Joseph Stephanides, who worked for the UN for 25 years, was sacked last week by Secretary-General Kofi Annan for "serious misconduct'' in rigging bids for an oil-for-food contract.

In a withering condemnation of the UN, Stephanides said he was a soft target and asked why other senior officials accused of more serious offenses, including Benon Sevan, the head of the US$64 billion (HK$499.2 billion) scheme, have not yet been disciplined.

``Have I been made the victim to protect others?'' he asked. ``It pains me, this ploy masquerading as a case of procurement corruption. I bitterly resent the attack on my good name.''

In 1996, Stephanides was put in charge of procurement for the sanctions committee that set up the disgraced oil-for-food scheme. It aimed to ease the suffering of Iraqi civilians but was manipulated to the tune of billions of dollars by Saddam Hussein.

Stephanides, who was until last week the influential head of the Security Council Affairs Division, described the role he had played in the scheme as a ``miserable'' one and said that the way companies had been selected for contracts was politically motivated.

His decision to give a US$4.5 million contract to Lloyd's Register Inspection, a British company, rather than a French underbidder was, he said, endorsed by Madeleine Albright, the former United States secretary of state and US ambassador to the UN, and the Security Council. Yet it prompted his dismissal for breaching UN rules.

``The truth is that Madeleine Albright and the other permanent members of the Security Council, including the British, had decided that the French should not get this contract because we had already appointed French bank BNP and a French oil inspector. Even the French agreed,'' he said Saturday.

``I was told the contract would go to Lloyd's but they must make a more reasonable offer. I went to the British representatives and we saved the UN US$900,000.''

He has been suspended since February, when the Lloyd's Register contract to inspect humanitarian supplies came under scrutiny from the UN inquiry committee headed by Paul Volcker, the former US Federal Reserve chairman.

``My role on the scheme was miserable,'' Stephanides said. ``I was a liaison between the Iraq steering committee setting up the program and the Security Council. Volcker failed to see that this was a political decision and had nothing to do with procurement procedures. Now I am the scapegoat.''

Benon Sevan was accused in February's Volcker report of a ``grave conflict of interest'' for requesting that Baghdad sell oil to a Swiss-based oil company. The report said it was ``ethically improper and seriously undermined the integrity of the UN.'' The report did not accuse him of taking bribes but raised concerns about US$160,000 Sevan said had come from an aunt who died after falling down a lift shaft. His lawyer, Eric Lewis, said recently: ``Sevan never took a penny.''

Volcker's investigators did not suggest Stephanides, who was due to retire, aged 60, in September had profited from his actions. He will still receive all but 5 percent of his pension, deducted for ``early retirement,'' but has lost fringe benefits, including repatriation grants should he return to his native Cyprus.

He plans to appeal against his dismissal. As the fallout from the oil-for-food scandal continues, France has widened its investigation into claims that Charles Pasqua, the former interior minister, and diplomats and French businessmen accepted cash and oil vouchers worth US$10 billion from Saddam.

Philippe Courroye, an investigating magistrate, has been authorised to pursue the allegations, contained in the Volcker report, against Pasqua and 10 diplomats and former employees of Total, the state oil company. Pasqua, who as a senator enjoys judicial immunity, has denied any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, relations between the UN and US remain strained. President George W Bush and Condoleezza Rice, his secretary of state, have both turned down invitations to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the UN June 28.