UN - Kofi

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Kofi's regime at the UN appears to be unraveling more rapidly by the second. Wonder where that will lead and who's next?

[jatx]

Something in the news today, NDD, or just a general thought?

[jbour13]

Kofi's regime at the UN appears to be unraveling more rapidly by the second. Wonder where that will lead and who's next?

Did someone slap him? He has been back pedalling pretty hard in recent weeks. His realignment of priorities look kinda familiar! :D

If he behaves we might make it an easy transition.

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http://www.nysun.com/article/10909

Quote:
After All Its Denials, U.N. Admits It Paid Oil-for-Food Program Aide's Legal Fees

BY BENNY AVNI - Special to the Sun
March 22, 2005

UNITED NATIONS - After months of denials, the United Nations admitted yesterday that, in an exception to its own rules, it has paid for the legal defense of Benon Sevan. The U.N.'s own investigation panel denounced Mr. Sevan for his central role in the oil-for-food scandal that has engulfed the world body.

Questions regarding whether the U.N. would cover Mr. Sevan's legal fees were raised soon after the name of the oil-for-food program chief appeared on a list published by the Iraqi newspaper al-Mada shortly after the start of the Iraq war. The newspaper accused world diplomats, businessmen, and U.N. officials of accepting bribes from Saddam Hussein in the form of oil allocations.

Up until late last week, the U.N. said it had not paid any of Mr. Sevan's legal fees. But yesterday, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard told The New York Sun that the U.N. had been paying his legal bills up until last month.

Mr. Eckhard refused to disclose the sum paid, saying that the legal bills submitted by Mr. Sevan "will be reviewed" by U.N. legal experts, indicating that the exact figure may change. Sources who refused to be named told the Sun, however, that the costs exceed $300,000. Mr. Eckhard did not address the source of the payment to Mr. Sevan's legal team, which could come from an account financed by Iraqi oil revenues or from U.N. funds. Congress is investigating the oil-for-food scandal.

"On the advice of the [U.N.'s] office of legal affairs," Mr. Eckhard said in a statement, "Benon Sevan's request last year for support of his legal costs incurred in responding to [Paul Volcker's independent committee] was agreed to."

This was done "on an exceptional basis," the statement acknowledged, "because of Mr. Sevan's central role and the fact that the allegations dealt with the conduct of his official responsibilities. To facilitate his cooperation, it was felt there was a need to ensure that he could represent himself effectively and deal with the extensive enquiries of the panel."

The payments to Mr. Sevan's lawyers, Mr. Eckhard said, were stopped in February, when the U.N. was embarrassed by the findings of a committee nominated by Secretary-General Annan to investigate the scandal. The committee confirmed that Mr. Sevan had solicited oil allocations from Iraq and that Saddam Hussein's regime believed it was "buying influence" inside the U.N. with the allocations.

In February, Mr. Volcker reported that his panel's "most disturbing finding" involved Mr. Sevan, who had "placed himself in a grave and continuing conflict-of-interest situation." After that, Mr. Eckhard's statement said, Mr. Sevan "was informed that the U.N. was immediately terminating any further support for his legal costs."

Mr. Sevan's lawyer, Eric Lewis, said that Mr. Volcker's report turned his client into a scapegoat. Mr. Lewis did not return telephone and e-mail requests yesterday for comment. A spokesperson for the Volcker committee declined comment as well. Sources told the Sun that the committee was unaware of the U.N. payments.

The new development in the scandal occurred as Mr. Annan presented an ambitious reform plan for the world body, which he hoped to have in place in six months. While some diplomats complained that Mr. Annan's proposals catered too much to America, U.S officials were quick to contest his proposal for the Security Council, made in light of the impasse over the 2003 Iraq War. "We're skeptical that any kind of resolution on the use of force would be helpful," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said yesterday.

