Key UN Oil-for-Food investigator Robert Parton, whose resignation several days ago was first reported on this blog, is going public with his accusations toward the Volcker Committee in two news reports this evening, one from the AP and one from the Telegraph.
Says the AP’s Desmond Butler:
The investigator, Robert Parton, confirmed a report by The Associated Press earlier this week that he had resigned along with another investigator to protest recent findings by the committee that cleared U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan of meddling in the $64 billion program.
Parton’s statement comes after a member of the committee discounted reports that the two investigators had left the Independent Inquiry Committee because they believed the report was too soft on the secretary-general.
“Contrary to recent published reports, I resigned my position as Senior Investigative Counsel for the IIC not because my work was complete but on principle,” Parton said.
From the Telegraph:
Last night, in the most explicit criticism so far directed at the report, Robert Parton, one of the senior investigators, told a lawyer involved with the Volcker inquiry that he thought the committee was “engaging in a de facto cover-up, acting with good intentions but steered by ideology”.
The lawyer, Adrian Gonzalez, told The Sunday Telegraph that he believed the committee, headed by Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, was determined to protect the secretary-general.
According to Mr Gonzalez, Mr Parton felt that the committee had effectively divided the body of evidence relating to the oil-for-food scandal into testimony that it did want to hear, and testimony that it did not.
Much of what the Telegraph has to say is already familiar to readers of this blog, but now Parton has gone public. Undoubtedly, there will be more to come as other members of the committee have their say — some of which may conflict with Parton and some not.
Meanwhile, Adrian Gonzalez has informed me that he was misquoted to some degree by the Telegraph. Gonzalez, the attorney for former Kojo Annan business partner Pierre Mousselli, says he has not spoken directly with Parton in some days and that Telegraph has exaggerated their report to some degree. Parton, Gonzalez believes, would not be so explicit in his criticisms. The reference to the “de facto coverup” were Gonzalez’s words, not Parton’s, although they may reflect the resigned investigator’s feelings. In fact, in the end they don’t seem so it odds with what what the investigator already told the Associated Press. He resigned “on principle.”
However you parse this, the Volcker Committee is a now an unmitigated disaster. Just as it is ludicrous to think that Kofi Annan is the one to reform the United Nations, it is ludicrous to think this committee the means to investigate the scandal.
UPDATE: Another source inside the investigation has emailed me to say, among other things, that there is little coordination between the investigative teams (Parton, Duncan and Cornacchia were but one of several units not communicating with each other) and that there is “no coherent management plan.”
Evidently.
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28 Comments
1. chuck:The Volcker Committee scrubs the stain but simply spreads it around. I think they need a better detergent.
Apr 23, 2005 - 5:59 pm 2. jedrury:It was reported that the other investigator
to resign is the granddaughter of David Rockefeller and has now returned to her job
at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Pardon the cynicism but what are this woman’s credentials? I need not ask about contacts
[that is an open and shut issue]. I read somewhere that the land the UN is built
on was donated by the Rockefellers.
Apr 23, 2005 - 6:07 pm 3. Terrye:The report is due out this summer. I wonder who will believe it now?
This has more to do with the efforts to stop Bolton than his abrasive personality. I think the defenders of the UN are trying to circle the wagons.
Too late.
Apr 23, 2005 - 6:08 pm 4. Mr. Davis:Jedrury, You are correct about Rockefeller. The talk shows should be fun tomorow.
Apr 23, 2005 - 6:15 pm 5. Kyda Sylvester:The poor Iraqi’s. First they got screwed blue by OFF and now they have to pay for this crap report. There is no justice.
Apr 23, 2005 - 7:07 pm 6. RBMN:President Richard M. Nixon, April 30, 1973:
Apr 23, 2005 - 7:40 pm 7. Kevin P:Roger:
The rot and the cynicism that rises from the UN building should make the world hang their head in shame. But it seems to bring the exact opposite attitude from the leaches that run the organization. If their is any institution that needs someone to lose their temper, scream and yell, and Yes, even throw their shoes at someone it is the UN. The Democrats and the squishy Republicans who want to send another lets all get along state department sychophant who is just hoping to get a segment on Charlie Rose are insane.
Apr 23, 2005 - 9:54 pm 8. ed:Hmmmm.
Amusingly enough if the Volcker Commission implodes like this it’ll make the Oil-For-Food scandal even worse. It’ll also make it impossible for Kofi to spin or do any kind of damage control.
Interesting.
Apr 23, 2005 - 10:01 pm 9. Morgan:I despise what the UN has become. A quasi-world-government evolved to insert its corrupt tentacles into every organically grown national organ. Temple of Thieves, Palace of Pedophilia, Madrassas of Moral Equivalence. A place where tyrants and Communists opine on human rights and how best to increase economic freedom and spur development in those areas of the world their ideologies have ruined.
Confirm John Bolton and put him on a diet of Guinness, black beans, and high-sulfur eggs, the better to prepare him to force the evacuation of the top ten floors (in the only appropriate way) before lighting the match.
And make sure there’s enough for the next ten.
Parton quit because he couldn’t pretend the cesspool smelled like roses. I expected better of Volcker.
If Bolton is not confirmed, I nominate myself for UN ambassador.
I’ll skip the black beans and the eggs.
But I’ll promise some g*dd*amn fireworks.
Apr 23, 2005 - 11:37 pm 10. jedrury:Mr. Davis:
You jump started my memory.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. donated the “low lying” land on which the UN was built in 1946. Wally Harrison, a long time Rockefeller connected architect, led its panel of architects.
