JURIST Supported by the University of Pittsburgh
PAPER CHASE NEWSBURSTDigest RSS feedFull RSS feed
Serious law. Primary sources. Global perspective.


Thursday, September 08, 2005

Switzerland opens Oil-for-Food investigation as UN, US call for reforms
Holly Manges Jones at 4:22 PM ET

[JURIST] Swiss authorities have announced that they are investigating four people in connection with the now defunct UN Oil-for-Food program [official website; JURIST news archive], all of whom are suspected of money laundering and bribery. The four suspects have not been identified, but are said to be non-Swiss citizens who have had their assets in Swiss bank accounts frozen. AP has more. The Swiss investigation comes after the Independent Inquiry Committee [official website] into the program released its final report [text] Wednesday, which concluded that several parties shared responsibility for the program's mismanagement - including the UN Secretariat, UN Security Council, UN agencies, national governments and private companies and individuals. After receiving the IIC report, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan accepted responsibility for the program's failure [JURIST report; Annan statement], saying "as chief administrative officer, I have to take responsibility for the failings revealed, both in the implementation of the Programme and, more generally, in the functioning of the Secretariat." On Thursday, Annan sent a letter [UN News report] to all UN staff, calling for renewed dedication to the organization's ideals and stressing the importance of enacting management reforms. US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton [official profile] has said the US will review the IIC report in an effort to make proposals on reforming and improving the UN. Bolton said the US may not agree with all of the committee's recommendations, but hopes the report will allow greater auditing and management controls [State Department press release], suggestions which have previously met international resistance. UN reform is anticipated to be a large focus of the upcoming 2005 World Summit [official website].






Link |  | print | subscribe | RSS feeds | latest newscast | Facebook page

For more legal news check the Paper Chase Archive...


LATEST LEGAL NEWS

 Hungary prosecutors charge accused Nazi with war crimes
1:19 PM ET, June 18

 ICC grants Kenya VP's request to skip parts of upcoming trial
12:23 PM ET, June 18

 Libya senior judge assassinated outside courthouse
9:29 AM ET, June 18

 click for more...

Get JURIST legal news delivered daily to your e-mail!

LATEST FORUM

Is Egypt's Stance on the Blue Nile Dam Legally Justified?
DOMESTIC
Zeray Yihdego
University of Aberdeen School of Law

ABOUT

Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format.

CONTACT

Paper Chase welcomes comments, tips and URLs from readers. E-mail us at JURIST@jurist.org