Arab states object to defining terrorism as basis for a proposed convention on terrorism. "Terrorism and the right to resist foreign occupation should not be confused," Algeria's U.N. ambassador, Abdallah Baali, told the Sun.

Mr. Annan denied that his reform plan was intended as a distraction from scandals. "Obviously we have had a lot of criticism lately, particularly in this country," Mr. Annan told reporters yesterday. "But we have important work to do, and we have carried on with that." His drive for U.N. reform, he insisted, began "long before the criticism you refer to emerged."

Mr. Annan called 2004 "a terrible year." The organization was attacked for managing a peacekeeping force that exploited teen prostitutes in Africa, failing to combat genocide in Sudan, and was besieged by internal scandals.

U.N officials distanced themselves from Mr. Sevan, even as the former Annan confidant continued to demand that they cover his legal fees. The retired Mr. Sevan remains a U.N. employee, with a symbolic $1-a-year salary, to make himself available for questioning by an independent committee headed by Mr. Volcker.

Next Tuesday, Mr. Volcker's oil-for-food panel will present a new interim report, which is expected to extensively detail the relations Mr. Annan's son Kojo had with the program, a spokesperson for the panel told the Sun yesterday.

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http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d3341e7a-9b1b-11d9-90f9-00000e2511c8.html

Quote:
Cotecna link to Kojo Annan under scrutiny
By Claudio Gatt
Published: March 22 2005 22:00 | Last updated: March 22 2005 22:00

After being caught up in a bribery scandal in Pakistan and losing a big contract in Nigeria, Cotecna, a Geneva-based company that inspects exports and imports, was keen for new business.

One of the people it was counting on for help was Kojo Annan, who had been employed by the company since autumn 1995, working in Lagos.

His father, Kofi, had recently been appointed secretary-general of the United Nations.

The organisation was disbursing tens of millions of dollars under the oil-for-food programme, designed for Iraq to buy food and medicines with revenues from the sale of crude oil.

“They were in dire straits and in desperate need of new business,” confirms one of the many investigators now delving into allegations of corruption in the UN. “A UN contract would have been a major coup.”

In December 1998, by which time Kojo had moved from a staff position to become a consultant, Cotecna won a contract to verify shipments to Iraq under the oil-for-food programme. In the course of six years, the contract was worth approximately $10m (€7.6m, £5.3m) a year, roughly equivalent to 11 per cent of Cotecna's revenues.

For the last few months, investigators from the US Congress and the independent UN commission headed by Paul Volcker have been trying to determine whether Cotecna used Kojo and his family connections to obtain UN business.

Cotecna and Kofi Annan categorically deny any impropriety. Cotecna stresses it won its first tender for a UN contract in 1992, when Kojo was not on the payroll, and lost one in 1996, when he was.

Now, a joint investigation by Il Sole 24 Ore and the Financial Times brings to light further details of Cotecna and Kojo's financial relationship. It also reveals the secretary-general did not disclose last year that he had met Cotecna executives.

One of these meetings was in January 1997, when Elie-Georges and Robert Massey, Cotecna's chairman and chief executive respectively, and their spouses had tea with Kofi Annan and his wife at a hotel in Davos during the World Economic Forum. The main topic of conversation, says Robert Massey, was Kofi Annan's native Ghana, where Cotecna had a contract.

“It was a very short, rather social meeting. The idea was to keep contact with somebody [Elie-Georges Massey] had met before,” Cotecna explained.

In September 1998, three months before the oil-for-food contract was awarded to Cotecna, Kofi Annan received Elie-Georges Massey at the UN. Mr Massey suggested the UN should sponsor an international lottery.

According to Cotecna, a further meeting took place in early 1999 when “Elie-Georges Massey sought out Mr Annan at a public event in Geneva, following a Telegraph article”. In January 1999, the Sunday Telegraph of London had raised questions about the award of a UN contract to a company that employed the secretary general's son.

