Annan probed in oil-for-food scandal

UNITED NATIONS -- Investigators probing allegations of impropriety in the U.N. oil-for-food program have questioned Secretary-General Kofi Annan about his involvement and will do so again, a U.N. spokesman said Tuesday.\nAnnan met "more than once for an extended period of time" with former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and his investigators last year, spokesman Fred Eckhard said. He said he believed there were two meetings, but he was not sure.\n"The secretary-general is part of the investigation, is a subject like anyone else involved in oil-for-food at the secretariat," Eckhard said.\nInvestigators are probing allegations that administrators at the U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq took bribes and allowed Saddam Hussein to skim money from the program.\nLaunched in December 1996, the program allowed Saddam Hussein's regime to sell unlimited quantities of oil if the money went primarily to buy food, medicine and humanitarian goods for Iraqis and to pay reparations to victims of the 1991 Gulf War.\nA report in October by top U.S. arms inspector Charles Duelfer said Saddam was able to "subvert" the $60 billion program to generate an estimated $1.7 billion in revenue outside of U.N. control from 1997 to 2003.\nSaddam also raked in more than $8 billion from illicit oil deals with Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Egypt, according to U.S. congressional investigators.\nThe report alleged that Saddam issued secret vouchers, allegedly to curry favor with key Security Council members, for the purchase of Iraqi oil to U.N. officials and an array of officials and political figures from various countries. That oil then could be resold at a profit.\nThere are also at least five U.S. congressional probes into the scandal, which has been a major blow to the United Nations and has led some to call for Annan's resignation.