UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday he was "shocked" by an initial investigative report that found the man in charge of the U.N. oil-for-food program made illicit oil deals.

"We do not want this shadow to hang over the U.N. So we want to get to the bottom of it, get to the truth and take appropriate measures to deal with the gaps," he told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.

Paul Volcker's report, released Thursday, said Benon Sevan "repeatedly solicited" several million barrels of oil worth about $1 million on behalf of a company named African Middle East Petroleum. The illicit deals "violated standards of integrity," the report said.

Sevan, a 40-year U.N. employee who was appointed in 1997 as executive director of the oil-for-food program, denied the allegations late Thursday afternoon.

"I think I'm not the only one who was shocked [shocked!] by what we read in the report," Annan said. "He's been here working with many of us for quite a time, and we had not expected anything of the sort."

But, Annan said, "I think we should wait until the work is done before we draw definitive conclusions."

Annan said the U.N. takes seriously any allegations of corruption or misbehavior...