It seems like just yesterday he was proclaiming his innocence.
Former U.N. official pleads guilty, prosecutors say
Oil-for-food probe accuses procurement officer of soliciting bribeUNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- A former U.N. procurement officer pleaded guilty to money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy charges Monday after the United Nations stripped him of his diplomatic immunity, federal prosecutors said.
U.N. officials lifted Alexander Yakovlev's diplomatic immunity at the request of a U.S. prosecutor in New York, an aide to Secretary-General Kofi Annan said earlier Monday.
Yakovlev, a senior procurement officer for the United Nations, resigned in June amid allegations that he helped get his son a job with a firm doing business with the world body.
Earlier, Paul Volcker, the head of the U.N.'s Independent Inquiry Committee, announced that the probe found that Yakovlev solicited a bribe from a French company that bid unsuccessfully on an oil-for-food contract.
The report found no evidence the company paid the desired bribe -- but it found that more than $1.3 million had been wired to a bank account Yakovlev controlled on the Caribbean island of Antigua since 2000.
"More than $950,000 of these payments came from various companies or persons affiliated with such companies that collectively won more than $79 million in United Nations contracts and purchase orders," the report found.
There was no apparent connection between those payments and the oil-for-food program, however.
Volcker's panel also said that the former head of the oil-for-food program allegedly received more than $147,000 in kickbacks from oil sold under the program.
The panel's report concluded that Benon Sevan "corruptly derived substantial financial benefits" from a company that purchased Iraqi oil under the program, which supplied Iraq with food and medicine during years of international sanctions.
I'm betting there's more coming.
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Comments (9)
I am betting Kofi's hands a... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Just Me | August 8, 2005 9:13 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I am betting Kofi's hands are as dirty as a kid's who has been making mudpies.
I think Kofi and Kofi's close friends and associates were making big on oil for food money, whether or not Kofi is held accountable is another matter.
1. Posted by Just Me | August 8, 2005 9:13 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 8, 2005 21:13
2. Posted by bullwinkle | August 9, 2005 12:38 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Bolton was wrong, it's not doing away with the top 10 floors that's needed, it's putting bars on the windows of the whole building. A nice tall fence topped off with barbed wire and some gun towers on the corners would do nicely too. Why aren't the moonbats squeaking about seeing these real criminals frog-marched in handcuffs?
2. Posted by bullwinkle | August 9, 2005 12:38 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 9, 2005 00:38
3. Posted by Otocon | August 9, 2005 1:37 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Ref: Iraq.
Does anyone else think that US troops will withdraw not "when the job is done", as President Bush has said, but in good time for the US congressional elections next autumn?
Does anyone remember President Bush's analysis that "fighting terrorism" in Iraq protected the West from having to fight terrorists at home?
It cannot be claimed that it has protected us from terrorism on our soil.
3. Posted by Otocon | August 9, 2005 1:37 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 9, 2005 01:37
4. Posted by Cybrludite | August 9, 2005 1:56 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Yeah, because so many things have blown up here since March 2003. Just what does that have to do with the Oil-For-Bribes crew getting what they deserve?
4. Posted by Cybrludite | August 9, 2005 1:56 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 9, 2005 01:56
5. Posted by John | August 9, 2005 5:19 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
The thing that's become clear to me is that, no matter how many hands we find in the cookie jar, Lefties don't care.
Lefties wouldn't change a thing about the UN, corruption and all. We're just bad people for putting the spotlight on poor Kofi & Co.
5. Posted by John | August 9, 2005 5:19 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 9, 2005 05:19
6. Posted by -S- | August 9, 2005 6:06 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Yes-s-s-s, but, but, Kofi IS A NICE GENTLEMAN who THE WORLD RESPECTS!
/ end liberal dogma.
6. Posted by -S- | August 9, 2005 6:06 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 9, 2005 06:06
7. Posted by B Moe | August 9, 2005 7:13 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Looks like the random adjective generator is now randomly generating whole posts......
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, IT'S GONNA BLOW!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously though, don't you hate people like Otocon who can obviously see not only the future, but what would have been futures, and won't share the ability with the rest of us?
7. Posted by B Moe | August 9, 2005 7:13 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 9, 2005 07:13
8. Posted by Drew Edmondson | August 9, 2005 3:53 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Yep...Kofi's kid shows the apple does not fall from the tree...That is the reason Bolton is important...the UN took bribes and kickbacks...notice not a single contractor our billions of taxpayer dollars have supported for important services supporting our brave dying and maimed troops and the positive rebuilding of Iraq have been indicted for fraud. Ya know why? Because they they are all honest patriots. Every cent they have spent has been accounted for unlike the Kofi/Clinton Click. If any of these companies had ripped us off as war profiteers our President and our Republican Congress would be all over them like Drudge on Sheehan.
8. Posted by Drew Edmondson | August 9, 2005 3:53 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 9, 2005 15:53
9. Posted by Drew Edmondson | August 9, 2005 4:17 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
There is no greed or corruption in the large and small companies supporting our troops. To say so would be like saying there is greed and corruption involved in those that get contacts to repair our highways. There isn't...I am not aware of any contractor who put kickback profits against the safety of drivers first. Clintoncrats are whinners. I challenge any moonbat to link where any company, involved with Iraq has made more than "modest profits" for their efforts....didn't think so...by the way it is my understanding that thousands of families who are touched by troop deaths "over there so we don't have to fight them over here" are traveling to Texas to stand tall with our President. I ask those posting here to go down to Texas in support of our President. I am going with my sign "Bush won..Kerry Lost..get over it"
9. Posted by Drew Edmondson | August 9, 2005 4:17 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 9, 2005 16:17