U.N. Fires Midlevel Staffer For Oil-for-Food Role
By YOCHI J. DREAZEN 
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 2, 2005; Page A11
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan fired a midlevel staffer implicated in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal, his strongest move yet to limit the damage to the world body's credibility and shore up his own political standing.
Joseph Stephanides, a Cypriot diplomat who played a central role in establishing the $67 billion humanitarian program, was dismissed for serious misconduct and a breach of the U.N.'s procurement procedures, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. A U.N.-appointed investigative panel led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker earlier accused Mr. Stephanides of rejecting a cheaper bid on a lucrative oil-for-food contract and improperly steering the business to a British firm.
Mr. Stephanides, 59 years old, is the first U.N. employee Mr. Annan has fired in connection with the oil-for-food scandal. Benon Sevan, the senior U.N. official who ran the program, has been suspended with pay for steering oil contracts and receiving $160,000 whose source he couldn't adequately explain. His case is on hold until the Volcker panel completes its work this summer, Mr. Dujarric said.
Mr. Stephanides didn't respond to phone messages. He told the Associated Press he would appeal the firing and try to clear his name.
The dismissal comes amid mounting evidence that serious mismanagement and outright corruption tainted the oil-for-food program. It also underscores the U.N.'s continuing struggle to find a way to hold employees accountable without relaxing its rigid procedures for disciplining employees. The U.N. has faced searing criticism for an agreement, since abandoned, to pay Mr. Sevan's legal fees and for taking so long to fire Mr. Stephanides.
When evidence was brought to our attention, we acted on it, but due process had to be followed and that took longer than some might have wanted, Mr. Dujarric said. Mr. Stephanides had been effectively barred from U.N. headquarters, but continued to draw a paycheck until his firing.
The firing is the latest blow to the oil-for-food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003 and was designed to allow former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to sell his country's oil and use the revenue to purchase food and humanitarian goods despite a global embargo. The Volcker probe and an array of congressional investigations have released evidence that Mr. Hussein, with the help of oil traders from the U.S. and elsewhere, exploited the program to buy influence around the world.
Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican who heads a Senate probe into the program, said firing Mr. Stephanides was a small but nevertheless necessary step in accountability. He reiterated a long-standing demand that Mr. Annan lift Mr. Sevan's diplomatic immunity and make him available to the appropriate law-enforcement authorities and Congress.
Mr. Sevan has denied personally benefitting from the program. The U.N. continues to maintain it won't lift Mr. Sevan's immunity unless formal criminal charges are filed against him.