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-- Annan 'very Disappointed' His Son Involved in Oil-for-Food Scandal

Annan 'very Disappointed' His Son Involved in Oil-for-Food Scandal

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBAWMYG52E.html

quote:

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday he was "very disappointed and surprised" that his son had continued to receive payments until this February from a firm that had a contract with Iraq's oil-for-food program, the subject of numerous corruption investigations. Annan told reporters that he had been working on the understanding that payments to his son, Kojo Annan, from the Swiss-based firm Cotecna Inspection S.A. stopped in 1998 "and I had not expected that the relationship continued." But on Friday, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Kojo Annan's lawyer had informed the independent panel appointed by the secretary-general to investigate allegations of corruption in the oil-for-food program that the younger Annan continued to receive monthly payments through February 2004. The disclosure was the latest embarrassment for Annan and the United Nations over the humanitarian program which was instituted in December 1996 to help Iraqis cope with sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Annan on Monday stressed that his son was an independent businessman "and I don't get involved with his activities and he doesn't get involved in mine." Annan has said his son joined Cotecna at the age of 22 as a trainee in Geneva before he became secretary-general and worked in West Africa. The firm was hired by the United Nations on Dec. 31, 1998 to authenticate that food, medicine and other goods entering Iraq corresponded to a list of goods approved for import. In a statement in April, Cotecna said Kojo Annan's full-time employment - which focused entirely on its activities in Nigeria and Ghana and had nothing to do with the oil-for-food program - began in 1995 and ended in December 1997 after which he was retained as a consultant until early 1999. It did not mention any further payments. The United Nations previously said Kojo Annan stopped receiving monthly payments from Cotecna at the end of 1999. But Eckhard said Friday he continued to be paid because he had an open-ended no-compete contract which allows an employee who leaves a company to receive money to ensure he won't set up a competing company. "There is nothing illegal in this," Eckhard said. Also, continuing investigations by the U.S. Congress and the United Nations have not shown any wrongdoing by Cotecna. Cotecna spokeswoman Ginny Wolfe said Kojo Annan was paid $2,500-a-month "to prevent him from working for any of their competitors in Africa" which she described as a very competitive market. "Kojo Annan's sole responsibilities were in Africa," she said. "He had nothing to do with any U.N. discussions and work." U.S. Ambassador John Danforth discussed the oil-for-food investigations with the secretary-general on Monday and was asked afterward whether the United States still has confidence in Annan. "I don't think the U.S. government rushes to judgment until all the facts are in," he said, urging that the investigation be exhaustive and reveal all the facts to avoid any charges of a cover-up. Five U.S. congressional panels have been pressing the independent inquiry headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker to hand over internal U.N. documents for their own oil-for-food probes. But Volcker told the Senate that his panel won't hand over documents until its investigative reports are issued starting in January. Danforth said "everything should be handed over to the congressional committees ... as quickly as possible." The oil-for-food program allowed Saddam's regime to sell unlimited quantities of oil provided the money went primarily to buy humanitarian goods and pay reparations to victims of the 1991 Gulf War. Annan reiterated that he has "no involvement with granting of contracts, either on this Cotecna one or others." But the secretary-general said he understood "the perception problem for the U.N., or the perception of conflict of interests and wrongdoing." Eckhard said both Cotecna and Kojo Annan's lawyers had informed the United Nations that they have turned over information to the independent inquiry headed by Volcker. "To the extent that there's an allegation of the awarding of this contract and the secretary-general's son, leave that to Volcker to investigate," Eckhard said. "We feel there is not. We have looked into it and we can find no evidence, but it's not for us to judge now, it's for Mr. Volcker to judge." Annan told reporters Monday he spoke to his son after learning that he had been paid through February, "but I really don't want to get into this." Asked whether he was disappointed and angry with his son for taking the money and not disclosing it, Annan replied: "Naturally I was very disappointed and surprised, yes."

Breaking news!!!!Hitler "surprised and disappointed" over shoddy treatment of Jews...





Someone kick this scumbag out of his position already...The only thing goofy annan regrets isthat the kid got caught

Agreed - Annan's got to go ASAP.

Boy Speed, that was a quick hiatus!

The UN is corrupt and ineffective? That's unpossible.

UN's been corrupt since Srebrenica.

quote:

Originally posted by MisterOpus1 Agreed - Annan's got to go ASAP. Boy Speed, that was a quick hiatus!

heheh I'll keep myself busy with school and this forum instead of dwelling on my recent drama.

quote:

Originally posted by speedracer_mec heheh I'll keep myself busy with school and this forum instead of dwelling on my recent drama.

