A senior U.N. official solicited and received allocations of oil from Iraq for a trading company while directing the U.N. oil-for-food program, a key investigative report said on Thursday.

The official, Benon Sevan, engaged in conduct that was "ethically improper and seriously undermined the integrity of the United Nations," said the report by Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve (news - web sites) chairman. Volcker was appointed by the United Nations to lead a probe of the now-defunct $67 billion program....

"Mr. Sevan repeatedly solicited allocations of oil under program [sic]. Iraqi officials provided such allocations for the purpose of obtaining Mr. Sevan's support on several issues" such as funds for repairing Iraq's crumbling oil facilities, said the report....

But since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, documents have emerged that show Saddam Hussein skimming funds from the program, selling oil illegally outside the program, often with the knowledge of big powers on the Security Council, and bribing a variety of officials around the world.

Volcker also said that U.N. officials ignored procurement procedures and safeguards from the very start of the program.

Investigators found "convincing and uncontested evidence" that the selection process was tainted by irregularities for each of the first three contractors selected -- the French bank Banque Nationale de Paris, the Dutch firm Saybolt Eastern Hemisphere BV and the British Lloyd's Register Inspection Ltd, the report said.