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07 February 2005

United Nations Charges Two in Oil-for-Food Program Inquiry

Disciplinary procedures started against Sevan, Stephanides

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The United Nations has initiated internal administrative procedures against two staff members named by the high-level panel investigating the Oil-for-Food Program, a U.N. spokesman said February 7.

Benon Sevan, former head of the U.N. program in Iraq, and Joseph Stephanides, director of the Security Council Affairs Division, are being sent official letters outlining the internal charges against them, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

The two U.N. staff members then will have two weeks to respond before the United Nations decides how to proceed, the spokesman said.  The three options available to the United Nations are:  the case could be closed, the secretary-general could refer the issue to the Joint Disciplinary Committee for recommendations, or the secretary-general could decide to summarily dismiss the two.

"This is only the beginning of the disciplinary procedure," Eckhard said.

Stephanides was suspended with pay after the panel released its interim report February 4. The panel reported that he prejudiced and pre-empted the United Nations' competitive-bid process during the awarding of contracts at the beginning of the Oil-for-Food Program.  Stephanides is several months away from retirement.

Sevan, who retired from the United Nations when the Oil-for-Food Program was turned over to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq in 2003, has been retained on staff at $1 per year in order to have him available to the investigators.  On several occasions, Sevan solicited oil allocations for a friend from Saddam Hussein's regime, the Independent Inquiry Committee into the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program found.

There are several possible disciplinary actions available to the secretary-general if the two are found to have violated U.N. rules and regulations as the independent inquiry has charged, Eckhard said.  Actions can range from being summarily dismissed to having a note inserted in their personnel files.

Pensions are separate and cannot be touched in the disciplinary process, he said.

As such disciplinary cases progress, the spokesman said, staff members have the option to appeal their cases to the U.N. Joint Appeals Board and then to the U.N. Administrative Tribunal, whose decisions are binding.

At this point, the cases are a matter of U.N. internal discipline.  No criminal charges have been filed against either man by any entity.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2005&m=February&x=20050207172735ESnamfuaK0.9445001&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html