Two UN oil-for-food corruption investigators quit

UNITED NATIONS - Two investigators for the independent commission looking into corruption in the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq have resigned, a spokesman for the commission said Thursday.
The spokesman confirmed that Robert Parton and Miranda Duncan had left the inquiry but would not comment on reports that they had left in protest that a report on the investigation had been too soft on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
"They resigned because they have completed the work they had signed on to do," the spokesman told AFP.
Asked about US media reports on the reasons for the resignations, the spokesman added: "We make it a policy not to comment on these issues, because they are very sensitive."
Oil-for-food is the subject of an independent inquiry by a committee headed by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker. It has issued two interim reports which charged the program's director, Benon Sevan, with unethical behavior and raised questions over the dealings of Annan's son, Kojo.

04/21/2005 16:11 GMT