NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Russian U.N. official was arrested in an overnight FBI raid and charged with helping a U.N. procurement officer launder bribes from contractors and taking a share of the money, an indictment said on Friday.
Vladimir Kuznetsov, an official of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the elected chairman of the U.N. General Assembly's budget advisory committee, was taken into custody overnight by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Russian and U.S. officials said on Friday.
More and more this scandal is unraveling.
The indictment appears to point to Vladimir Yakovlev, who was arrested and charged last month and pleaded guilty to money laundering and was said to be cooperating with federal investigators.
As more of them sing, Annan and Galloway must be getting nervous.
Kuznetsov's detention was confirmed by U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, who thanked Secretary-General Kofi Annan for promptly waiving Kuznetsov's diplomatic immunity so the arrest could be made.
What choice did Annan have? If Kuznetsov was turned in, it would have looked like Annan was stonewalling.
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