UN Secretary General Kofi Annan last week met with the UN Security Council to seek their support for a fraud probe into the UN program that oversaw Iraq's oil sales under Saddam Hussein, reports Agence France Presse.

Reuters adds that Annan's letter said the inquiry would be authorised to approach and seek cooperation of member states and "their relevant authorities".

He also said the probe would determine whether procedures established by the Security Council and UN secretariat for monitoring and approving contracts were violated; whether any UN officials, personnel and agents or outside contractors engaged in "any illicit or corrupt activities," including bribery, imposing surcharges and other illicit payments; and whether UN accounts were in order.

The Financial Times notes in another piece that as the United Nations struggles to defend itself against allegations of corruption in the multi-billion dollar oil-for-food program for Iraq, UN officials have revealed internal documents showing they knew of the problem as early as 2000.

The documents refer to illegal commissions levied by the Iraqi government on oil-for-food supply contracts given to foreign companies.