Editing Oil-for-Food Programme (section)

==Investigations==

===GAO investigation===
After the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]] and subsequent [[Multi-National Force – Iraq|Coalition]] victory over the [[Iraqi Army]], the US [[Government Accountability Office]] (GAO) was given the task of finalizing all Oil-for-Food-related supply contracts made with the now-defunct regime and of tracking down the personal fortunes of former regime members.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04651t.pdf |title= Observations on the Oil for Food Program |date=2004 |website=gao.gov |access-date=2020-04-04}}</ref> During the execution of this task, the GAO found weaknesses in the programme that allowed kickbacks and other sources of wealth for Saddam Hussein. The GAO estimates that the Saddam Hussein regime generated $10.1 billion in illegal revenues. This figure includes $5.7 billion from oil smuggling and $4.4 billion in illicit surcharges on oil sales and after-sales charges on suppliers. The scale of the fraud was far more extensive than the GAO had previously estimated. A [[United States Department of Defense|U.S. Department of Defense]] study, cited by the GAO, evaluated 759 contracts administered through the Oil-for-Food Programme and found that nearly half had been overpriced, by an average of 21 percent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d04579thigh.pdf |title=Preliminary Observations on U.S. Efforts and Challenges |date=18 March 2004 |website=gao.gov |access-date=2020-04-04 |archive-date=16 April 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050416114012/http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d04579thigh.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Unlike the 661 committee, members of the Security Council had the authority to launch investigations into contracts and to stop any contract they did not like. The British and the Americans had turned down hundreds of Oil-for-Food contract requests, but these were blocked primarily on the grounds that the items being imported were dual-use technologies.

To quote the GAO report, in its summary:

: Both the UN Secretary-General, through the Office of the Iraqi Programme (OIP) and the Security Council, through its sanctions committee for Iraq, were responsible for overseeing the Oil-for-Food Programme. However, the Iraqi government negotiated contracts directly with purchasers of Iraqi oil and suppliers of commodities, which may have been one important factor that allowed Iraq to levy illegal surcharges and commissions.

Joseph A. Christoff, director of international affairs and trade at the General Accounting Office, told a House hearing that UN auditors had refused to release the internal audits of the Oil-for-Food Programme.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://washingtontimes.com/world/20040429-120918-1334r.htm |title=GAO denied access to oil-for-food audits |work=The Washington Times|date=29 April 2004 |access-date=7 December 2011}}</ref> [[Benon Sevan]], with support from [[Kofi Annan]], had written letters to all former Oil-for-Food contractors asking them to consult Sevan before releasing any documents to GAO or US congressional inquiry panels.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/05/03/un.oil.for.food.letter/ | publisher=CNN| title=U.N. defends oil-for-food letter | date=3 May 2004 | access-date=2010-05-20}}</ref> Throughout its history, the programme had received both complaints from critics saying that it needed to be more open and complaints from companies about proprietary information being disclosed.

The United Nations has denied all requests by the GAO for access to confidential internal audits of the Oil-for-Food Programme.

While attempting to determine the complexity of the Oil-for-Food Programme for articles in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', [[investigative journalist]] [[Claudia Rosett]] of the [http://www.defenddemocracy.org Foundation for the Defence of Democracies] and the [[Hudson Institute]] discovered that the UN treated details such as the identities of Oil-for-Food contractors; the price, quantity and quality of goods involved in the relief deals; and the identities of the oil buyers and the precise quantities that they received as confidential. The bank statements, the interest paid, and the transactions were all secret as well.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://reform.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Rosett%20Testimony--%20(cleaned%20up%20version).pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=5 May 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040512103249/http://reform.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Rosett%20Testimony--%20%28cleaned%20up%20version%29.pdf |archive-date=12 May 2004 }}</ref> Rosett has come under harsh criticism from [[Denis Halliday]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0403/19/i_dl.01.html|title=Archived copy  |publisher=CNN|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311042257/http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0403/19/i_dl.01.html |archive-date=11 March 2007 }}</ref> and [[Benon Sevan]],<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0305/04/i_dl.01.html | publisher=CNN| access-date=2010-05-20 | title=Breaking News}}</ref> who have claimed that many of Rosett's claims (such as Oil-for-Food funding the approval of an Olympic stadium, and where responsibility for various issues lay according to the UN resolutions) were incorrect.

