April 1, 2005
Annan's Former Deputy Says Shredded Files Were Copies
By WARREN HOGE 

UNITED NATIONS, March 31 - Secretary General Kofi Annan's former chief of staff, Iqbal Riza, issued a statement on Thursday saying that he had ordered the shredding of files in his office in the belief that they were copies of documents existing in permanent files.
Mr. Riza, who retired in December, was criticized for destroying three years' worth of files in Tuesday's report from the commission led by Paul A. Volcker that is investigating the oil-for-food program in Iraq.
The Volcker committee cited Mr. Riza because the documents covered a period, 1997 to 1999, that coincided with the early years of the program and because the shredding was conducted over a seven-month period after a June 1, 2004 directive from Mr. Annan telling staff members to preserve all oil-for-food documents.
In an open letter made public Thursday evening, Mr. Riza said that his office had not had day-to-day involvement in the program and that the Volcker investigators wrongly presumed the destroyed files contained documentation linked to it.
The files in question, Mr. Riza said, were so-called chron files, containing correspondence and memos arranged chronologically for quick reference.
Papers in 'chron' files are only extra copies, he said.
He added, Had there been any malevolent intent to cover up or to destroy surreptitiously evidence relevant to the impending inquiry, would one not have insured that the destruction was completed swiftly rather than allowing it to languish over half a year?
Mr. Riza retired in December but is potentially subject to United Nations discipline because he remains on the staff as an adviser for a dollar a year.
The other official cited by the Volcker panel, Dileep Nair, director of the watchdog Office of Internal Oversight Services, is retiring at the end of this month. Fred Eckhard, Mr. Annan's spokesman, said on Thursday that Mr. Nair had been sent a formal letter charging him with violation of staff regulations and demanding a response.
The Volcker committee said Mr. Nair had used money from the program to provide funds for a job that had minimal connection to it.