Oil-for-food programme ‘failed ideals of UN’

IN A devastating assessment of the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Iraq, investigators yesterday strongly criticised Secretary General Kofi Annan, his deputy and the Security Council for allowing Saddam Hussein to bilk €10 billion as a result of the giant humanitarian operation.

The Independent Inquiry Committee's report on the oil-for-food programme said those managing the programme both UN member states and the world body's staff failed the ideals of the UN, ignoring clear evidence of corruption and waste that flourished after it was created in 1996.

"The inescapable conclusion from the committee's work is that the United