The US House Committee on International Relations investigated the Oil-for-Food Programme and discovered that money was provided by [[Sabah Yassen]], the former Iraqi ambassador to Jordan, to pay the families of [[List of Palestinian suicide attacks|Palestinian suicide bombers]] between $15,000 to $25,000. From September 2000 until the invasion of Iraq, the families of Palestinians killed or wounded in the conflict with Israel (including 117 responsible for suicide bombings in Israel) received over $35 million. It is alleged that this money came from the UN Oil-for-Food Programme.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saddams-suicide-bomb-funds/|title=Saddam's Suicide Bomb Funds|last=Grace|first=Francie|date=2019-11-17|publisher=CBS News|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-10}}</ref>

===Independent Inquiry Committee===
After initial opposition to an investigation, UN Secretary-General [[Kofi Annan]] stated on 19 March 2004 that a full independent investigation would be launched. In an official press interview, Annan said "[...] it is highly possible that there has been quite a lot of wrongdoing, but we need to investigate [...] and see who was responsible." [https://web.archive.org/web/20120204084900/http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/pressconference/so040319.rm?start= "00:00:03"]. (<small>''audio clip, @5:56''</small>) However, Annan was emphatic that most of the claims were "outrageous and exaggerated",<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/28/iraq.un.oil.reut/]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} </ref> and that most of the criticisms had to do with things over which the programme had no authority.

The following individuals were chosen in April 2004 to head the United Nations' ''[[Paul Volcker Committee|Independent Inquiry Committee]]'':<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iic-offp.org/index.html |title=Independent Inquiry Committee into The United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme |publisher=Iic-offp.org |access-date=7 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112080317/http://www.iic-offp.org/index.html |archive-date=12 November 2011 }}</ref>
*[[Paul Volcker]], former United States [[Federal Reserve System]] chairman and director of the [[United Nations Association of the United States of America]];
*[[Mark Pieth]] of Switzerland, an expert on money-laundering in the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD); and
*[[Richard Goldstone]] of South Africa, former Prosecutor of the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] (ICTY) and the [[International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda]] (ICTR).

On 22 April 2004, the [[United Nations Security Council]] passed a unanimous resolution endorsing the Volcker inquiry into [[political corruption|corruption]] in the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme for Iraq, calling upon all 191 member states to cooperate.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/22/international/middleeast/22CND-NATI.html | work=The New York Times | title=Corruption Allegations at U.N. Put Annan on the Defensive | first=Warren | last=Hoge | date=22 April 2004}}</ref>

The definitive<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.iic-offp.org/story07Sept05.htm|date=7 September 2005|title=Independent Inquiry Committee finds mismanagement and failure of oversight|publisher=United Nations|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612181108/http://www.iic-offp.org/story07Sept05.htm|archive-date=12 June 2007}}</ref> report was presented by Paul Volcker to the Security Council on 7 September 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.undemocracy.com/securitycouncil/meeting_5256/#pg002-bk08|title=Security Council Meeting 5256|date=7 September 2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211015115/http://www.undemocracy.com/securitycouncil/meeting_5256/#pg002-bk08|archive-date=11 December 2008}}</ref>

A leaked internal UN audit, which surfaced on mineweb.com, shows massive discrepancies between Cotecna reports and UN agency reports for the value of the shipments into northern Iraq. The audit found that Cotecna did no "value" inspections on nearly US$1 billion worth of aid shipments for the Inter-Agency Humanitarian Programme into northern Iraq. However, in a subsequent report published by the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) (27 October 2005) it was concluded that "there were no major complaints by the United Nations or its member states about Cotecna's performance"<ref>Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme – [http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf (27 October 2005)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823070841/http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf |date=23 August 2013 }} p. 474</ref> and that "the audit did not report any deficiencies in Cotecna's inspections".<ref name="27 October 2005">Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme – [http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf (27 October 2005)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823070841/http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/IIC%20Final%20Report%2027Oct2005.pdf |date=23 August 2013 }} p. 475</ref> [[Benon Sevan]] was briefed in December 2002 on the findings of the audit.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://washingtontimes.com/world/20040520-121412-9548r.htm |title=U.N. auditors fault oil-for-food monitor |work=The Washington Times|date=20 May 2004 |access-date=7 December 2011}}</ref>

