Iraqi escrow fund down 30 percent

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Auditors for the United Nations said an escrow fund established for Iraq in the wake of the oil-for-food program declined by over 30 percent.

The U.N. Board of Auditors said in a recent report that a $370 million transfer from the escrow account to the Development Fund for Iraq was largely responsible for the decline.

U.S. officials in Iraq established the fund in May 2003 at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a repository for funds seized by coalition forces and revenue from the export of Iraqi oil and natural gas.

Auditors also said the "slow issuance of authentication documents by the government of Iraq and the protracted cancellation of letters of credit with no claims of delivery continued to hamper the complete liquidation and closure of the oil-for-food program."

The United Nations phased out the oil-for-food program, established for Iraq to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian assistance, in 2003 under a Security Council resolution that removed sanctions on the country.