Former UN oil-for-food chief in Cyprus indicted on bribery charges

Benon Sevan, the former director of the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq, has been indicted by a US federal court in New York for allegedly taking bribes from the Saddam Hussein regime.

A warrant has been issued for his arrest even though as a Cypriot citizen he may escape arrest in the absence of an extradition treaty with the United States.

Sevan, a Cypriot Armenian who headed the programme from 1996 to 2003, allegedly took more than 160,000 dollars in kickbacks from the Iraqi government. He has denied the charges.

Sevan allegedly received oil vouchers from the former Baghdad government under Saddam Hussein through Ephraim Nadler, who has also been indicted and sold them for a profit.

The charges against Sevan came out of a massive investigation completed in mid-2006 by a commission headed by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker.

Under the oil-for-food programme more than 100 billion dollars in Iraqi oil revenues were used to buy humanitarian goods for the Iraqi population under strict UN economic sanctions. The programme was terminated after the US military invasion of Iraq in March, 2003.

The investigation of corruption into the implementation of the oil-for-food programme shook the world organization and former Secretary General Kofi Annan’s career, exposing weaknesses in the management of the massive relief programme.

Sevan has been living in Cyprus since the scandal broke.

If convicted, Sevan could face a prison term of up to 50 years in a federal penitentiary. Sevan has not responded to requests for reaction to the federal indictment.  

Previously, Sevan was quoted by news reports as saying that he feared such an indictment, but did not know who would pursue it, nor when it would come about.

Former Kofi Annan removed all functional immunity for Sevan last year after the release of the Volcker report.

Cyprus has no extradition agreement with the United States. The only recourse the U.S. has is to seize Sevan’s assets or institute a travel ban in order to snare him if and when he enters a nation that can extradite him to the United States.

Sevan is a board member of the Armenian General Benevolent Union in New York and was one of the 16 signatories of the decision to close the historic Melkonian school in Cyprus.

The AGBU recently overturned a Nicosia court injunction on the prime property of the Melkonian estate, estimated to be worth some CYP 40 mln (USD 84 mln), in an effort to sell the land to the highest bidder.