Court Favors U.N. on Oil-For-Food Papers

[deminks]

UNITED NATIONS - The
United Nations won an initial victory in federal court Monday blocking a former investigator from giving Congress documents that he took with him when he quit a probe of the Iraq oil-for-food program.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina in Washington issued the temporary restraining order in the effort by the U.N. to quash three congressional subpoenas for Robert Parton. The ex-FBI agent quit the U.N.-appointed Independent Inquiry Committee in April, reportedly because he believed it ignored evidence critical of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Parton has already turned over documents from the investigation to the House International Relations Committee in response to a subpoena. He is also under subpoena from two other House investigations.

The chief of the U.N.-appointed investigative committee, former
Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, sought the court petition, and the United Nations filed it on his behalf. Volcker said release of the documents could jeopardize his investigation and put witnesses' lives at risk.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050509/ap_on_re_us/oil_for_food_investigation