Panel on Iraq Erred, Ex-Investigator Says

[Syrinx]

A former investigator for a committee examining the United Nations
oil-for-food program in Iraq has accused the committee of compromising
its investigation by giving Secretary General Kofi Annan internal
information that violated the confidentiality of a witness in the
inquiry.

The allegation is contained in papers filed Saturday night in Federal
District Court in Washington by Robert Parton, a former lead
investigator for the Independent Inquiry Committee, who resigned his
post in early April. The committee was appointed by the United Nations
and is led by Paul A. Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal
Reserve.

The executive director of the committee, Reid Morden, denied in an
interview last night that the panel had given Mr. Annan any
information that others being investigated had not also been given,
and said the panel had not violated any pledge of confidentiality to
any of its witnesses.

The accusation constitutes an escalation in the dispute between the
Volcker committee and Mr. Parton, a former F.B.I. agent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/16/international/middleeast/16oil.html