The New York Sun is not asserting, or even suggesting, that Mr. Strong himself is one of the U.N. officials in question. But Mr. Strong's history indicates he might be especially well-placed to offer insights into at least the likely identity of U.N. official #2, who according to the indictment had family business ties to Canada, and along with U.N. official...
Now The Australian reports on more evidence.
KOFI Annan's leadership of the UN is under renewed pressure after one of his key advisers admitted to financial links with Tongsun Park, the shadowy South Korean businessman and former playboy spy at the centre of US investigations into Iraq's oil-for-food scandal.
Canadian Maurice Strong, a close adviser to Mr Annan and his special envoy to Korea, admitted Mr Park had invested in an energy company he was associated with in 1997 - the first full year of the oil-for-food program - but denied the funding had anything to do with Iraq.
And the plot thickens.
The court documents also refer to a "UN Official No1", believed to be former UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Dr Boutros-Ghali was heavily involved in the early planning for the oil-for-food program in the mid-1990s, a period when he was known to be close to Mr Park.
UN insiders say the relationship was fostered by the late Ismat Kittani, Saddam's foreign minister and ambassador to the UN in the 1980s.
In the 1990s Mr Kittani was employed as an adviser by DrBoutros-Ghali and Mr Annan. Dr Boutros-Ghali has refused to comment.
Wait, there's more!
Revelations last night that Mr Strong had served with Mr Annan's disgraced son Kojo on the board of a Saudi-based company would further heighten the scepticism.
Strange Volcker missed all this.
Lots of fleas on this dog.
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