Posted on 11/11/2005 7:10:27 AM PST by ncountylee
LONDON (AP) - The son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has accepted a settlement from a British newspaper that claimed he was involved in selling Iraqi oil during Saddam Hussein's rule, his lawyer said Friday.
Businessman Kojo Annan had brought High Court libel proceedings over a January story in The Sunday Times. His lawyer, Simon Smith, said the newspaper claimed Kojo Annan admitted to a friend that he had been involved in negotiations to sell 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil to a Moroccan company in 2001 as part of the corruption-riddled U.N. oil-for-food program.
Sunday Times lawyer Alastair Brett, reading a statement in court, apologized and said the newspaper accepted that the allegation was untrue. A spokeswoman for The Sunday Times said she had no further comment.
Smith told The Associated Press that Kojo Annan was "delighted."
After the article ran, the U.N.'s independent inquiry into corruption in the oil-for-food program investigated the allegations and, in September, said it had not found any evidence of Kojo Annan's participation in the oil negotiations.
However, the inquiry said Kojo Annan had contacts with the U.N. procurement office responsible for an oil-for-food contract awarded to his then-employer, the Swiss company Cotecna. It also said Cotecna's founder and chief executive were not forthcoming about Kojo Annan's activities.
Smith said Times Newspapers Ltd. had agreed to pay Kojo Annan "substantial" damages and cover his legal costs. Smith would not specify the amount.
Kojo Annan, who was not in court, said later in a statement that he had "neither the time, the inclination, nor the financial ability to fight each and every article that has appeared about me."
"Today's victory is in respect of one article that appeared in The Sunday Times that I found very offensive and hurtful. It made a very serious accusation. It was wrong," he said.
"My integrity, and more importantly that of my father, was repeatedly called into question during the last year by some in the media and scrutinized from all corners," he said.
"I am delighted that this ordeal is seemingly coming to an end. It has been extremely stressful for my father, the rest of my family, and I, to have endured the countless unfounded statements alleging my supposed participation in the oil-for-food program."
Didn't he get enough money from the Oil-for-Food program?
NO wonder the world seems to have turned upside down.
Well, by George the poor man's innocent after all! /s
Kojo Annan was "delighted."
I bet.
Why does the world deserve those Annans. The pair have no shame at all.
Thats what they get for speaking the truth.......Doesn't work in the world created by the UN.
"Thats what they get for speaking the truth"
"Sunday Times lawyer Alastair Brett, reading a statement in court, apologized and said the newspaper accepted that the allegation was untrue"
I'm confused.
Damn, the Anans made bank off of Oil for food...!
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