Memo may link Annan to Food-for-Oil contract

NEWS.com.au

DESPITE his denials, UN chief Kofi Annan was apparently told of efforts by his son's employer to win an oil-for-food contract with Iraq in 1998, according to a memo written by an executive of the company, The New York Times has reported.

The discussion allegedly took place a few days before the contract was awarded to Cotecna Inspection Services.

The New York Times said it obtained a copy of a memo written on December 4, 1998, by then Cotecna vice-president Michael Wilson – whom the daily said was a friend of Kojo Annan and a family friend of the UN chief – describing a meeting in late November 1998 during the 20th summit of Francophone leaders in Paris.

"We had brief discussions with the SG and his entourage," the memo states. "Their collective advice was that we should respond as best as we could to the Q&A session of the 1-12-98 and that we could count on their support."

"1-12-98" referred to a meeting Mr Wilson and a delegation of Cotecna officials had in New York on December 1, 1998, with senior UN officials who were considering which of three companies to select for the inspection contract that Cotecna won 10 days later, the daily reported.

While the memo did not state that Kojo Annan was present at the meeting between Mr Wilson and Kofi Annan – who has denied any involvement in the selection of Cotecna or having discussed the contract with his son – it continued with a description of "courtesy greetings" on behalf of the Geneva-based contractor with presidents of several African countries held by a person identified as "KA" at the summit meeting.

Asked for comment by the daily, a consultant for the company said it appeared that Mr Wilson was referring to Kojo Annan in the memo.

His involvement in Cotecna, which won a $US10 million-a-year contract, and the UN secretary-general's possible conflict of interest in the deal are under investigation by a UN panel and several US Congressional committees.

Under the UN oil-for-food program, Iraq was allowed to sell oil under UN supervision between 1996 and 2003 to buy humanitarian goods to alleviate suffering of the Iraqi people resulting from international sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime.

The program had a total value of about $US64 billion dollars during its operation. Experts say that several billion dollars was diverted back into Saddam's coffers.

A UN investigation headed by former US Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker said no evidence was found that Kofi Annan had sought to use his influence to direct contracts to Cotecna, his investigation into any possible conflict of interest had been inadequate.

It has also said "serious questions" remain about the business dealings of Kojo Annan.

The memo was discovered by accident three weeks ago during a search of company archives in its efforts to account for all of Cotecna's payments to Kojo Annan, said the consultant, who also confirmed the memo's authenticity for The New York Times.

"No senior Cotecna officials initially had any memory of the e-mail or of such a meeting, and the memo appears to contradict what the company has said," the company's consultant, who declined to be identified, said.

Cotecna has acknowledged its owners held at least two private meetings with Kofi Annan before the oil-for-food contract was awarded, but it has denied the company's effort to win UN business was discussed at those meetings, or that any Cotecna executive lobbied Kofi Annan for the contract, the daily reported.