Oil-for-food inquiry report to go to UN Security Council
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-09-07 10:26

A long-awaited report by the chairman of an independent panel probing the corruption-tainted UN oil-for-food program for Iraq will be presented to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, a UN spokesman said, AFP reported.

"The Security Council will hold an open meeting at 10:00 am (1400 GMT), during which Mr. (Paul) Volcker (the head of the panel and a former US Federal Reserve chairman) will present his report," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a press briefing.

Dujarric said it was normal that Volcker would present his report to the council, since the inquiry commission was working under the authority of the council.

The spokesman added that Annan, who is expected to be criticized for lapses in the management of the 64-billion-dollar program, would attend the council meeting, at which the UN chief was expected to speak.

Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who heads the Independent Inquiry Committee investigating alleged corruption in the United Nations oil-for-food program, gestures as he answers a question from the media during a press conference releasing the Committee's third interim report in this Aug. 8, 2005 file photo in New York. [AP/file]

Britain's Financial Times reported earlier Tuesday that the report was expected to call for an urgent and thorough reform of the United Nations leadership.

The demand was prompted by a failure of management in the oil program, the daily said, quoting a copy of a summary of the Volcker report, which will be the fourth and most detailed so far on the scandal that has tarnished the United Nations.

It comes at a bad time for Annan, who is to host world leaders at a September 14-16 summit aimed at endorsing far-reaching reforms of the world body on its 60th anniversary.

"The main conclusions are unambiguous," the summary said, according to the copy quoted by the Financial Times. "The organization requires stronger executive leadership, thorough administrative reform and more-reliable controls and auditing."

The report found "ethical lapses" and weakness in the oil-for-food program's management were "symptomatic of systematic problems in the UN administration generally," the summary said, as quoted by the Financial Times.

It cautions that the United Nations is only able to do its job if it maintains an image of competence, honesty and accountability.

"It is precisely those qualities that too often were absent in the administration of the oil-for-food program," the report said.

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