UN Experts Conduct ‘Complete Review’ of Report on Yemen
Arab World
Washington - Ali Barada
The UN panel of experts monitoring sanctions imposed by Security Council resolution 2140 against Yemen has pulled back from its claims of corruption and money laundering by the legitimate government, saying a preliminary review of new information has found no evidence that can back the allegations. Amendments were introduced to the report published on January 25 after new information surfaced. In light of the new findings, experts announced their desire to conduct “a complete review” of the initial report. The panel said in letters to the Security Council’s sanctions committee “that its preliminary review has not demonstrated evidence of corruption, money laundering or elite capture” as stated in the report. “In addition, information received also indicates that after the injection of the Saudi deposit into Yemen, food prices were stabilized in 2019,” the letters added. Pending the experts’ final assessment, all references to corruption and money laundering allegations “should be disregarded.” In a March 26 letter to sanctions committee members and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres the coordinator of the panel of experts, Dakshinie Ruwanthika Gunaratne, said that financial information published in the report were revised and no evidence was found that supports allegations against the Yemen government and central bank. The sanctions committee and the Security Council have stressed the need to correct the error made in the report. Consequently, the paragraph that accused the government of laundering money and corruption was omitted. In the initial report had baselessly blamed government practices for adversely affecting access to food in the war-torn country. One of the experts had tendered their resignation after the panel having backtracked their accusations due to the lack of credibility of cited information. Guterres is expected to name a replacement candidate approval soon. The Security Council will need to approve the successor’s assignment. The experts, however, maintained their accusations of the Iran-backed Houthi militias collecting at least $1.8 billion in state revenue in 2019 to help fund their war effort.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2889931/un-experts-conduct-%E2%80%98complete-review%E2%80%99-report-yemen
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