Editing Paper shredder (section)

==Destruction of evidence==
There have been many instances where it is alleged that documents have been improperly or illegally destroyed by shredding, including:

*[[Oliver North]] shredded documents relating to the [[Iran–Contra affair]] between November 21 and November 25, 1986.<ref name="walsh">{{cite web|last=Walsh|first=Lawrence|title=Vol. I: Investigations and prosecutions|work=Final report of the independent counsel for Iran/Contra matters|publisher=Independent Council for Iran/Contra Matters|date=August 4, 1993|url=https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/|access-date=15 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417230304/http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/|archive-date=17 April 2009}}</ref> During the trial, North testified that on November 21, 22, or 24, he witnessed [[John Poindexter]] destroy what may have been the only signed copy of a presidential covert action finding that sought to authorize CIA participation in the November 1985 [[MIM-23 Hawk|Hawk missile]] shipment to Iran.<ref name="walsh"/>
*According to the report of the [[Paul Volcker Committee]], between April and December 2004, [[Kofi Annan]]'s ''Chef de Cabinet'', Iqbal Riza, authorized thousands of United Nations documents shredded, including the entire chronological files of the [[Oil-for-Food Programme]] during the years 1997 through 1999.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/InterimReportMar2005.pdf |title=Interim Report March 2005 |access-date=2009-07-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805032019/http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/InterimReportMar2005.pdf |archive-date=2009-08-05 }}</ref>
*The [[Union Bank of Switzerland]] used paper shredders to destroy evidence that their company owned property stolen from [[Jews]] during the [[Holocaust]] by the [[Nazi]] government. The shredding was disclosed to the public through the work of [[Christoph Meili]], a security guard working at the bank who happened to wander by a room where the shredding was taking place. Also in the shredding room were books from the German [[Reichsbank]].<ref>{{cite book| author= Eizenstat, Stuart |year= 2003 |title= Imperfect Justice | url= https://archive.org/details/imperfectjustice00eize | url-access= registration |isbn=1-58648-110-X |publisher= PublicAffairs |place= New York}} Page 94</ref> They listed stock accounts for companies involved in the holocaust, including [[BASF]], [[Evonik Industries|Degussa]], and [[Degesch]].<ref>Eizenstat p 94, 95</ref> They also listed real-estate records for Berlin properties that had been forcibly taken by the Nazis, placed in Swiss accounts, and then claimed to be owned by UBS.<ref>Eizenstat p 95</ref> Destruction of such documents was a violation of Swiss laws.<ref name="ch96-434">Swiss parliament: ''[http://search.parlament.ch/cv-geschaefte?gesch_id=19960434 Parliamentary Initiative 96.434: Bundesbeschluss betreffend die historische und rechtliche Untersuchung des Schicksals der infolge der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft in die Schweiz gelangten Vermögenswerte] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226144023/http://search.parlament.ch/cv-geschaefte?gesch_id=19960434 |date=2008-02-26}}''; in German. Entry in force December 14, 1996. This edict was the legal foundation of the [[Bergier commission]], constituted on December 19, 1996. Articles 4, 5, and 7 made the willful destruction or withholding of documents relating to orphaned assets illegal. On the dates given, see ''[http://www.parliament.ch/dL/D/dossiers/nachrichtenlose_vermoegen/chronologie_detaillierte_uebersicht_1994-1996.htm Chronology: Switzerland in World War II&nbsp;— Detailed Overview of the years 1994-1996] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060718213620/http://www.parliament.ch/dL/D/dossiers/nachrichtenlose_vermoegen/chronologie_detaillierte_uebersicht_1994-1996.htm |date=2006-07-18}}''. URLs last accessed 2006-10-30.</ref>