Annan To Consult Security Council On Giving Documents to Volcker Panel
BY BENNY AVNI - Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 30, 2005

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Annan called members of the Security Council yesterday to consult with them about a request by the Volcker committee to turn over council documents related to oversight of the oil-for-food program.
In a statement issued late yesterday, Mr. Annan's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said that the secretary-general expressed his intention to comply with the request but wished first to consult with the Security Council. He added that the meeting also addressed the timetable and budget of the Volcker committee's reports.
Several council diplomats and investigators, who spoke about the meeting on condition of anonymity, told The New York Sun that Mr. Annan said that the Volcker committee has requested documents, informal notes, and minutes from meetings of the Security Council committee responsible for oversight of the Iraq program. The body was known as the 661 committee, so named after the resolution that created the Iraq sanctions program.
The 661 committee, which was comprised of all 15 members of the Security Council, was known to bicker over the war in Iraq. Political infighting hampered the group's oversight abilities, as its decisions were supposed to be made by consensus.
Several council members may have reason to be concerned about the renewed interest by Volcker committee investigators. Yesterday's request, according to diplomats present, was met with resistance by some participants. Several questions, described by one diplomat as roadblocks, pertained to the correct translation of informal notes generated by the 661 committee, their authenticity, and whether previous non-permanent members of the council should be consulted about turning the papers over to Mr. Volcker's investigators.
The acting American ambassador to the United Nations, Anne Patterson, was resolute that all the material be handed to Mr. Volcker. In our view, all documents should be turned over immediately, the spokesman for the American mission to the United Nations, Richard Grenell, told the Sun.
The Volcker committee, which previously was thought to be working on a final, definitive report to be issued late this summer, intends now to issue at least one more interim report that would be published in the next few weeks. Another might be issued after the main report, which is scheduled for release in mid to late August, a Volcker committee spokesman, Michael Holtzman, told the Sun yesterday.
The committee is expected to ask the Security Council to approve $3 million for the committee budget, which has so far reached $30 million. The added funds would cover external investigations and the extra time that would be added to the committee's work. The mid-July interim report is expected to tie up loose ends related to the two previous interim reports, Mr. Holtzman said.
Those implicated by the two previous Volcker reports include Benon Sevan, who once headed the oil-for-food program; a former U.N. chief of staff, Iqbal Riza; former internal investigator Dileep Nair, and Mr. Annan's son Kojo. The lowest-ranked person cited by Mr. Volcker, former liaison to the council Joseph Stephanides, accused of a lesser transgression, is the only one punished by Mr. Annan to date. He was summarily fired months shy of his retirement.