It’s no secret that this blog has been especially interested in the UN Oil-for-Food Scandal. Today, the Financial Times has a story (via LGF) that corroborates some information this blog is not yet at liberty to disclose. More, I hope, will be coming from here soon–from “sources close to the investigation,” as the saying goes. Meanwhile, here’s the crux of the FT story:
Kojo Annan, son of Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary-general, received at least $300,000 from Cotecna, a Swiss inspection company awarded a contract ultimately worth about $60m under the Iraqi oil-for-food contract.
The amount was almost double the sum previously disclosed, but payments were arranged in ways that obscured where the money came from or whom it went to.
Oops… Meanwhile…
[The Volcker Commission] findings, expected next Tuesday, will address allegations that Kojo’s family connections may have helped Cotecna obtain the UN contract.
Kojo Annan worked for Cotecna in Nigeria until December 1997. He was later retained first as a consultant and then on an unusual “non-compete” contract. Cotecna categorically denies any impropriety.
It insists his work had nothing to do with the UN contract and that it never took advantage of Kojo’s access to the secretary-general.
But the FT/Il Sole investigation reveals that senior executives from Cotecna met Kofi Annan on various occasions once at his UN office.
A UN spokesman said the meetings had nothing to do with a contract awarded under the oil-for-food programme. Kojo Annan declined to comment.
In November Kofi Annan said he was “very disappointed and surprised” after it emerged that Kojo had received monthly “non-compete” payments from Cotecna four years after the relationship was believed to have ended.
How “disappointed” and how “surprised” remain to be seen. As I pointed out earlier today, it’s no accident Kofi promulgated his “UN reform package” in advance of the Volcker findings. Afterwards, I wonder if anyone will be listening.
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16 Comments
1. Terrye:I also heard that banking authorities in Cyprus are going to be questioning Sevan.
I wonder what the chances are Kofi will be getting the additional American tax dollars for UN humanitarian programs that he is requesting for his reforms?
Mar 22, 2005 - 7:28 pm 2. David Thomson:Cotecna? The MSM are indifferent. Sigh, if only the companyís name was Halliburton. I can see it now: ìKojo Annan was minding his own business when that disgusting lowlife Dick Cheney corrupted him. This is a Republican scandal. Kojo is merely a victim. We must impeach both Bush and Cheney.î
Mar 22, 2005 - 8:28 pm 3. Steven Mitchell:David, or Enron. Just think how low the UN reputation has sunk with what little information has trickled out.
Mar 22, 2005 - 8:49 pm 4. yama-arashi:“…..that corroborates some information this blog is not yet at liberty to disclose. More, I hope, will be coming from here soon–from “sources close to the investigation,” as the saying goes. Meanwhile….”
Tantalizing. What was Roger doing during his last trip to New York? Working undercover at the restaurant where Kerry and the rest of the world’s leaders meet to plot? I’m dying to know. Two cats of mine just kicked the bucket…. But as for some of the larger questions this might foster, I for one, if I knew something and wanted it to be known, would find it much easier to trust a blogger with a good reputation, and especially if he or she was someone I shared similar opinions regarding basic issues, than say a reporter, even with a good reputation, stuck within some large organization. Tantalizing.
Mar 22, 2005 - 9:03 pm 5. Katherine:Yama,
Why would Roger bother with ìworld leadersî who plot with Kerry? Besides, I donít think that Castro or Kim Jong-Il can legally visit this country, and Arafat is dead.
Mar 22, 2005 - 10:06 pm 6. yama-arashi:Katherine,
He’s bothering with Annan isn’t he? And Kerry dines with Annan doesn’t he? As far as their friend Arafat, is he really dead? And the Jong-Il family, they can be anywhere. One son is in Switzerland getting educated and another member of the family was caught trying to sneak into Japan a few years ago, ostensibly to visit Disneyland. The operative word was “undercover.” Sources are fine as far as they go, but good old fashion detective work is also needed. Documents. Documents. But in the end, loose lips will sink the U.N.. Ahhh to be a waiter at Le Dictatoire Cronie et vous Heinz N.Y., N.Y. these days. [Should that be La? Never did get around to studying French.]
