year sentence if convicted on accusations of taking 2 million dollars to work for the Iraqi government. The defendants are the first to be criminally charged regarding abuse of the U.N. oil-for-food programme, which was enacted in 1996 to allow Baghdad to sell oil to meet the humanitarian needs of its people and ease the burden of international sanctions. Mismanagement and corruption in the programme has rocked the United Nations, which administered it, and an independent inquiry ordered by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan blamed his administration for failing to properly oversee the programme and implicated two U.N. officials, although no criminal charges have been filed against them. The U.N. investigation is ongoing and the allegations of mismanagment have renewed calls in Washington to reform the embattled world body. Chalmers and Dionissieve were arrested Thursday in Houston, and U.S. authorities were to issue a warrant for Irving's arrest in Britain. Under the programme from 1996 to 2003, before U.S.-led forces toppled the regime, Iraq took in 65 billion dollars in the U.N.- administered programme.
