Stewart Stogel, NewsMax.com
Wednesday, July 6, 2005

Sevan returned to his family home in the city of Nicosia in early June, and though he insists he will return to New York, he has refused to give any date.

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The embattled former U.N. aid chief has been under intensive investigation for almost a year by a "special panel" headed by former Fed chief Paul Volcker.

In a preliminary report issued in February, Volcker cast serious doubts on Sevan's leadership of the seven-year aid program.

Though an allegation of criminality was not made, Volcker hinted that such allegations may be made by the time his final report is released in late summer.

"If anyone knows anything about any Annan skeletons, it is Sevan, and Kofi knows it," a veteran U.N. staffer told NewsMax.

Because of the growing problems involving Sevan and the aid program, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan recently severed all connections with the former official and barred him from entering any U.N. facility, including its New York headquarters.

He had been on a dollar-a-year retainer and technically on staff for legal reasons.

No longer.

In fact, in April, a rare public dispute broke out between Sevan and the U.N. when Annan's Chef de Cabinet Mark Malloch Brown decided to renege on an earlier pledge to help defray Sevan's legal costs.

It was not clear why the Annan staffer took that course of action despite several letters released by Sevan that apparently committed the world body to assist in paying some legal expenses.

The embattled former U.N. official is reported to have run up legal bills in excess of $400,000.

Shortly after the Malloch Brown decision, sources claim that Sevan had decided to take a "vacation" back in Cyprus.

Though the U.N. veteran claimed his legal bills created a "great financial strain," NewsMax has confirmed that Sevan does own several valuable real estate properties in Manhattan and Long Island worth substantially more than $500,000.

It is not clear whether the U.S. government or his lawyers might move against those holdings if Sevan does not return to the U.S.

Cyprus has no formal extradition agreement with the United States.

Annan has publicly claimed that he would not diplomatically shield any person whom the Volcker panel may accuse of wrongdoing.

It is also not certain whether the U.N. chief intends to follow through on that earlier pledge.

Meanwhile on Cyprus, informal investigations (by news organizations) into the death of a relative of Benon Sevan are under way.

An aunt of the U.N. veteran died in an elevator accident last year.

Nicosia police report the elderly pensioner fell several stories when an elevator door in her apartment complex opened too soon.

She had only recently returned home after surviving a serious automobile collision.

She was also under investigation by Volcker for funneling payments in excess of $150,000 to her nephew as "rent" for the use of his Manhattan apartment for several summer "vacations."

When the Volcker panel issues its final report, it is not clear what if anything will happen to anyone criminally implicated.

Since the panel is a fact-finding body, any claims of criminality may have to be forwarded to the U.N.'s office of legal affairs for a follow-up investigation.

Or the U.N. might create a panel of legal scholars to assess the Volcker findings, all of which could extend the Oil-for-Food probe for months, if not years.

Annan leaves office January 1, 2007.

Meaning most of the principals involved in the massive embezzlement may have more than enough time to shield themselves from any possible prosecution.

"It is a mess, no doubt," expressed one U.N. retiree, "but you [the press] must be persistent if we are ever to find the truth," he exclaimed.

Latest published reports claim that more than $21 billion may have been stolen from the U.N.-Iraq aid program between 1996 and 2003.

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