[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16170]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       U.N. OIL FOR FOOD SCANDAL

  Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to 
address the House for 5 minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from New 
Jersey is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, recently in a Manhattan 
Federal Court, we saw the first conviction worldwide in the Iraqi Oil-
for-Food scandal. Billions of dollars illicitly passed between one of 
the world's most notorious dictators, Saddam Hussein, over 2,200 
companies worldwide, and top officials of the U.N. Now, more than 3 
years after the scandal was brought to light, Tongsun Park, a Korean 
national, is now the only individual who has been tried for those gross 
crimes.
  Mr. Park is a familiar player in the game of corruption, having been 
heavily involved in the 1970s Congressional bribery scandal known as 
Koreagate. In that case, he saved himself from prison by turning States 
evidence, but instead of taking this near miss as a lesson, 20 years 
later, he became involved again in a decidedly more devious scheme that 
kept a murderous dictator living in high style with his millions of 
dollars from Saddam Hussein to take care of his ``expenses'' and his 
``people,'' as he called them.
  During this time that he was on Saddam Hussein's payroll, Park met 20 
times with U.N. Secretary General Boutros-Ghali at his personal 
residence. Apparently, despite his corrupt past, his friendship and 
guidance were sought by Boutros-Ghali and his Under Secretary, Maurice 
Strong.
  The Oil-for-Food program was the brain child of Boutros-Ghali and 
Strong. And shortly before the program was finalized, Strong took 
nearly $1 million from Park. A payment that Strong forgot until he was 
shown the check. Mr. Strong went on to serve Kofi Annan in a high-
ranking capacity as his personal envoy to the Korean peninsula, where 
he was advised on North Korean issues by Park.
  In all likelihood, Park, at 71 years of age, will serve extensive 
prison time for his crimes. Further trials for his co-conspirators are 
scheduled for this November.
  Unfortunately, the U.N. continues to protect some of the most 
egregious offenders, including Oil-for-Food Director Ben Sevan, who 
allegedly took some $147,000 in payoffs. Sevan has claimed that he is 
innocent, but he has fled to Cyprus to avoid extradition. The innocent 
defend themselves in the court of public opinion or the court of law, 
but Mr. Sevan, instead, chooses to hide, living off his illicit gains.
  Hundreds of other individuals inside and outside the U.N. were 
involved in the kickbacks and payoffs of the Oil-for-Food scandal, so I 
applaud the work of the Federal prosecutors who will continue to bring 
down indictments, but they need full cooperation of the U.N. if they 
are to bring justice to those individuals who contributed to Saddam 
Hussein's reign of terror.
  Now, despite the fact that the corruption reached the highest levels 
of the U.N., the U.N. has yet to take up important reforms that would 
prevent such problems in the future. Reform, though badly needed 
throughout this organization, has been stalled by a group of countries 
that include some of the worst human rights offenders in the world, 
those who daily ignore the lofty goals of the U.N. If the U.N. is to 
fulfill its mandate to be an organization that promotes peace, freedom, 
and prosperity, then it must set an example of clean ethnics and not of 
dirty corruption that keeps men and women around the world in poverty 
and slavery.
  The Oil-for-Food scandal completely undermined the work of the 
sanctions against Iraq and provided the means that, in all likelihood, 
continue to fuel the work of terrorists in Iraq. There must be justice 
for Saddam's victims, and the U.N. should not stand in the way of that 
justice being administered.

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