Ex-U.N. oil-for-food chief charged with bribery and conspiracy in oil scandal

NEW YORK -- The former United Nations oil-for-food chief was charged Tuesday with bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in the scandal-tainted humanitarian program.\nThe charges against Benon Sevan, 69, of Nicosia, Cyprus, were contained in a rewrite of an indictment stemming from the scandal over the operation set up from 1996 to 2003 to permit the Iraqi government to sell oil primarily to buy food and medicine for suffering Iraqis.\nThe program was designed to help Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions, but authorities said it was corrupted by bureaucrats, oil tycoons and Saddam Hussein after the former Iraqi leader was allowed to choose the buyers of Iraqi oil and the sellers of humanitarian goods.\nSevan, who had worked for the U.N. for 40 years, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.\nFederal and state prosecutors also announced the indictment of Ephraim Nadler, 79, of Manhattan, on the same charges. He helped a coconspirator obtain the right to buy Iraqi oil under the program in exchange for commissions from the oil sales and then funneled about $160,000 of these oil commissions to Sevan, the indictment said. Nadler is the brother-in-law of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.\nThe name of Nadler's attorney was not immediately available.\nU.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said the United States has lodged warrants for the arrest of both men with Interpol and will seek their arrest and extradition to the United States.\nFBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon said the indictment brings to 14 the number of individuals charged in the case.\nSince 2004, Sevan has been the subject of a U.N.-backed probe of fraud and waste in the $64 billion operation.\nEric Lewis, a lawyer for Sevan, did not immediately return a telephone message for comment.\nIn August 2005, a U.N.-appointed investigating committee pursuing claims of fraud and waste in the program accused Sevan of a conflict of interest in his handling of oil-for-food contracts. Sevan resigned from the U.N. that same month and returned to his native Cyprus.\nThe U.N. investigating committee also accused him of accepting some $147,000 in kickbacks for steering the contracts to a company of his choice.\nOn Feb. 22, South Korean businessman Tongsun Park is scheduled to be sentenced for his conviction on charges he accepted at least $2 million to serve Iraq's interests in the scandal. He could face up to five years in prison.\nAssistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Miller told the jury in Park's trial last July that Park was part of a decade-long conspiracy to bring about the lifting of sanctions imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait and brought about the first Gulf War.\nMiller said Park used his relationship with former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to join an effort by Samir A. Vincent, an Iraqi-American, to earn the favor of Iraq and share as much as $45 million in windfall gains if the sanctions were lifted.\nVincent, who testified against Park, has pleaded guilty to federal charges and is cooperating with the government. He testified that Park arranged meetings during 1993 with himself, Boutros-Ghali and Vincent.