Source: Daniel Okrent, Great Fortune, the Epic of Rockefeller Center (2003), pages 40, 150 – 152.
Apr 24, 2005 - 12:24 am 11. David Thomson:These new revelations allow the United States to pay mere lip service to the silliness of the United Nations. We will no longer be compelled to treat it as a serious institution. The real work will subtly take place beyond the UNís walls. I am reminded of liberal Episcopalians who no longer embrace traditional Christianity, but still like to go to church on Sunday. There is only one reason why the UN will survive: it is too difficult to form a new world organization. Some things are best left alone.
Apr 24, 2005 - 6:35 am 12. SMGalbraith:Madison in Federalist #10:
“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence upon the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”
This, fundamentally, has always been the problem with a world government, especially one consisting of members that themselves are under no obligations to “control themselves.”
The UN has no auxiliary precautions; there is no, for example, independent judiciary to reign in its excesses. The world, especially western, press is basically uninterested for lots of reasons – financial and philosphical – in reporting on its abuses; the fact that Claudia Rosett didn’t win a Pulitzer for her reporting gives evidence to that.
Just not going to work.
SMG
Apr 24, 2005 - 10:22 am 13. bindare:This is all very interesting but what I would like to know is if it was Volkers idea to white-wash Koffi or was he ordered to do it. If he was ordered who gave the order. I don’t expect Paul to tell us.
Apr 24, 2005 - 3:01 pm 14. David Thomson:ìI would like to know is if it was Volkers idea to white-wash Koffi or was he ordered to do it.î
I doubt very much if anybody said anything explicitly. Paul Volker is a man who needs to lie to himself. Speak no evil, see no evil, and hear no evil. Everybodyís on the same page. It was tacitly agreed to pretend that none of the evidence directly pointed to Kofi Annan.
Apr 24, 2005 - 3:14 pm 15. big dirigible:Sorry, Roger, this is weak so far. While I’m sure you’re on the right track, you haven’t really demonstrated much yet. Somebody gives a layer a story, the lawyer later hems and haws and says that’s not quite the story, quotes attributed to one person might actually have come from someone else. A bunch of nothing. The Committee wanted to hear some testimony, but not other testimony. This is inconsequential. When it comes to news, there are things I want to read, and other things I don’t – this hardly implies that I’m avoiding anything except irrelevancies.
All I see that’s useful here is Parton’s statement that he resigned on principle. Good …. except that a man of principle will have more than one of them. Until he says just what he thought violated what principle, we’re still in the dark. We know something is odiferous, but just what and how and who and why and etc. remains obscure.
Parton’s stated opinion that the Committee was “acting with good intentions” could be elaborated a bit more, too. As is, it says a lot of not much.
Apr 24, 2005 - 3:25 pm 16. Thom:I’d wager that it was Paul Desmarais and the Canadian Cabal, including Mr. Strong and Mr. Martin who are controlling Mr. Volker.
Apr 24, 2005 - 3:55 pm 17. DeliLama:I’m surprised. I would have expected the Volokh inquiry to have the highest standards. Sadly, Eugene has let us down. Sigh.
Oh wait… nevermind.
I like the idea of creating a group of democracies as an alternative to the UN (The WSJ had been talking about it a while back). It would also be useful to give each country a number of votes based on its GDP size.
Apr 24, 2005 - 5:18 pm 18. JJay:I can see why the flaccid left wants to keep Bolton out of the UN. He might speak loudly and scare the mice and rats.
Apr 24, 2005 - 6:32 pm 19. the truth:Is there any truth that the two “married” investigators who quit spent their time investigating the inner workings of each other and not the subject matter of their investigation?
Apr 24, 2005 - 9:03 pm 20. chuck:Is there any truth that the two “married” investigators who quit spent their time investigating the inner workings of each other..
Don’t know. Why don’t you provide the details and let us know how it affected the investigation? After you stop beating your wife, of course.
Apr 24, 2005 - 9:36 pm 21. WedgeHead:Has anyone pursued the connection between the OECD’s money laundering expert and the Liberal Party of Canada and The Trudeau Foundation? Hint: Don Johnston.
This connection gives me pause to think about whether all the stones will be overturned or not.
Apr 25, 2005 - 2:07 am 22. Duke of DeLand:One point which stands out to me, and has yet not been followed…..
The report that the investigators were formed into “small” teams which DID NOT communicate with one another.
Talk about control…..who knows what has been unearthed, and how the various teams’ findings might expose even more? By controlling the crosstalk, Volker and Company steer and direct the outcome into their chosen channel.
This defies logic. If a trial jury heard testimoney, each separately, and they could not compare notes, how could their consideration be fair and accurate?
Duke of DeLand
Apr 25, 2005 - 3:03 am 23. WedgeHead:OECD. Don Johnson. Liberal Party of Canada. Trudeau Cabinet. Power Corp. Desmarais.
Louise Frechette, Trudeau Foundation. Paul Desmarais, Trudeau Foundation.
Who ordered the whitewash? Indeed.
Strong has gone to ground.
Cordex sold assets to Gener SA.
Gener SA sued involved in lawsuit claiming collusion to commit fraud in Cordex sale. Park loses money in bankrupt Cordex. Gener SA part of AES.
Strong and Sant on board of same institutions.
Cordex mentioned in Enron SA Chapter 11 … Grand Caymen and the Cordex transaction.
All information available on web via Google.
Apr 26, 2005 - 3:31 pm 24. sizepro:I agree with you about the way you view the issue. I remember, long time ago, Jack London said something like “Everything positive has a negative side; everything negative has a positive side.” I also find it interesting to see different points of views and learn useful things in the discussion.
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