In U.N. news, two people have been charged with bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection to the U.N.’s oil-for-food program in Iraq. On Tuesday, federal prosecutors unsealed indictments against former oil-for-food director Benon Sevan and Ephraim Nadler, the brother-in-law of former Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The oil-for-food program allowed the Iraqi government to use oil revenue to buy humanitarian goods while it was under international sanctions. U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq says the U.N. will cooperate.

U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq: “We have yet to actually see the formal indictment. So I would wait until we have that to have any details on that. Obviously what we have been urging is for all parties to cooperate with authorities on this matter, and the secretary general today did reiterate that we would continue to cooperate as we can.”

Sevan is charged with receiving $160,000 from the Iraqi government. His lawyer says the charges are baseless. Other critics have argued the charges linked to U.N. officials are a fraction of the billions of dollars Saddam Hussein received through key U.S. allies Turkey and Jordan with the Bush administration’s full cooperation.