Oil-for-food investigators quit after probe

Two senior investigators in the probe of corruption in the United Nations oil-for-food programme have resigned because they believed a report that cleared Kofi Annan of meddling in the US$64 billion ($88.93 billion) operation was too soft on the Secretary-General, a panel member confirmed.

Investigators Robert Parton and Miranda Duncan felt the Independent Inquiry Committee played down findings critical of Annan when it released an interim report in late March related to his son, said Mark Pieth, one of three leaders of the committee.

The committee "told the story" that the investigators presented, "but we made different conclusions than they would have", Pieth said.

Parton was lead investigator on issues pertaining to allegations of impropriety relating to Annan's son, Kojo. Duncan worked on Parton's team.