U.S. lawmakers ask Cyprus to extradite Cypriot citizen accused of oil-for-food crimes
By AP
February 13, 2007
WASHINGTON: A committee of the House of Representatives asked the Cyprus government on Tuesday for help in bringing to trial the indicted head of the scandal-plagued U.N. program that sold Iraqi oil to help Iraqis endangered by sanctions against President Saddam Hussein.
In a letter to Cypriot Ambassador Andreas Kakouris, Rep. Tom Lantos, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the ranking Republican, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, noted that a former ambassador had promised his government would help locate Benon Sevan.
That ambassador, Euripides L. Evriviades, said a year ago that Cyprus was ready to provide any further assistance, Lantos and Ros-Lehtinen wrote.
The Justice Department has requested Sevan's extradition through Interpol, the international police organization, they wrote, which is "precisely the type of assistance that is now needed to pursue justice in this case."
Sevan, 69, a Cyprus national who is said to be living on the Mediterranean island, was indicted in New York last month on charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit fraud. If convicted on all charges, he could be sentenced to 50 years in prison.
He allegedly accepted a bribe of $160,000 (€122,870) to influence who could buy Iraqi oil under the $64 billion (€49.2 billion) humanitarian program.
The program was established in the mid-1990s in the face of allegations that U.N. sanctions to punish Saddam for refusing to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors were causing extreme hardship especially for children. The money from oil sales was to have been used for food and medicine.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan lifted Sevan's diplomatic immunity.
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Senator Tom Coburn
Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2254 Fax: 202-228-3796
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