UN to Receive Thousands of Documents from Oil-for-Food Investigation

The United Nations will recover documents taken by a lead investigator of the Independent Inquiry Committee, Robert Parton, who resigned in April, allegedly due to concerns of a cover-up regarding Secretary General Kofi Annan. Parton left the investigation after a dispute over evidence, but the UN and Parton reached a settlement, allowing the UN to recover the documents. The UN will not pursue accusations of confidentiality agreement violations in exchange. Three Congressional committees investigating the oil-for-food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, had filed subpoenas for the documents but were blocked by a restraining order from the investigation. The committees will now return the documents after completing their inquiries.

Key Takeaways:

• Robert Parton, former lead investigator of the Independent Inquiry Committee, resigned in April over concerns of a cover-up regarding Secretary General Kofi Annan.
• Parton allegedly took thousands of pages of documents with him when he left the investigation.
• The UN and Parton reached a settlement, allowing the UN to recover the documents without pursuing accusations of confidentiality agreement violations.
• The oil-for-food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, provided humanitarian goods for millions of Iraqis.
• Three Congressional committees were investigating the program and had filed subpoenas for the documents, but were blocked by a restraining order from the investigation.
• The committees, led by Representative Henry J. Hyde, will now return the documents after completing their inquiries into the program and the Volcker investigation.
• The Independent Inquiry Committee's investigation was independent of the UN but received funding and mandate from it.
• The UN has until Jan. 15 to release any reports on the oil-for-food program.

Statistics:

• $64 billion: The total value of the oil-for-food program that ran from 1996 to 2003.
• 1996-2003: The duration of the oil-for-food program.
• 3: Number of Congressional committees investigating the program.
• 1: Number of committee to which Parton initially turned over the documents.
• 15th of January: Deadline for the three committees to release any reports on the oil-for-food program.

Sources:

• "The New York Times", April: [The article does not specify the publication date, but it mentions the resignation of Robert Parton in April.]
• "The New York Times"
• "The Independent Inquiry Committee", status: [The article does not provide an explicit date, but mentions the existence of the Committee.]