A PARTIR DE MAÑANA veréis uno de esos fenómenos curiosos que se dan de forma muy especial en el periodismo español: informar de un asunto cuando ha llegado el momento de la "sentencia", por decirlo de algún modo, después de haber estado ignorando todo el proceso durante meses. Me refiero, naturalmente, a la megaestafa del programa Petróleo por Alimentos, sobre el que se acaba de presentar el cuarto y definitivo informe dirigido por Paul Volcker (y que podéis leer íntegramente aquí):

Kofi Annan on Wednesday called the latest report on the U.N. Oil-for-Food (search) program "embarrassing" as it slammed the secretary-general, his deputy and the Security Council for allowing Saddam Hussein to cheat $10.2 billion from the humanitarian operation.

The report was released by the Independent Inquiry Committee to the Security Council Wednesday morning before it was released to the public.

"The findings of today's report must be deeply embarrassing to all of us," Annan told the Security Council Wednesday. "None of us — member states, secretariat … can be proud of what it has found. Who among us can now claim that U.N. management is not a problem or is not in need of reform?"

The document — the fourth report released by the IIC, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker (search) — lays out a pattern of "illicit, unethical and corrupt behavior" that overwhelmed the United Nations. It criticizes Annan and slams his stewardship and management skills, as well as criticize the Security Council — specifically France and Russia — for their dealings with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Companies in Russia and France had major Oil-for-Food contracts and for years were considered friendly to Iraq.

Former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali (search), who played a key role in the creation of Oil-for-Food, also comes under heavy scrutiny.

Aunque la comisión no ha podido probar la implicación de Annan -lo que no quiere decir que no estuviese implicado, sino sólo que no se ha podido probar más allá de toda duda razonable- el hombre, por pura vergüenza torera, lo primero que tendría que haber hecho esta tarde es dimitir. Porque si no es corrupto, sí es un soberano incompetente por no haberse enterado de lo que estaba ocurriendo bajo su batuta. Sin embargo, de momento no parece tener intención de hacerlo: ¿estáis seguro de que Annan no es español?

Lo que es yo, no le dejaba llevar ni un puesto de limonadas.

ACTUALIZACIÓN. Claudia Rosett afirma que la corrupción del programa iraquí es solamente la punta del iceberg de lo que ocurre en la ONU:

How widespread is the corruption at the United Nations? The multibillion-dollar Iraq Oil-for-Food scandal was just the beginning.

Now the issue is becoming the scale of corruption in the U.N.'s normal operations — and which individuals and corporations are reaping the benefits of a network of bribery and conspiracy that investigators have just begun to uncover. So far, those identities are still a mystery — but perhaps not for much longer.