Decision on Oil-For-Food Official Delayed

By Nick Wadhams
November 15, 2005
The Washington Post
Original Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111500005.html
UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations put off a decision on how to respond to a ruling by an appeals body that vindicated the lone employee fired over the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, despite promises that it would come to a conclusion on Monday.
The move gave Joseph Stephanides the right to a copy of the ruling, made 30 days ago, which said he was wrongly fired and should be reinstated, paid two years of back pay as compensation and given a written apology. A copy was obtained last week by The Associated Press but it has not been made public.
But Stephanides' lawyer, George Irving, said that when he called the Joint Disciplinary Committee on Monday to receive a copy of the ruling he was told that everyone in the office was away at a training session and he would have to wait.
I think they're under instructions not to give us the report until they figure out what to do with it, Irving said. They're definitely buying some time here.
U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said she had hoped the ruling would come Monday but officials were still deciding what to do.
The ruling concluded that Stephanides was fired mostly because of the public scrutiny from an investigation that found the $64 billion oil-for-food program was poorly managed and corrupt.
Annan is not required to accept the ruling. But because he missed the 30-day deadline to rule, Stephanides can demand a copy and go directly to the next appeals body, the U.N. Administrative Tribunal. Its decisions are binding.
Last week, a senior U.N. official told AP that Annan, who is traveling in the Middle East, was considering whether to soften the punishment against Stephanides in light of the ruling.
Stephanides was fired on May 31 for divulging bidding information related to an oil-for-food contract to Britain. He argued he was acting under the instructions of a U.N. Security Council sanctions committee.
While the U.N. is reconsidering the punishment, Okabe said last week the secretary-general stood by the adverse findings made against Stephanides by a U.N.-backed probe of the program.
Led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, that investigation accused him in February of tainting the bidding process over a contract to inspect goods going into Iraq.
On Stephanides' request, Volcker reopened his investigation into Stephanides over the summer. But Volcker's team reaffirmed its findings in a final report in late October.