DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Oil-for-Food

I would like to welcome Paul Volcker, who is the chair of the independent inquiry on the “oil-for-food” programme.  This inquiry will look into allegations of impropriety in the operation and management of that programme.

Mr. Volcker currently serves as the Chairman of the International Accounting Standards Committee.

The other members of his panel, who are not here with us today, are Richard Goldstone of South Africa, who previously headed South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and who also served as the Chief Prosecutor of the International Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.  And Mr. Marc Pieth of Switzerland, an expert in money laundering and a professor of criminology at the University of Basel.

As he came into the Building this morning, the Secretary-General reiterated that the Organization takes these allegations seriously and that the membership of the panel reflects that.  He added that he wants to get to the bottom of this and looks forward to the report of this respected panel.

As you know, the Security Council is scheduled to adopt today a resolution welcoming the inquiry.  The resolution also calls upon the Coalition Provisional Authority, Iraq and all other MemberStates to cooperate with the inquiry.

According to its terms of reference, the panel will have the authority to:

-- investigate whether procedures established by the UN for the management of the programme were violated;

-- determine whether any UN officials or contractors engaged in any illicit or corrupt activities in the carrying out of their duties;

-- determine whether the accounts of the programme are in order and were maintained according to procedures.

And the panel is expected to provide an update on its work within three months.

The report will be submitted to the Secretary-General and, as provided for in the terms of reference, the report will be made public.

A press release with more information is available upstairs, along with the biographies of the panel members and their terms of reference.

Mr. Volcker will now say a few words and then take your questions.  Mr. Volcker.

Paul Volcker:  Well, I will say a very few words, thank you.  The reason I am here is, I suppose, obvious.  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 programme, accusations about activities outside the UN, which need to be resolved.  The UN is an important institution and these questions once raised, I think have to 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. 

So, that is why I am here.  I think it is not news apparently that I said we were going to do this.  I thought we needed the formal support of the UN and its Member Governments.  And we’re about to have, I am told, a resolution that specifically calls upon Member States, which would include their agencies and regulatory bodies to assist in any way appropriate for this investigation.

So, I think we have a foundation in that respect.  I am assured that adequate financing will be available; that the records, personnel, other records within the UN will be available; that if diplomatic immunity has to be waived in the circumstance, that it will be waived as appropriate.  That records in Iraq, which are obviously important, will be made available and are already under some kind of control in the Coalition Authority, so we can examine those records and the records of other investigations that have and are taking place.

Well, that’s about all I have to say other than I do not know, or did not know before recent days the other members of the commission.  But Mr. Goldstone is somebody you may know is a very familiar figure in the world of human rights and investigations in collaboration with the UN in the past as a prosecutor of war crimes, and headed a very important investigation in South Africa during the transition away from the old apartheid government with very serious accusations of corruption.  During that process, he was in charge of investigating and did so with great honour.

Mr. Pieth is an academic with a law degree who, I found out, is one of the world’s leading experts in money laundering and corporate corruption.  So, we have a certain amount of talent available.

Q & A session followed.  [Mr. Volcker’s briefing has been issued separately]

[The Spokesman later said during the Q & A session, that the Security Council had just passed, unanimously, a resolution welcoming the inquiry].

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