The audit is available here.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/un_oilforfood_audit.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050416114022/http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/un_oilforfood_audit.pdf |archive-date=16 Apr 2005 |access-date=2023-09-14 |title=Audit |publisher=Fox News}}</ref> Its summary states:

:OIOS' overall conclusion is that the management of the Contract has not been adequate and certain provisions of the Contract had not been adhered to. In addition, the incorporation of additional costs, such as rehabilitation of camps in the man-day-rate was an unacceptable arrangement. Also, the contract had been amended prior to its commencement, which was inappropriate. OIP needs to strengthen its management of contracts and the Procurement Division (PD) should ensure that the basis of payment is appropriate in order to avoid additional costs to the Organization

After reading the leaked audit, congressman [[Henry Hyde]] wrote to Kofi Annan wondering why "The U.S. Congress – which provides 22 percent of the U.N.'s budget and which has publicly requested copies of the 55 internal audits – should be required to depend on media leaks for source documents."

====Interim report results====
In a 219-page initial report, the Volcker Commission documented how OIF chairman [[Benon Sevan]] used his position to solicit and receive allocations of oil from Iraq during the years he oversaw the humanitarian relief programme. Internal records from SOMO (Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization), as well as interviews with former Iraqi officials involved in illicit oil deals, show that Sevan had requested and received allocations of {{convert|7.3|Moilbbl|m3}} of oil on behalf of a Panama-registered trading company called African Middle East Petroleum Co.

Although the report makes no specific allegations of criminal activity by Sevan, Volcker does not rule out the possibility that charges might be filed by authorities in countries with relevant jurisdiction. The report called Sevan's conduct "ethically improper", noting that Sevan had received large cash payments totalling $160,000 each year he had headed the programme. Sevan claims the money came from an aunt in Cyprus who has since died, but the panel found no evidence to back this claim.

Volcker also reported in January that a review of 58 confidential UN internal OIF audits showed UN officials ignored early signs that humanitarian goods shipped to Iraq before the 2003 Invasion war were given little if any inspections by the Swiss company Cotecna. However, Volker concluded on 27 October 2005 IIC report that "the audit did not report any deficiencies in Cotecna's inspections".<ref name="27 October 2005"/> Cotecna paid [[Kojo Annan]], Kofi Annan's son, consulting fees until November 2003. Volcker said that future reports would deal with questions regarding Kojo Annan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/InterimReportFeb2005.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-06-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050204002604/http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/InterimReportFeb2005.pdf |archive-date=4 February 2005 }}</ref>

===Investigations by Iraqi Governing Council===
International accounting firm [[KPMG]] had been selected by the Iraqi Governing Council to investigate the ''al Mada claims'', along with [[Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer]]. It was due to release its findings to the [[Iraqi Governing Council]] in May 2004. However, in June 2004, KPMG stopped working on the project because it was owed money by the IGC.<ref>{{cite web |last=Marshall |first=Josh |url=http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/003120.php |title=3120 |publisher=Talking Points Memo |date=4 July 2004 |access-date=7 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204142650/http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/003120.php |archive-date=4 February 2012 }}</ref>

The US has been harshly critical of the KPMG probe led by associates of [[Ahmed Chalabi]], accusing it of undermining the main probe established by [[Paul Bremer]]. That probe had been run by the head of Iraq's independent Board of Supreme Audit, Ehsan Karim, with assistance from [[Ernst & Young]]. The Board of Supreme Audit is within the Iraqi Finance Ministry. In June 2004, Karim's investigation agreed to share information with the Volcker panel. However, on 1 July 2004, Karim was killed by a bomb magnetically attached to his car.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3855803.stm | work=BBC News | title=Attack on Iraq ministry official | date=1 July 2004 | access-date=2010-05-20}}</ref>

Claude Hankes-Drielsma, a British national and long-time friend of Ahmed Chalabi, was appointed by the IGC to coordinate its investigation of the Oil-for-Food Programme. Drielsma testified in front of the US Congress (on 21 April 2004) that the KPMG investigation "is expected to demonstrate the clear link between those countries which were quite ready to support Saddam Hussein's regime for their own financial benefit, at the expense of the Iraqi people, and those that opposed the strict application of sanctions and the overthrow of Saddam". He also testified that Chalabi was in charge of the investigation for the IGC.

