Off Topic: The latest in the oil-for-food scandal
By William M. Reilly - UPI United Nations Correspondent
United Nations, United States, Jun. 14 (UPI) -- The Independent Inquiry Committee into the U.N.'s Iraq Oil-for-Food Program has said it is reopening the investigation into Secretary-General Kofi Annan's possible role in the granting of a contract to a Swiss firm employing his son, Kojo Annan.
Annan's chief spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said Tuesday because of the announcement the world organization took a careful look at its records for the secretary-general and submitted them to the inquiry panel.
The New York Times Tuesday carried a story in which an e-mail memo said Annan met with an employee of Geneva-based Cotecna, Michael Wilson.
"Following this report," Eckhard said, "We did take a careful look at the trip records of the secretary-general's attendance at the Franco-African summit in Paris in 1998, including of the program that is finalized after the trip is over and which notes every meeting that took place during the trip and there's no mention in that trip record of any exchange with Michael Wilson.
"We did talk with the trip coordinator and she has no recollection of meeting with Michael Wilson or any exchange with Michael Wilson," the spokesman added. "We spoke to the secretary-general who is in Paris today (Tuesday) and he has no recollection of any such exchange and the views attributed to him by this e-mail by Michael Wilson that somehow the secretariat would be fully supportive of ... Cotecna's efforts to get this contract.
"That could not have come from the secretary-general because he had no knowledge that Cotecna was a contender for that contract," Eckhard added.
The spokesman said the secretary-general had no influence over the awarding of the Cotecna contract.
In response to questions at the daily briefing at U.N. World Headquarters in New York, Eckhard said all records, including the delegation list, had been handed over to the inquiry committee, headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
Asked about the reliability of the trip records, Eckhard said although he could not categorically claim they were 100 percent accurate, they should provide a full record of every meeting the secretary-general had during his visit, including personal encounters. He added the United Nations also had a complete log of telephone conversations during the trip.
Eckhard did not know whether the secretary-general had met his son during the trip, but if both were in Paris at the same time, they could be expected to meet as father and son.
The Secretary-General previously had publicly urged Kojo Annan to cooperate with Volcker, but added that Kojo Annan was an adult with his own lawyers.
Asked who would judge whether the secretary-general was being honest with the Volcker Committee, the spokesman said the ultimate judge of that would be Volcker, and the question of exoneration is for Volcker to decide, but there is no change in the position of the secretary-general who has said he was exonerated by the earlier report absolving him of influencing any oil-for-food contract award.
When asked how the developments affect U.N. reform efforts, the spokesman said it makes it harder, but said the United Nations was reasonably hopeful of positive results on reform at this September's Summit.
This is a point analysts at the United Nations and elsewhere ponder, whether the accusations involving Annan could be politically motivated. Some suggest attempts at tainting the former Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kofi Annan, as one who pedals influence could merely be to diminish his standing and undermine his efforts at reforming the world organization.
But there is no answer to the inevitable question that begs, to what good.
As for Cotecna, the Geneva-based firm said in a statement it "continues to cooperate proactively with all investigations into the oil-for-food investigations" and in regard to its "oil-for-food authentication contract" in question the latest communication uncovered "may result in speculation about the procurement" of the contract.
"The company reiterates its statements, confirmed by the findings of the Second Interim Report of the IIC that it obtained that contract fairly and on the basis of price," it said in the statement. "Cotecna once again confirms that it acted at all times appropriately and ethically in its bidding for, winning and performing that contract."
It added in the statement it was "committed to continuing to work closely with all investigations to assist them in gaining a full understanding of the facts."
Cotecna said it had released information on the memo to the IIC, and intended to release to U.S. congressional investigators, subject to authorization by the Swiss government, the results of audits on its bank accounts in Switzerland.
The audits checked for payments from 1996-2004 to Kojo Annan and entities possibly related to Kojo Annan and one by an accounting firm of all Cotecna "bank account information worldwide and all of Cotecna's internal accounting systems."
Said the Swiss firm of the Forensic Risk Alliance examination: "This audit found that the payments made from 1995-2004 for employment, consultancy and non-compete remuneration are fully consistent with what Cotecna has stated all along during the investigation process.
"Cotecna has written to all investigative committees to invite them to perform their own validation of the FRA audit," the statement said.
The secretary-general, in a very embarrassing moment, found out late last year his son, whom he had said stopped working for Cotecna in 1998, had actually been receiving non-compete remuneration from the firm after his employment ended until early in 2004.
washingtontimes.com
. |
