The embattled former director of the scandal-ridden Iraq Oil-for-Food Program has sent a letter with an ultimatum to the office of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Benon Sevan, a veteran Cypriot diplomat, now the target of several U.S. and U.N. investigations, has sent Annan a "demand" that the world body pay his mounting legal bills "or else." Or else what?
According to Annan chief of staff Mark Malloch Brown, the letter, written by Sevan's legal team, carried an implied threat of new public disclosures regarding embezzlement in the now defunct Oil-for-Food Program.
Sevan has given no indication that Annan was involved in the corrupt pay-off scheme. But if anyone might have evidence linking Annan, Sevan would.
Sevan has repeatedly claimed that Annan had committed to pay all legal bills up to the time U.N. chief investigator Paul Volcker issued an interim report on the Iraqi aid program scandal in February.
Those bills, which sources estimate at more than $350,000, have now become a subject of contention between the U.N. and the former under secretary-general.
With allegations of potential criminality, the U.N. has opted to decline the Sevan request for legal reimbursements.
Stay tuned. This could get good!
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