In late May 2004, on the same day that Chalabi's offices at the Iraqi National Congress were raided by coalition forces, Drielsma claimed that an individual or individuals hacked into his computer and deleted every file associated with his investigation. He also claimed that "a back-up databank" was also deleted.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/06/06/wirq06.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/06/06/ixworld.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051130113436/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/06/06/wirq06.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/06/06/ixworld.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 November 2005|title=Iraqi judge orders arrest of American aide to Chalabi|date=6 June 2004|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|access-date=2010-05-20}}</ref> When asked by Claudia Rosett if he had been physically threatened as well, Drielsma replied with "no comment". Drielsma has also been an outspoken critic of the UN's refusal to release any internal Oil-for-Food audit information to the IGC.

===Criminal investigation in France===
The French criminal justice system is investigating the alleged involvement of two former officials from the [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)|French Ministry of Foreign Affairs]], Jean-Bernard Mérimée and Serge Boidevaix. The two are accused of having used their extensive network of connections in the Arab world in order to commit "influence peddling" and "corruption of foreign public agents". They have been put under formal criminal investigation by [[investigating magistrate]] [[Philippe Courroye]], a famous specialist in cases of corruption and other financial dealings. Both men had retired at the time of the alleged crimes and acted in their personal capacity, not as official envoys of the French government; however, Boidevaix claims that he kept the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed of his actions in Iraq. The Ministry claims to have warned both men formally in 2001 (during the administration of [[Lionel Jospin]]).

Some other people, including [[Bernard Guillet]], an aide to French senator [[Charles Pasqua]], are also under formal investigation. Guillet and Pasqua deny any wrongdoing.

===US Senate investigations===
[[United States Senate|US Senator]] [[Norm Coleman]] called for [[Kofi Annan]] to resign over the scandal and held [[Oil-for-Food Program Hearings|a number of hearings]] on the matter. The most spectacular of these hearings occurred after the subcommittee released a report that accused (then) British [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) [[George Galloway]], Russian politician [[Vladimir Zhirinovsky]], and former French Interior Minister [[Charles Pasqua]] of receiving oil allocations from Iraq in return for being political allies of [[Saddam Hussein]]'s regime. Galloway, in an unusual appearance of a British MP before a US Senate subcommittee, responded angrily to the allegations against him in a [[George Galloway#Senate hearing (17 May 2005)|confrontational public hearing]] which drew much media attention in both America and Britain.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4557369.stm |title=Media react to blistering hearing |work=BBC News |date=17 May 2005 |access-date=7 December 2011}}</ref> Galloway denied the allegations.

It is estimated that as much as $10 billion to $21.3 billion went unaccounted for and/or was directed to Saddam Hussein and his government in the form of kickbacks and oil smuggling. Record keeping of illegal behaviour is hard to come by and rare at best. To date, only 1 of 54 internal UN audits of the Oil-for-Food Programme has been made public. The UN has refused all requests for its audits.{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}

[[Warren Hoge]] alleged that the American government was aware of the scandal and chose to not prevent the smuggling because their allies Turkey and Jordan benefited from the majority of the smuggled oil. US Senator [[Carl Levin]] (D-[[Michigan]]) is quoted in an interview for the ''New York Times'' as saying, "There is no question that the bulk of the illicit oil revenues came from the open sale of Iraqi oil to Jordan and to Turkey, and that that was a way of going around the Oil-for-Food Programme [and that] we were fully aware of the bypass and looked the other way."<ref>{{cite web|last=Hoge |first=Warren |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050424/news_1n24annan.html |title=U.S. pegged for leaky Iraq oil sanctions |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=24 April 2005 |access-date=7 December 2011}}</ref>

