Posted on 01/30/2005 5:21:08 AM PST by Ginifer
THE son of the United Nations secretary-general has admitted he was involved in negotiations to sell millions of barrels of Iraqi oil under the auspices of Saddam Hussein.
Kojo Annan has told a close friend he became involved in negotiations to sell 2m barrels of Iraqi oil to a Moroccan company in 2001. He is understood to be co-operating with UN investigators probing the discredited oil for food programme.
The alleged admission will increase pressure on Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, who is already facing calls for his resignation over the management of the humanitarian programme.
The oil for food programme allowed Saddam to sell oil to buy humanitarian supplies under UN supervision. However, it has emerged that the programme was riddled with corruption as Saddam used it to buy influence around the world.
Several senior UN staff are alleged to have profited from the scheme, and the apparent connection between Kojo and the programme has become the subject of intense international scrutiny. Critics claim that Kofi faces a significant conflict of interest if Kojo sought to profit from the discredited scheme.
Initially it emerged that Cotecna, the company awarded the contract to monitor humanitarian supplies imported into Iraq, had previously employed Kojo and paid him fees throughout the term of the oil for food programme.
However, a friend of Kojo’s said: “He has explained to the investigators that his only involvement with Cotecna was in Nigeria and that he knew nothing about the deal in Iraq. He is looking forward to the investigation report being published so that he will be exonerated on this point.”
Potentially more serious is his connections with Hani Yamani, the son of Sheikh Yamani, the wealthy former Saudi oil minister who set up Opec. Kojo acted as a director for Hani Yamani’s company and was a close business associate. The pair represented the coming together of two of the world’s most influential families.
In 2001 Yamani lined up a deal to sell about $60m worth of Iraqi oil to a Moroccan company. The Sunday Times has statements from two close business associates of Yamani who claim that Kojo was involved in the deal.
Kojo is alleged to have travelled to Morocco to help finalise the sale and was present at key meetings. However, the sale was abandoned by Yamani. It is not known if the oil was to have been bought direct from Saddam’s oil ministry or whether a third party was involved.
A friend of Kojo’s said: “He was just trying to do Hani a favour. Believe me, Kojo is as straight as they come. In the end the deal never went through because Hani was trying to make an unrealistic profit.”
Another source, close to Yamani’s business Air Harbour Technologies, said: “Hani Yamani liked to surround himself with the great and the good. Kojo was a very passive executive and I always thought he basically lent his name to the firm. The Annan name obviously has a certain presence when you are putting together deals in Africa.”
Since the Iraqi deal collapsed, Kojo, 31, has set up a company that imports oil to Nigeria from the Balkan states. He is a regular visitor to England, where he was educated, and has a £500,000 flat on London’s King Road. He socialises with other well-known Nigerians, is always impeccably dressed and enjoys the use of a chauffeur-driven Mercedes.
Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the American Federal Reserve, is preparing an interim report on the oil for food programme, due to be published on February 8 or 9. But he is not thought to have any “smoking gun”. However, some US politicians will pore over it for any evidence that might precipitate Kofi Annan’s departure from the UN.
Last week an American charity released a letter signed by 70 Nobel laureates backing Kofi Annan as secretary-general of the UN. The British government have publicly backed Annan’s position although George W Bush’s support has been less forthcoming.
The publication of the Volcker report is unlikely to mark the end of the scrutiny of Kojo’s affairs. Several American prosecutors have launched criminal inquiries into the oil for food programme. John Ashcroft, the US attorney-general, last week refused to reveal whether Kojo would be subpoenaed when questioned. Friends say any such action would be politically motivated.
Yesterday Kojo declined to comment on any alleged involvement in the programme. His London lawyers continued to deny he had any involvement with Yamani’s Iraqi oil deal.
It's good to see this appearing in the European media.
I doubt seriously that any American legal system has legal control over the situation. This guy doesn't live in the US...alot of the account business ran via Swiss banks...and witnesses to this mess will likely be killed before they appear in court.
ping
This should read "All senior UN staff, including daddy dearest, have profited from the scheme...."
*
'the timing of this revelation is suspicious'...
as in, "maybe no one will notice as Iraq stands up on it's feet..."
My take on this is that Kojo (and maybe the company Cotecna) are a front for contracts that are meant to payoff Kofi.
Only children should fall for this 'honest Kojo' line.
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