Mar 22, 2005 - 10:31 pm 7. Dishman:Bah, Kofi Annan, King of Corruption, Master of Molesters, Friend to Murderers, legend in his own mind.
Mar 22, 2005 - 11:05 pm 8. AST:I’m seeing a tee-shirt:
My Dad’s Secretary General of the U.N. and all I got was a lousy 300 grand!
Mar 23, 2005 - 1:21 am 9. exguru:It’s Mrs. Arafat who is highly eligible…
Amazing to me Kofi has lasted this long. Won’t somebody take him by the scruff of the neck and put him out?
Mar 23, 2005 - 1:44 am 10. AlanC:“…..that corroborates some information this blog is not yet at liberty to disclose. More, I hope, will be coming from here soon–from “sources close to the investigation,” as the saying goes. Meanwhile….”
Tantalizing. Yep it is that.
But, this also strikes me as though we might be delving into the realm of “real” journalism here.
You know, investigating issues and reporting original stuff. Are Blogs allowed to do that?
Mar 23, 2005 - 4:51 am 11. Knucklehead:I have to wonder what they discuss (teach?) at the National Model United Nations conference.
I made a quick scan of Don Kofi’s introductory letter and that of the NMUN Secretary General. Not the slightest hint that the UN needs to concern itself with institutional corruption or even ineffectiveness. Nope, instead we get mindless platitudes like:
With all due respect to Ms. Rachel Holmes, Secretary-General of the 2005 NMUN (no doubt she’s a fine young woman) the above message is not simple, it is simplistic. It is not profound, it is utterly meaningless and disposable.
I scanned the extensive 2005 NMUN program’s committee topics and program schedule and did not spot a single item that indicated there might be even the shallowest discussion of dealing with UN’s internal problems. I suppose I can hope that this is a matter of not wishing to publicly air one’s dirty laundry and such topic will be be discretely discussed during the 4 days of activities. It’s not silly of me to hope for such a thing, is it?
Mar 23, 2005 - 5:23 am 12. Matt Evans:*It’s Mrs. Arafat who is highly eligible…*
And soooooo sexy…
Mar 23, 2005 - 6:08 am 13. Barrett:It is interesting that Kofi has unveiled the latest iteration of the Great Society in his latest “reform” plan for the UN. The core belief in the plan is that central planning and more money (i.e. your money) are the keys to success.
This is a throughly discredited idea for anyone who wants to look at the past 100 years of history. In the US, Johnson’s Great Society increased the transfer of wealth and only entrenched the poor and heightened the victimization business. Europe is buckling under the weight of its social spending and aging population. The Soviet Union failed. Do we need to go on?
Kofi should be fired. The US should withhold all funds until we get the required reforms or junk the whole thing all together.
Mar 23, 2005 - 6:13 am 14. Barrett:I would nominate Havel from the Czech Republic to head the UN. He understands the dark side of tyranny, centralized planning, political oppression and the power of freedom. He is also an intellectual who has the skill to communicate these ideas and values.
Mar 23, 2005 - 6:16 am 15. richard mcenroe:Kofi Annan will not be fired. He will not resign. He has no reason to. The UN has no mandated outside accountability. In the words of Al Gore, the is “no controlling legal authority.”
The only hammers we can swing are financial pressure and noncompliance. Both have limits. The UN wants our money, but can get money from other nations, ironically, money those nations may have received from us through global trade. Noncompliance provides our enemies internal and external with propaganda ammunition.
Mar 23, 2005 - 7:20 am 16. jedrury:What will drive this story are further revelations. Forget the Mainstream media; this
is not Times story or a Peter Jennings/PBS type story. Look to Norman Coleman’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the House Committee on Government Operations, the Wall Street Journal and Claudia Rossett.
What drove the Clinton/Monica/Whitewater story for months and months was alternate press coverage and revelations.
Realities:
No one who ever read a good mystery believed Kojo Annan only got $ 180,000. This is peanuts.
Last night on Fox, I heard that Benon Sevan’s attorneys’ fees were paid for by the UN. Somehow there is a conflict of interest there.
How much and how were they retained and, most importantly, why did the UN cough up for Benan’s defense when he was the face of wrong doing?
Mar 23, 2005 - 7:49 am