A UN spokesman confirmed that the three meetings took place. The first was “a brief social encounter”, the second “a courtesy call by an acquaintance”. At the third meeting, Elie-Georges Massey had sought to apologise for any embarrassment caused by the Telegraph article, the spokesman said.

He said: “The secretary-general made full disclosure to the Volcker panel and he expects it will confirm the casual nature of the meetings and the fact that they had nothing to do with the Cotecna contract.”

The main focus of scrutiny by investigators for the Volcker commission and the US Senate is the relationship between Kojo and Cotecna.

Cotecna says from January 1999 to February 2004 it had a “non-compete” contract with Kojo that paid $2,500 a month in fees, plus health insurance. The total payment over the years reached about $175,000.

“It was important Kojo would not work for the competition,” said Cotecna, and “$2,500 a month was not an expensive price to pay, considering the very important contracts at stake”.

But when monies transferred between different entities or accounts connected to Cotecna or Kojo Annan are added together, the total comes to more than $300,000.

“To all intents and purposes, it was as if they really kept him as a consultant,” comments one investigator.

Under both US and Swiss law, a non-compete agreement must be limited in time, geography and type of activity. Article 340a of the Swiss code says it cannot exceed three years, except in certain circumstances. Kojo's non-compete deal had no geographical limit and lasted more than five years.

Until August 2000, Kojo's expenses were reimbursed including his American Express bill in 1999 which was well into five figures, the FT/Il Sole have learnt.

Cotecna says payments were “delayed reimbursement of prior year expenses, when Kojo Annan was a consultant to the company”. But documents in possession of investigators refer to expenses incurred in October, November and December 1999.

In addition, it emerged from records Cotecna and Kojo provided to congressional and UN investigators that the methods of payment changed several times. The first three transfers were sent from the Cotecna UBS account to Kojo's Lloyds TSB account in London.

In early 1999, soon after the Sunday Telegraph article, Kojo started receiving payments from another entity owned by the Masseys called Meteor.

Cotecna's explanation is that “Kojo preferred to receive his monthly payment from a company that was not directly related to the Cotecna group, and we managed to provide him with this service”.

It acknowledged that the Sunday Telegraph article may have had “a link” to the change.

In January 2000, Kojo received $8,925.45 from Cofinter, a Swiss company also owned by the Masseys, which they had proposed using for the international lottery.

Cotecna describes this payment as “a mishap”.

The following month, instead of going to Kojo, the money started to be paid by Cotecna to Westexim, a company registered in London whose ownership is obscure.

In the company's records was found an entry, in French, for a transfer of $4,000 on April 19 2000 to a Ms Ama Annan. The older sister of Kojo Annan is called Ama.

The FT and Il Sole have no evidence that the money was received by Ama or that its source was Cotecna rather than Kojo. Cotecna says “it absolutely never paid or hired” Ama Annan, who lives in Lagos but declined to comment, or any other member of the family.

The FT and Il Sole asked Kojo's lawyer in London for comment, but were told that he “is not inclined to respond to your inquiry”.

Claudio Gatti is a New York-based investigative reporter with Il Sole 24 Ore, the leading Italian business daily

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http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e5978f06-9b1c-11d9-90f9-00000e2511c8.html



Quote:
Annan son received $300,000 payments
By Claudio Gatti in New York
Published: March 22 2005 22:00 | Last updated: March 22 2005 22:00

UN oil for foodKojo 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.

The discovery, in a joint investigation by Il Sole 24 Ore, the Italian business daily, and the Financial Times, comes as the independent UN inquiry led by Paul Volcker into possible abuses within the oil-for-food programme prepares to publish a new report on this matter.

Its 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.

Additional reporting by Mark Turner at the United Nations

[Surgicalcric]

Quote:
Annan son received $300,000 payments
By Claudio Gatti in New York
Published: March 22 2005 22:00 | Last updated: March 22 2005 22:00

UN oil for foodKojo 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.


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