Press Trust of India Posted online: Monday, November 07, 2005 at 0231 hours IST Updated: Monday, November 07, 2005 at 1209 hours IST
New York, November 6: With his report on Iraqi oil deals creating a political storm in India, its author Paul Volcker, in a startling revelation, has said he agreed to change the language that referred to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's son Kojo's business dealings.
Volcker, who investigated allegations of corruption in the UN's USD 64 billion Iraqi oil-for food programme, said he had no idea how much the 18-month probe would expose the vulnerabilities of the world body and how close he would come to toppling the Secretary-General as its leader.
"It had that potential from the start," Volcker said in an interview to Los Angeles Times. But when it came to the moment when he realized that Annan's job hung on his words, "I felt uncomfortably," he said.
The daily said that the U.N. Chief and his lawyer asked Volcker to change the language about business dealings by Kojo Annan that they thought could force his father's resignation, hours before the publication of the draft forward of the report in September.
Volcker agreed. "It was merely a part of the due process," he was quoted as saying.
Before releasing the September report on Annan, Volcker met with the U.N. Chief and his lawyer to discuss the harsh conclusion.
"The wording we had was that Annan's performance did not meet the standards of the United Nations," Volcker said, adding "And there was more, along the same vein."
