The UN was made aware of the extortion efforts of Saddam Hussein in the OFF program back in 2000. The UN learned of Hussien’s illegal activity from the Swedish government in December 2000, which learned of the extortion earlier that year in their dealings with OFF:

An unidentified Swedish company informed the country’s embassy in Amman, Jordan, in 2000 that
Iraq was demanding 10 percent “fees” on all deals as a way to circumvent U.N. sanctions on Saddam’s regime, according to a Swedish Foreign Ministry document published on the Web site of Swedish Radio.

The document was sent from the embassy in Amman to the Foreign Ministry and Swedish delegation at the
United Nations in December 2000, Swedish Radio said.

The document stated clearly that the extra fees violated U.N. sanctions. But it was “clear that an open Swedish engagement in this issue would negatively affect other Swedish business opportunities” in Iraq, it said.

Anders Kruse, head of the Foreign Ministry’s legal division, said Sweden had forwarded the information to the U.N. committee in charge of sanctions and was told the extra fees were widely known.

Well, that is as clear of evidence I have ever seen that the UN was complicate with the OFF bribery and was also complicit in keeping the illegal extortion under wraps and hidden from the public. The UN of course was using the OFF as a cash cow for themselves, and it is no surprise illegal extortion monies found their way into the bank accounts of key UN officials meant to oversea the program. These people were literrally stealing milk and medicine from babies in need. And they need to be held accountable for their blind greed.

Update: More here from Sweden.