GENEVA - Switzerland's federal prosecutor has opened an investigation into suspected corruption and money laundering connected with the UN's oil-for-food programme, his office said Thursday.
Hansjuerg Mark Wiedmer, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office, told the Swiss news agency ATS that large sums of money had been frozen in bank accounts.
The move several weeks ago followed information received from the national money laundering watchdog, he added.
The investigation is targeting three people, who were not named, and can be broadened if more evidence is uncovered during the probe.
A probe commissioned by the United Nations into the 64-billion-dollar programme, which oversaw oil sales by the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein between 1996 and 2003, has so far revealed a trail of wrongdoing.
A commission of inquiry headed by former US Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker found that a senior UN official, Benon Sevan, sought and obtained oil allocations from Saddam's regime.
It has also said "serious questions" remained about the business dealings of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's son, Kojo, who was employed by a Swiss-based inspection firm, Cotecna, that had a contract in the programme, the panel's interim report said.
Panel investigators have also indicated that money in deals under the oil-for-food programme often transited through Switzerland.
04/28/2005 15:49 GMT