POCAS HORAS después de su arresto, Yakovlev se ha declarado culpable por los delitos que se le imputan en el escándalo ("¿escándalo, qué escándalo?", dicen los medios mientras clavan su tinta en mi bit azul; "¿escándalo? ¿y tú me lo preguntas? Escándalo... eres tú") del programa Petróleo por Alimentos:

NEW YORK --A former United Nations procurement officer pleaded guilty Monday to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from U.N. contractors, federal prosecutors said.

Alexander Yakovlev also admitted to soliciting a bribe under the U.N. oil-for-food program, making him the first U.N. official to face criminal charges in connection with the scandal-tainted program for Iraq.

He pleaded guilty to all three counts in the indictment -- wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering -- and could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.

Yakovlev, who lives in the New York City suburb of Yonkers, was taken into custody and released later Monday on a $400,000 bond, with no new court date immediately set, said Megan Gaffney, a spokeswoman for David Kelley, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York.

"We decided that it's in the best interest of the client to enter such a plea," Yakovlev's lawyer Arkady Bukh told The Associated Press. "In term of sentencing we expect much better deal if we enter a guilty plea.

Tan rápido ha sido el acuerdo para declararse culpable que Ed Morrisey se pregunta si parte del mismo acaso es cantar como un jilguero. Problemas para mucha, mucha gente a la vista.

Yupi.

ACTUALIZACIÓN. Manel Gozalbo: "[A]lgunos se preguntan qué tenemos contra Kofi Annan o Naciones Unidas en general. Quicir, se lo preguntan los mismos que se llenaron la boca hablando de un embargo genocida."

Exacto.