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Oil-for-food scandal investigator conflict of interest?

by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com

December 6, 2004

Paul Volcker, the man charged with the task of investigating the UN oil-for-food scandal, has by his association with the Montreal-based Power Corporation, a potential conflict of interest as chief scandal investigator.

Last april, UN Secretary General Kofi annan authorized Volcker to investigate the oil-for-food program.

Volcker, the former chairman of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve System, pledged "a thorough inquiry" into allegations of impropriety in the administration and management of the UN Iraq oil-for-food program.

That pledge was apparently made with an undisclosed conflict of interest. Handpicked for the job by annan, the secretary general can hardly expect the outside world to have any confidence in Volcker as a credible independent investigator.

Volcker’s membership in David Rockefeller’s Trilateral Commission, identified by LizMichael.com as "a super-elite cabal of 300 international powerbrokers, who practically rule the world", but does not publish its membership list on the Internet, is well known.

Lesser known is that Volcker has held a seat on Power Corporation’s international advisory board.

Wealthy Canadian businessman and Power Corporation founder, Paul Desmarais Sr. is a major shareholder and director in TotalFinaElf, the largest oil corporation in France, which has held tens of billions of dollars in contracts with the deposed regime of Saddam Hussein.

France has been identified as one of the chief partners-in-corruption in the scandal. The Times of London calculated that French and Russian companies cashed in on $11-billion worth of business from oil-for-food between 1996 and 2003.

Given his ties to Power Corporation, how can Volcker deliver, as promised conduct "a thorough inquiry" into allegations of impropriety in the administration and management of the oil-for-food program?

"I didn’t agree to do this lightly, but I think there are very important accusations made about the UN, accusations about the administration of the program, accusations about activities outside the UN, which need to be resolved," Volcker told a press briefing in New York.

"The UN is an important institution, and these questions, once raised, have a deliberate and full investigation and an answer, so that the UN in fact can fulfil the responsibilities and take advantage of the opportunities that arise to contribute to not only the situation in Iraq, but situations that are bound to come along in the rest of the world."

Volcker noted that he would need "a variety of talents" to get the job done, including experts in forensic accounting and legal issues to conduct the investigation.

When asked by reporters how long the effort would take, he sounded every inch the diplomat.

Predicting that the investigation would take longer than three months, Volcker said, "we’ll go as fast as we can consistent with doing a thorough job."

"There’s always some damage in the accusations but what seems to be important is finding out whether there’s any substance to those.

"If there’s not, and we’ve done as good an investigation as we can, that helps repair the damage; if there is substance to them, get it out there, get it out in a hurry and cauterize the wound."

Did Paul Volcker declare a conflict of interest by revealing that he held a seat on the Power Corporation advisory board before he accepted the role as chief investigator into the UN oil-for-food scandal?

If not, why should anyone concerned about the billions of dollars that ended in the private bank accounts of Saddam Hussein take his investigations seriously?

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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