Former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Mr Paul Volcker has begun an investigation into allegations of kickbacks and bribes in the UN-run oil-for-food programme for Iraq.
Mr Volcker assumed his post as head of a three-man team after he was assured that all 15 members of the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to back the investigation, which will include an investigation into contracts with Iraq around the world.
Under the now-defunct programme, Iraq was permitted to sell oil in order to buy civilian goods. Its purpose was to ease the impact on ordinary Iraqis of sanctions imposed after the 1991 Gulf War.
The panel intends to hire investigators, accountants and legal specialists in an effort to analyse contracts. The programme allowed Saddam's government to choose buyers of its oil and suppliers of goods.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he took the allegations seriously, which include accusations that a senior UN official took a bribe from Saddam's government.
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the US Congress, says Iraqi elites pocketed $4.4 billion by imposing illegal surcharges on oil sales.
Iraq is estimated to have smuggled another $5.7 billion in oil outside the UN programme, which amounted to some $67 billion from December 1996 until last year, a few months after the US-led invasion of Iraq.