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The Oil for Food Scandal

Meet the Players

• <b>Kofi Annan:</b> The U.N. secretary-general is near the center of the Oil-for-Food investigation because of his role leading the world body and the possible involvement of his son. Investigators are scrutinizing thousands of pages of the secretary-general’s documents. Annan recently called for widespread reform throughout the United Nations to avoid such future scandals.
• <b>Paul Volcker:</b> The former Federal Reserve Board chairman heads up a U.N.-commissioned panel, the Independent Inquiry Committee, which is investigating Oil-for-Food. The committee has released audits showing that U.N. officials knew of mismanagement complaints but that not much was done about it. And it issued an interim report that fingered the former head of the program, Benon Sevan.
• <b>Benon Sevan:</b> The former head of the Office of the Iraq Programme who was in charge of overseeing the Oil-for-Food program, Sevan has been accused of having a conflict of interest and tainting the image of the United Nations for his role in getting oil concessions for a friend's company. Lawmakers want him stripped of his diplomatic immunity so that he can be prosecuted.
• <b>Saddam Hussein:</b> The former president of Iraq skimmed millions of dollars from Oil-for-Food by, among other actions, issuing vouchers to people that let them profit from illicit sales of Iraqi oil. Investigators estimate that Saddam also smuggled $9.7 billion worth of oil out of Iraq. Saddam is now awaiting trial in Iraq.
• <b>Kojo Annan:</b> The son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Kojo Annan used to work for the Swiss-based company, Cotecna, which is also at the center of the Oil-for-Food probe for its oversight of Iraq's humanitarian contracts. Cotecna has been accused of failing to inspect shipments and allowing rampant overcharging. Kojo Annan denies having anything to do with the U.N. program.
• <b>Charles Duelfer:</b> Headed up the CIA's Iraq Survey Group in its weapons of mass destruction hunt in Iraq. The Duelfer pointed to Benon Sevan as possibly gaining financially from the oil voucher scheme. Duelfer said Saddam was able to "subvert" the Oil-for-Food program to generate an estimated $1.7 billion in revenue outside U.N. control from 1997-2003.
• <b>Jacques Chirac:</b> The president of France, was a staunch opponent of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. He is of interest to Oil-for-Food investigators because of suggestions that French businessmen and politicians with close ties to Chirac may have received bribes from Saddam. French officials maintain that accusations of wrongdoing and illegal profiting against France have been made without proof.
• <b>Boutros Boutros-Ghali:</b> The former U.N. secretary-general led the world body in the years leading up to the program's inception in late 1996 and played a crucial role in founding it. The Volcker report said Boutros-Ghali chose the Paris-based bank BNP Paribas to be the program's banker without accepting the "lowest acceptable bidder" - a violation of U.N. financial regulations.
• <b>Henry Hyde:</b> As chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Hyde is leading one of the congressional investigations into Oil-for-Food. His panel has issued several subpoenas for information. Among the targets: the American head of Houston-based Bay Oil; BNP Paribas, a major French bank; and Cotecna, the company that monitored all humanitarian goods imported into Iraq.
• <b>Christopher Shays:</b> The chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations, one of the congressional committees investigating Oil-for-Food. Shays’ committee has called witnesses from key program contractors and determined that those contractors were not given the authority or resources to carry out their duties.
• <b>Norm Coleman:</b> The chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, one of the congressional committees probing the Oil-for-Food program. Coleman called for Kofi Annan's resignation after overseeing the program, as well as for the questionable connections between his son, Kojo Annan, and Cotecna, the Swiss-based company that oversaw humanitarian contracts.
• <b>Newt Gingrich:</b> The former House Republican speaker and Georgia lawmaker is co-chairman of a task force to examine U.N. reform. The examination will not only look at Oil-for-Food but other issues as well, such as by sexual misbehavior of U.N. peacekeepers in the Congo and the Balkans. The task force plans to complete its report by June.
• <b>George Mitchell:</b> A Maine Democrat and former Senate majority leader, Mitchell is co-chairman of a task force to examine U.N. reform. The examination will not only look at Oil-for-Food but other issues as well, such as by sexual misbehavior of U.N. peacekeepers in the Congo and the Balkans. The task force plans to complete its report by June.

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• Secretary-General Kofi Annan
• Paul Volcker
• Benon Sevan
• Saddam Hussein
• Kojo Annan
• Charles Duelfer
• French President Jacques Chirac
• Former U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
• Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill.
• Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn.
• Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.
• Newt Gingrich
• Former Sen. George Mitchell