United Nations officials recently announced that the Russian head of a key UN committee had been arrested and charged with money laundering involving accounts in Antigua.

The man arrested is Vladimir Kuznetsov, who is chairman of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budget Questions, an authoritative position to which he was elected by the UN General Assembly.

His arrest is linked to a corruption case which involves another Russian UN official, Alexander Yakovlev, who plead guilty to conspiracy, fraud and money laundering on August 8, the day when an independent panel that had been probing the scandal-tainted oil-for-food program for Iraq charged him with accepting bribes.

John Bolton, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, said the U.S. Department of Justice asked him to seek a waiver of Kuznetsov's UN privileges and immunities.

Spokeswoman for the UN Marie Okabe confirmed that Kuznetsov's immunity as an official of the UN had been waived following the U.S. request.

However another diplomat indicated that Kuznetsov is a Russian diplomat on loan to the UN and he could still benefit from diplomatic immunity even though his UN immunity has been waived.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the diplomat stated that "It depends on what type of visa he has. If he has a diplomatic visa, then he is still enjoying immunity."

"We want to thank the secretary general (Kofi Annan) for his personal and very prompt decision to act on the waiver request,” Bolton said. "This is now a serious law enforcement matter."

The U.S. Attorney's Office in New York said the charges against the Kuznetsov were unsealed in Manhattan federal court.

"According to the indictment, from about 2000 through June 2005, Kuznetsov laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars in criminal proceeds obtained by a co-conspirator, who served as a procurement officer at the United Nations from at least 1985 through June 2005," it added in a statement.

The UN procurement officer who is mentioned is Yakovlev, who was charged last month with receiving money from three firms as part of a contract to airlift goods for the UN. Yakolev faces 20 years in prison for each of the three counts.

Kuznetsov and Yakovlev are both accused of having set up a company known as “Moxyco” to handle the illicit payments, receiving transfers on accounts in Antigua in the Caribbean and in Switzerland in exchange for information and assistance for these companies.

The US Attorney's Office said that from about 2000 up to June, 2005, Yakovlev "transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars in criminal proceeds to Kuznetsov."

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