The United Nations’ oil-for-food scandal extends far beyond the United Nations, according to the fifth and final report by an independent committee released Thursday. More than half of the 4,700 companies that were part of the program paid illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein totaling $1.8 billion. Still, former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker, who headed the investigation, stressed that the private corruption shouldn’t draw attention away from the need for the United Nations to have much better management procedures and controls. “The central point, he said, “is that it all adds up to the same story. You need some pretty thoroughgoing reforms at the U.N.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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