Atta boy! Stick to books and prostitutes.

heh... havent heard this yet...

well well... that mofo needs to go

>JM<

The best part is old Kofi is head of the investigation (the independent counsel reports directly to him). That's super cool. I think next time we have a high profile murder suspect, we should let him head the investigation of his own case. The most expensive scandal in history and we let the man many believe to be as guilty as the next lead the charge. Awesome.

quote:

Originally posted by NeoPhono The best part is old Kofi is head of the investigation (the independent counsel reports directly to him). That's super cool. I think next time we have a high profile murder suspect, we should let him head the investigation of his own case. The most expensive scandal in history and we let the man many believe to be as guilty as the next lead the charge. Awesome.

Patently false. Just because Coleman or any other GOP Senator/Congressmen writes an opinion in the WSJ, that doesn't make it gospel. As Coleman writes:

quote:

...Mr. Volcker must issue his final report directly to the secretary general, who will then decide what, if anything, is released to the public. http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110005966

Annan's spokesperson said back on April 21:

quote:

The [final] report will be submitted to the Secretary-General and, as provided for in the terms of reference, the report will be made public. http://www.un.org/News/briefings/do...b042104.doc.htm

That's also stated here:

http://www.un.org/News/dh/iraq/oip_...ndent_panel.htm

And just to top things off, here's a UN summary of a press briefing by Volcker, the head investigator of the scandal:

quote:

n response to expressed concerns about the release of the final report, [Volcker] said there was no doubt in his mind that it would be made public. The report would go to the Secretary-General in the first instance, and he would pass it on to the Security Council. However, as there was a clear possibility of receiving some information on the basis of it being kept confidential, the decision to retain such information as confidential would be made strictly by the [Independent] Panel. http://www.un.org/News/briefings/do...riefing.doc.htm

So to reiterate, it's Volcker's independent panel that gets to decide what gets held back to the public, NOT Annan.

And just in case you're wondering about Coleman's request for access to the UN documents for the investigation:

quote:

[A] scandal of this magnitude requires a truly independent examination to ensure complete transparency, and to restore the credibility of the U.N. To that end, I reiterate our request for access to internal U.N. documents, and for access to U.N. personnel who were involved in the Oil-for-Food program. WSJ editorial

Well that's kinda funny because Coleman seemingly had a brain fart and [i]somehow forgot that Volcker had already responded to that, saying that Coleman can see the documents once Volcker was done with them:

quote:

The clear purpose is to avoid potentially misleading and incomplete information that could impair ongoing investigation, distort public perceptions and violate simple concerns of due process http://abcnews.go.com/International/print?id=258144

But strangely, Coleman also must have had a brain fart and forgot that he and Sen. Levin responded back to Volcker:

quote:

[W]e are gratified that the IIC [Volcker's Independent Inquiry Committee] anticipates releasing the internal audits and other requested documents in January. We note that this projected release date is considerably earlier than the original expectation of mid-2005, and certainly appreciate the IIC's efforts in this regard. http://www.senate.gov/~govt-aff/_fi...RLTRNov1804.pdf

So you tell me, is Coleman just doing a bit of WSJ editorial grandstanding with a coupla brain farts at the same time, or is he just being a flat-out fucking liar? And what's more, I tend to wonder if this is only a taste of things yet to come from our beloved GOP?

Shockingly, I tend to think the latter.

Funny how all the anti UN posters here are American..coincidence or what

quote:

Originally posted by zig Funny how all the anti UN posters here are American..coincidence or what

Funny how all the non-American posters in this thread are making Circumstancial Ad-Hominems ... coincidence or what?

Oh wait ... I guess that's all non-American posters + 1 American poster now.

quote:

Originally posted by zig Funny how all the anti UN posters here are American..coincidence or what

its because america dont get told what to do by somebody else. we had enough of that from britain, and france back in the days.

its all funny how the majority of europe would rather have currupt governments who have started numerous wars and developing WMD's to stay in power. and how u just let it fly over your when countries like north korea and iran announce they have or almost have developed a working nucleur weapon.

u people have the pacifist, 1930's syndrome.

quote:

Originally posted by zig Funny how all the anti UN posters here are American..coincidence or what

Well then I'm going to throw that theory out the window by posting just how utterly toothless the UN really is.
A bunch of windbags worried about political correctness and tipping someone's tea cup.
Don't get me wrong, in theory the U.N. is a great idea but as of late, they haven't been doing themselves any favors...

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