According
to Niles Lathem in the New York
Post, two Congressional committees have approached Robert Parton - the recently-resigned
UN Oil-for-Food investigator - to elicit testimony, but his former bosses
aren't happy.
But
sources said lawyers for the Volcker panel are moving to block Parton from
telling his story before the House Government Affairs Subcommittee on National
Security, invoking a confidentiality agreement he signed with the commission.
Because
the panel was set up by the United Nations, the commission may also invoke
"sovereign immunity," officials close to the probe said. "It's a
complicated situation. We are now studying ways to get around this. We would
like to hear what Robert Parton has to say," said a congressional
investigator.
But is
Parton willing to talk? If he is truly for UN reform, he would be, but it isn't
particularly encouraging that he has hired Clinton mega-loyalist Lanny Davis as his attorney. As Benny
Avni
of the NY Sun points out, Davis may soon go against his colleague Gregory Craig
in a UN version of the Year of the Long Knives:
Indeed,
two former law partners, both of whom served on President Clinton's defense
team during the 1990s impeachment hearings, may soon be pitted against one
another: Gregory Craig and Lanny Davis. Mr. Davis now represents a former
Volcker committee investigator, Robert Parton, who resigned citing principal
differences with others on the team. The disagreements led to the Volcker team
softening its conclusions about Secretary-General Annan, who is represented by
Mr. Craig.
It's
hard to see how the cause of United Nations reform benefits from all this.
(Maybe these people are too cynical anyway to care about kleptocracy.) But not
to worry. At least the lawyers will, as always, get theirs. As Avni further
reports:
Benon
Sevan, who once headed the United Nations' oil-for-food program, hinted in a
recent letter to the U.N. chief of staff, Mark Malloch Brown, that he would
consider retributions against the organization if it refused to reimburse the
mounting legal fees he has incurred while attempting to fend off allegations
related to the program.
The
letter adds to growing tensions among lawyers, the United Nations, and a host
of investigators who are investigating the scandals swirling around oil for
food. Defense attorneys employed by oil-for-food players now include
influential Washington lawyers known for taking on high-profile cases - and
demanding fat fees.
Meanwhile,
as Tom Friedman assures us, the UN
goes about its "good works" in Darfur, Rwanda, etc. It's time for Mr.
Friedman - and the rest of the unexamined conventional liberals - to
have another look at this movie.
MORE
NOT-TO-WORRY: "Let us not get so focused on the
veto," Don Kofi reminds us, apparently rebuffing the ambition of
the world's largest democracy for a powerful role on the Security Council.
AND: Some related
news from Provence. [Where's your invitation?-ed. I seem
to have lost it.] Thursday, April 28, 2005