster, indeed.
the whole thing is straight out of the Slickmeister Playbook...even Koffee's claims that he is soooo busy ''carrying on with [his] work.''
riiiight, all that ''laundry'' to do.
Reply 2 - Posted by: MsCharlotteVale, 12/8/2004 3:41:35 AM
I'm sick of career bureaucrats at the u.n. They're mostly money-changers with extravagent lifestyles. Sevan is about to retire with a pension. (That was reported several months ago.) "Working" at the u.n. appears to be all about money and living the good life.
Reply 3 - Posted by: saryden, 12/8/2004 4:05:11 AM
The U N is nothing but a Cash Cow for every third world country, with U S paying the bill.
They cared nothing about the torture and deaths (remember how we were blamed for babies who had no milk?) of Iraqis while their members were raking in illegal oil-for-food $$..
no more than they cared about the massacres in Sudan. It is time to kill the U N.
Reply 4 - Posted by: uno, 12/8/2004 5:21:09 AM
"Sevan is considered a close associate of Annan and Boutros-Ghali, who was ousted from the United Nations in 1996 under pressure from the Clinton administration."
That tells me that Boutros-Ghali probably wasn't dirty enough for Clinton!
Reply 5 - Posted by: lbeam, 12/8/2004 5:58:20 AM
When do the American people get fed up with the U.N.? The left loves this one world government seed which they hope will spaun a one world socialist government. Get the U.S out of the U.N. and get the U.N. out of the U.S.
Reply 6 - Posted by: Melin, 12/8/2004 6:21:07 AM
I want that money back and funneled to Iraq to help pay for their freedom. It was meant for them in the first place.
Reply 7 - Posted by: Ardys Parrish, 12/8/2004 7:15:21 AM
If looks like the 'New York Post' and Niles Latham are sticking to the OFF scandal and giving it good reporting with new revelations every day. Good for them.
Reply 8 - Posted by: bean, 12/8/2004 7:18:50 AM
Come on, sell the building to Trump for condos and get rid of these UN people - a scab on NY.
Reply 9 - Posted by: LAW428, 12/8/2004 8:30:01 AM
I think most Americans are fed up with the UN and its pompous arrogance. The big question is, when will the politicians stop providing it with phony credibility?
The UN is only "something" because we say it is.
Reply 10 - Posted by: Halfgenius, 12/8/2004 8:33:56 AM
Our feckless Representative won't do anything unless we stay behind them with pitchforks jabbing them in the rear every step of the way. I think it's time to go down to ACE and git' me a brand spankin' New Pitchfork and start honing the tangs, perhaps file some little barbs in the tips.
Reply 11 - Posted by: wes mouch, 12/8/2004 8:52:02 AM
Sevan's bribe money was laundered through a shady company run by former UN secretary Boutros-Boutros's nephew? How many layers and decades of nepotism do we have over at the UN? Just rename the place Bribes R US. I'd like to see pictures of demostrators outside their homes with placards that read No Hampton Mansions for Oil!
Reply 12 - Posted by: chatham, 12/8/2004 9:10:55 AM
Get rid of the U.N.
Congress voted to cut our payments to the U.N., How about cutting our payments by 100%.
Watch the roaches run around then.
Reply 13 - Posted by: jaymidas, 12/8/2004 9:36:29 AM
"...Sevan, who owns homes in Manhattan and the Hamptons"
All this on $150K/year?
Reminds me of Ferdinand Marcos of the Phillipines who 'made' only $30K salary, but had/stole $Billions.
Impound these "homes" for a start!
Reply 14 - Posted by: pomom, 12/8/2004 9:38:57 AM
I consider the U.N. a haven for thugs and scam artists. This latest report is really outrageous.
Reply 15 - Posted by: pouncer, 12/8/2004 9:44:10 AM
Wonder if this trail leads to Soros and der Slickmeister as well? Perhaps this is why the Dims fought so to "orchestrate" an election. Do New York senators have any input of the UN status?
Oh what a web we weave when first we practice to deceive...
Reply 16 - Posted by: recallhillary.com, 12/8/2004 11:08:07 AM
Per #15, it's totally possible that there are cover-up activities being orchestrated from the office of a certain Junior U.S. "Senator" from New York State. This scandal may well reach her and her husband, and dont' think she isn't in full throttle to stop that from happening. Will Marc Rich give them up if he's arrested by the new, highly effective "United States of Europe" bureau of investigation?
Reply 17 - Posted by: LadyK, 12/8/2004 11:30:16 AM
I still say ask Sandy Berger to cop a plea.
Then lets get the Pelicano hard drives out of storage and start makeing slick willie pay for his criminal corruption.
Reply 18 - Posted by: Strike3, 12/8/2004 12:02:53 PM
I'm waiting for the day when Scott Ritter and his pal Blixy are implicated. The circle of jerks will then be complete.
Reply 19 - Posted by: valleystorm, 12/8/2004 12:35:03 PM
Isn't "U.N. slickster" redundent?
Reply 20 - Posted by: piavesta, 12/8/2004 6:43:26 PM
This is one arrogant ba****d that I would love to see punished.
Reply 21 - Posted by: CadillaqJaq, 12/8/2004 7:13:51 PM
Gag me with a fork! Earlier today I watched the U.N. General Assembly giving old Kofi a standing ovation.
As said in the inner cities: ''Crime do pay..."
