Oil-For-Food Official Reinstated

The United Nations agreed Tuesday to reinstate the lone U.N. official who was fired over the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, after an internal appeals body ruled that he had done nothing wrong, his lawyer said.

Joseph Stephanides was advised of the decision in a letter received Tuesday morning, said his lawyer, George Irving. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan still believes that Stephanides, fired on May 31, violated staff rules in his handling of an oil-for-food contract, but agreed that the punishment was too harsh, Irving said.

The Joint Disciplinary Committee, an internal U.N. appeals board, had ruled last month that Stephanides should be reinstated, issued a written apology and paid about $200,000, about two years' back pay, for the emotional suffering and damage to his reputation caused by Annan's handling of his case.

The ruling, disclosed to The Associated Press last week, concluded that Stephanides was fired mostly because of the public scrutiny from an investigation that found the $64 billion oil-for-food program was poorly managed and corrupt.

Annan was not required to heed the decision. Instead, he agreed that Stephanides be reinstated so he can retire with his reputation intact, but refused to give the apology, Irving said.

"They just maintain their decision that he did something wrong," Irving said.

Stephanides was fired for divulging bidding information related to an oil-for-food contract to Britain. He argued he was acting under the instructions of a U.N. Security Council sanctions committee.

U.N. officials had maintained that Annan stood by the adverse findings against Stephanides by a U.N.-backed probe of the program. Led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, that investigation accused him in February of tainting the bidding process over a contract to inspect goods going into Iraq.

On Stephanides' request, Volcker reopened his investigation into Stephanides over the summer. But Volcker's team reaffirmed its findings in a final report in late October.

Irving said he was not satisfied with Annan's move and would take the case to the next step up the internal U.N. appeals ladder, the Administrative Tribunal. Unlike the disciplinary committee, its decisions are binding.