===Indictments===

On 6 January 2006, [[South Korea]]n businessman [[Tongsun Park]] was arrested by the FBI in [[Houston]] after he was indicted for illegally accepting millions of dollars from Iraq in the UN Oil-for-Food Programme. The criminal charges against him were unsealed in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10741998 | title=Korean arrested on oil-for-food scandal charges | publisher=NBC News | date=6 January 2006}}</ref>

After an investigation by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s New York Field Office, on 16 January 2007, [[Benon Sevan]] was indicted by prosecutors from the Southern District of New York for taking about $160,000 in bribes.<ref>{{cite news|title=United States Attorney – Southern District of New York – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: U.S. INDICTS FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAM, AND UNITED STATES BUSINESSMAN|url=https://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/January07/sevanindictmentpr.pdf|publisher=[[United States Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]]|date=16 January 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607090912/http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/January07/sevanindictmentpr.pdf|archive-date=7 June 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Attorney General Mukasey Recognizes Department Employees and Others for Their Service at Annual Awards Ceremony|url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2008/October/08-opa-954.html|publisher=[[United States Department of Justice|DOJ]]|date=28 October 2008}}</ref> [[Michael J. Garcia]], the [[United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York|U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York]], issued a warrant through [[Interpol (organization)|Interpol]] for the arrest of Sevan at his home in Cyprus, as well as a warrant for Efraim "Fred" Nadler, a New York businessman who was indicted on charges of channelling the illegal payments to Sevan. Nadler's whereabouts are unknown.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/16/AR2007011600706.html | title=Former U.N. Oil-for-Food Chief Indicted | newspaper=The Washington Post | author=Colum Lynch | date=17 January 2007}}</ref>

===Daimler AG Kickbacks Case===
{{Main|Daimler AG#Bribery and corruption}}
On 1 April 2010, [[Daimler AG]] [[pleaded guilty]] to bribery charges brought by the [[U.S. Department of Justice]] and the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]] and will pay $185 million (US) as settlement, but remains subject to a two-year deferred prosecution agreement and oversight by an independent monitor.  The German automaker of [[Mercedes-Benz]] vehicles was accused of violating the terms of the United Nations' Oil for Food Program with Iraq by including [[bribery|kickback]]s 10 percent of the contract values to the Iraqi government.  The SEC said the company earned more than $4 million from the sale of vehicles and spare parts.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6303WY20100401 | work=Reuters | title=U.S. judge OKs settlement in Daimler bribery case | date=1 April 2010}}</ref>

The SEC case was sparked in 2004 after David Bazzetta, a former [[auditor]] at then DaimlerChrysler Corp, filed a [[whistle-blower]] complaint after he was fired for raising questions about [[bank account]]s controlled by Mercedes-Benz units in South America.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704896104575139891186752682 | work=The Wall Street Journal | title=Daimler to Settle With U.S. on Bribes | first1=Vanessa | last1=Fuhrmans | first2=Thomas | last2=Catan | date=24 March 2010}}</ref> Bazzetta alleged that he learned in a July 2001 corporate audit [[executive committee]] meeting in [[Stuttgart]] that [[business unit]]s "continued to maintain secret bank accounts to [[bribe]] foreign [[government official]]s", though the company knew the practice violated U.S. laws.

The investigation for the case also revealed that Daimler made some $56 million in bribes related to more than 200 transactions in 22 countries that earned the company $1.9 billion in revenue and at least $91.4 million in illegal profits.  "Using offshore bank accounts, third-party agents and deceptive pricing practices, these companies [Daimler AG and its subsidiaries] saw foreign bribery as a way of doing business", said [[Mythili Raman]], a principal deputy in the Justice Department's criminal division.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/business/02daimler.html | work=The New York Times | title=Daimler Bribery Settlement Is Approved | date=1 April 2010 | access-date=2010-05-20}}</ref>

"It is no exaggeration to describe corruption and bribe-paying at Daimler as a standard business practice", [[Robert Khuzami]], director of the SEC's enforcement division, said in a statement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/transportation/update-judge-approves-settlement-daimler-bribery-case/ |title=UPDATE: US Judge Approves Settlement in Daimler Bribery Case |website=foxbusiness.com |access-date=2 April 2010 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Judge Richard J. Leon of United States District Court in Washington, approved the plea agreement and settlement, calling it a "just resolution."