THE former head of the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Iraq could face charges after a committee investigating the tainted programme said it had found enough evidence of a kickback scheme to support prosecution.

The former chief of the Iraq oil-for-food programme has resigned – just a day before investigators release a report that is expected to accuse him of taking kickbacks under the $64bn (€51.8bn) humanitarian operation.

Investigators probing the United Nations oil-for-food programme have found evidence of “gross mismanagement” and possible corruption by the agency that oversaw compensation for victims of Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Iraq’s deputy UN ambassador said early today.

The committee probing the UN oil-for-food programme has announced it will again investigate Secretary-General Kofi Annan after two previously unknown emails suggested he may have known more than he claimed about a multi-million-dollar UN contract awarded to the company that employed his son.

INVESTIGATORS of the UN oil-for-food programme said yesterday they are “urgently reviewing” new information that suggests UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan may have known more than he revealed about a contract that was awarded to the company that employed his son.

Investigators probing the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq will criticise UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, his son and the Swiss company that employed him, but will not accuse the UN chief of corruption, officials said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has ordered disciplinary action against the head of the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq, who was sharply criticised in an investigation that accused him of a “grave conflict of interest” and “undermining the integrity” of the UN.