Say Anything Blog

Hmm...

NEW YORK - A senior investigator from Paul Volcker's independent committee into allegations of corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program criticized his former employer Saturday for misrepresenting the grounds for his resignation earlier this month.

The investigator, Robert Parton, confirmed a report by The Associated Press earlier this week that he had resigned along with another investigator to protest recent findings by the committee that cleared U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan of meddling in the $64 billion program.

Parton's statement comes after a member of the committee discounted reports that the two investigators had left the Independent Inquiry Committee because they believed the report was too soft on the secretary-general.

"Contrary to recent published reports, I resigned my position as Senior Investigative Counsel for the IIC not because my work was complete but on principle," Parton said.

Clearly the Volcker investigation was a blatant attempt at a whitewash from the beginning. The intent was never to get to the bottom of the oil-for-food scandal but rather to go through the motions of investigating it in order to move the scandal from the present into the past.

The real question that needs to be asked, in my opinion, is who decided to appoint Volcker to the position of investigating this scandal. Was Kofi in on choosing Volcker? What ties does Volcker have to Kofi? What does Volcker stand to benefit by clearing Kofi?

This investigation hasn't solved anything, its just raised more questions about further corruption. If there was ever a time when America needed a man like John Bolton at the UN representing our interests it is now.