UN - Iraqi bribe probe widens

The New York Post is reporting "Iraqi officials have recently implicated more U.N. staffers in bribe taking during the oil-for-food program..."

The Iraqi ministry officials said the U.N. staffers, based in New York, were paid to accelerate approval of oil-for-food contracts or provide secret information on why certain suspicious contracts with Saddam Hussein's regime were blocked by the 661 Committee, investigators said.

News that more U.N. officials may be involved in corruption is the latest revelation to rock the United Nations, where Secretary-General Kofi Annan is fending off calls for his resignation in the aftermath of history's biggest financial scandal in which Saddam is alleged to have ripped off $21.3 billion.

The UN's own investigation spokesman said:

"We cannot speak to this particular issue," he said. "But this entire investigation is about more than one person. It's about a process that is bigger than one person."
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