Sevan, whom I called this morning on his Cyprus cell phone, first said he was in traffic and couldn’t talk till he got home — presumably to his apartment on Cyprus. Then he would say nothing except: “Talk to my lawyer.”
Sevan’s lawyer has now sent out a statement, saying that Sevan is innocent, and blaming — what else? — not the UN, but the U.S. In fact, the anti-American language here sounds so much like that of assorted top UN officials of recent times, including Kofi Annan and his former deputy, Mark Malloch Brown, that one might almost think Sevan was still working for the UN.
Come to think of it, Annan during part of the Oil-for-Food investigation not only kept Sevan on staff, with the accompanying perks, as a $1-per-year “special adviser,” but also had the UN paying his legal fees. Shortly after that came to an end, Sevan slipped back to Cyprus, where he has since been living on full UN pension.
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YankeeHobbit:I assume that, following Kofi Annan’s appointing Sevan to his $1-per-year post in order to “keep him available to the Volker inquiry”, he also approved the repatriation expenses which paid for Sevan’s return to Cyprus? And didn’t that repatriation take place just as the Volker inqury produced their report naming Sevan as having taken at least $160,00? Too many co-incidences make for damning circumstantial evidence of malfeasance. Ms Rosett would you care to speculate on the honesty of Kofi Annan?
Oh, wait. This is the same Kofi Annan who you point out obtained a New York taxpayer subsidised apartment while already a senior UN official, then handed it on (against the rules) to his brother who holds it despite being the Ghanaian ambassador to Morocco (which is not even near the USA as I understand geography). Nice morals by the self-styled “chief diplomat of the world” who wouldn’t even consider getting the General Assembly to revoke Sevan’s pension.
Didn’t he also refuse to answer questions on the (UN registered and insured?) Mercedes his son imported into Ghana? And initially refused to admit to taking $500,000 from a committee made up with several subordinates handing out a prize in Dubai? And know nothing of the activities of his subordinates such as Giandomenico Pico, Under Secretary General and Chairman of IHC which won many millions of dollars worth of UN contracts? And fail (according to Volker) to brief the Security Council on Oil-For-Food corruption going back to the mid 90’s?
Thanks to reading your articles Ms Rosett, I now have a much clearer understanding of the nature of the UN and particularly of the nature of honesty there as demonstrated by Kofi Annan. Thank you and keep digging as I suspect it will not get much better under Ban Ki-Moon.
Jan 19, 2007 - 4:57 pm bourne2y:Upon returning from one of his visits to Baghdad, preceding the present war in Iraq, Kofi Annan stated to the press, “We can do business with this man” - meaning Saddam Hussein.
Perhaps not as eloquent as “I hold in my hand a treaty signifying the desire of our two nations never to go to war with one another again” - - but every bit as weak and naive.
The people who know about these things always advise “weakness is provocative”. Sadly, they’re always right. Perhaps even more sadly, there is no shortage of people who refuse to believe them.
Jan 19, 2007 - 7:43 pm