[JURIST] The only United Nations [official website] official to lose his job over the oil-for-food scandal [JURIST news archive] has been reinstated, after an internal appellate body found that he had not violated staff rules [JURIST report]. Joseph Stephanides was also issued a letter of apology and awarded $200,000 for emotional suffering and damage to his reputation by the UN's Joint Disciplinary Committee. Stephanides was accused of releasing bidding information regarding an oil-for-food contract to Great Britain, but he maintains that he was following the instructions of a UN Security Council [official website] sanctions committee. According to the Committee's ruling, Stephanides was fired [JURIST report] mostly because of the public scrutiny stemming from the $64 billion oil-for-food scandal. In a letter from the office of Secretary-General Kofi Annan [official profile], which was made public Tuesday, Stephanides was reinstated because his punishment was too harsh, though the letter maintained that Stephanides violated staff rules. AP has more.