Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 8:00am MSK
On February 3, 2011 the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) released a report investigating the UN Oil-for-Food program. The program began to exchange Iraqi oil for food and medicine in 1996, despite international sanctions prohibiting such trading. The report concluded that the program's head, Benon Sevan, solicited improper oil deals and "seriously undermined" the integrity of the UN. Then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan formally suspended Sevan on February 7, 2005. In August 2005 a more detailed report prompted Sevan to also resign his honorary UN position. The August 2005 report accused Sevan of accepting almost $150,000 in bribes through the program. Ahead of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the