U.N. Panel Clears Aide Fired in Oil Inquiry 
Associated Press
November 11, 2005
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/international/americas/11food.html

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 10 (AP) - A United Nations appeals panel has ruled that the only employee to be fired over the Iraq oil-for-food scandal did not violate staff rules and should be reinstated with a public apology from Secretary General Kofi Annan, according to documents disclosed Thursday.
The Joint Disciplinary Committee concluded that the employee, Joseph Stephanides, was fired mostly because of the public scrutiny from an investigation that found the $64 billion program was poorly managed and corrupt.
The ruling, obtained by The Associated Press, said the three-judge panel sympathized with the applicant's argument that he was being made the 'sacrificial lamb' in this matter so as to give the impression to the world that concrete and decisive action was being taken. The committee is a review body consisting of United Nations staff members.
Mr. Annan is not required to accept the ruling, but will face pressure to act upon it from within the United Nations system and staff members who believe criticism over the oil-for-food scandal was largely a smear campaign by the United Nations' critics.
Mr. Stephanides, a 60-year-old Cypriot, who was accused of divulging bidding information related to an oil-for-food contract to Britain, contended that he was acting under the instructions of a United Nations Security Council sanctions committee.
He had been scheduled to retire four months after Mr. Annan fired him. This recommendation enables me to have an honorable retirement, which I really feel grateful for; nothing is more important than this, Mr. Stephanides said.
If Mr. Annan does not act on the decision by Monday, 30 days after the ruling was made, Mr. Stephanides can demand a copy and go directly to the next appeals body, the United Nations Administrative Tribunal. Its decisions are binding.
A senior United Nations official said a response was imminent. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the ruling was not yet public, said Mr. Annan's advisers were reconsidering whether the punishment was too severe. The committee ruled that Mr. Stephanides be paid the equivalent of two years net base salary - which he said was about $98,000 - because of the damage to his reputation.