Tuesday, July 12, 2005 3:21 p.m. EDT 
U.N.'s Sevan Under New York Criminal Probe 
NewsMax can confirm that former director of the scandal-plagued Oil-for-Food Program Benon V. Sevan is now the target of a criminal probe by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. 
The investigation, first reported in the New York Sun and verified by NewsMax, centers on allegations that Sevan not only steered U.N. aid contracts to favored bidders but also actually received compensation from the government of Saddam Hussein in the form of oil vouchers reportedly worth more than $1.5 million. 
Sevan has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing despite allegations by U.N. chief investigator Paul Volcker that the former U.N. official had engaged in critical lapses of judgment in his administration of the $60 billion aid program. 
While not giving any time frame for prospective indictments, the DA's office hinted such action could come soon, within weeks. 
That is more bad news for embattled U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. 
Annan, who expected a final report from Volcker this month, has been told that another interim report may be issued in late July, with a final one coming in late August or early September. 
Such a delay could push such a report up against a special U.N. session for world leaders Annan has called for mid-September in New York City. 
It could be embarrassing. Kofi would not want such a report issued then, said a veteran U.N. staffer. 
Annan, however, may not have much choice. 
More importantly, Annan would need to decide whether to lift Sevan's U.N. functional immunity if he is indicted by Morgenthau. 
Annan has pledged to remove such immunities if anyone is indicted, but has yet to carry through on that promise. 
In fact, Annan, through Volcker and the U.N.'s legal office, has sought to block U.S. congressional investigators from officially speaking to two Volcker investigators who recently quit. 
Meanwhile, Sevan, as first reported by NewsMax, has left his New York home and returned to his native Cyprus. 
According to Sevan's lawyers, the former U.N. official is away on vacation with no date offered for his return. 
The legal counsel also added that Sevan was in Cyprus to attend a memorial service for an aunt who died last year. 
It is the same aunt who died in a mysterious elevator accident in Cyprus at the same time she was under investigation by the Volcker panel. 
From 1999-2003, the aunt visited her nephew in NYC for a yearly summer holiday lasting a month. She also paid him $40,000 for each of the visits to offset expenses, according to Volcker. 
How an elderly pensioner with a declared income of approximately $600 monthly paid Sevan $40,000 for her yearly visits has yet to be explained. 
Those payments are also under investigation by New York City and federal prosecutors. 
Cyprus, it should be noted, has no extradition treaty with the United States.