January 17, 2007 -- U.S. prosecutors have indicted the former head of the UN's oil-for-food program in Iraq, Benon Sevan, on charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit fraud.
A second suspect, Ephraim Nadler, the brother-in-law of former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, was also charged.
Prosecutors say Nadler helped channel some $160,000 in bribes to Sevan on behalf of the Iraqi government.
Another 12 officials are already facing corruption charges related to the oil-for-food program, which was set up in the 1990s to alleviate the humanitarian impact of sanctions against the government of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
(AP, AFP, Reuters)
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