U.N. reinstates fired oil-for-food official
30-year employee plans to continue effort to clear his name

From Liz Neisloss
November 16, 2005
CNN
Original Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/11/15/oil.food/

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The United Nations has agreed to reinstate its only employee fired amid the oil-for-food scandal, an attorney for the dismissed employee said Tuesday.
Joseph Stephanides, who was fired in May, four months before retirement, for his role in a contract negotiation for the program, received a letter Tuesday saying that the U.N. penalty of dismissal was too harsh, according to the attorney, George Irving.
The letter said Stephanides, a Cypriot who headed the U.N. Security Council sanctions branch at a critical time during the oil-for-food program, would instead be censured for violating staff rules, Irving said.
In a report compiled by the U.N. investigative committee led by Paul Volcker, Stephanides was found to have interfered with the competitive bidding process for a lucrative oil-for-food contract.
Mr. Stephanides violated the procurement rules that required him to act with 'absolute impartiality' towards all bidders, and that he not disclose outside the U.N. any information with respect to the probable acceptance or rejection of a bid offer, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a written statement Tuesday evening.
However, he said the sanction imposed on Stephanides was reconsidered in light of all the circumstances in this case and the principle of proportionality.
It has also been decided, in view of the circumstances, to impose a written censure on Mr. Stephanides, Annan said.
A U.N. official said circumstances included Stephanides' 30 years of unblemished service to the U.N., the fact that he had not personally gained from his actions, and a view of the unprecedented complexities of the oil-for-food program.
Irving said his client plans to take his case to the next and final level -- the U.N. Administrative Tribunal -- in the hope of clearing his name. The lawyer said Annan was trying to cover up for his [own] mistakes.
In a statement issued later in the day, Stephanides said he was gratified by the unanimous conclusion it has reached that my summary dismissal was 'illegal, wrong, unfounded and unjustified.'
I am confident that following full and fair adjudication of my case by the U.N. Administrative Tribunal, the grave injustice done to me by the U.N. administration will be recognized and remedied, Stephanides' statement said.
Last month the Joint Disciplinary Committee, an internal U.N. appeals board, said the U.N. had mishandled the case and said the firing of Stephanides was improperly influenced by the political atmosphere that surrounded the oil-for-food scandal.
The committee ruled that Stephanides should be given back his job and be paid damages.
Irving said the committee agreed with his client's analysis that he had been made a sacrificial lamb for all the sins exposed in the program.
The now-defunct oil-for-food program sought to ease the toll of sanctions -- including oil sales -- imposed by the United Nations after the 1991 Persian Gulf War by allowing Iraq to sell oil and use the revenue for humanitarian needs.
However, investigators found that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had pocketed billions of dollars in illegal surcharges and kickbacks during the program.
Allegations of corruption haunted the program from its inception, but the controversy gained momentum with the discovery of Iraqi documents alleging U.N. officials and others profited from the oil sales.