New York
A Russian diplomat was arrested in an FBI raid last week and charged with taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for covering up corruption at the United Nations. Vladimir Kuznetsov, 48, allegedly had accepted kickbacks from a Russian U.N. procurement officer, who has been accused of soliciting a bribe from a company seeking a contract in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal. That official, Alexander Yakovlev, has already pleaded guilty to taking nearly $1 million from contractors in other U.N. programs. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan agreed to waive diplomatic immunity for Kuznetsov, who chairs an influential budget committee in the U.N. General Assembly. He was formally charged in Manhattan court, and said in a thick accent, “Plead not guilty.”
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