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Reuters: Memo raises questions on Annan role in UN contract
Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 6/14/05 | Irwin Arieff - Reuters

Posted on 06/14/2005 7:00:27 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A newly disclosed memo appeared to cast doubt on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's insistence he was unaware of a bid by a Swiss firm that employed his son for a lucrative contract under the scandal-tainted U.N. oil-for-food program.

U.N.-appointed investigators were "urgently reviewing" the memo, Michael Holtzman, a spokesman for the Independent Inquiry Committee led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, said on Tuesday.

The memo described a late-November 1998 Paris meeting of Annan with officials of Cotecna Inspection Services, just weeks before the Geneva-based company won the contract.

The contract has become a focus of Annan's critics, including several U.S. Republican lawmakers who have accused him of mismanagement and called for his resignation.

Chief U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Annan had no recollection of any such meeting during the trip to Paris, for a summit of French-speaking world leaders.

Annan's son, Kojo Annan, was a Cotecna consultant at the time of the encounter described in the memo, but it was unclear whether Kojo was present at the encounter. The document was written by Michael Wilson, a family friend of the Annans who was at the time a senior Cotecna executive.

The one-page Dec. 4, 1998, e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, was addressed to top Cotecna executives and devoted just two sentences to the U.N. contract matter.

It stated: "We had brief discussions with the SG and his entourage. Their collective advise (sic) was that we should respond as best as we could to the Q&A session of the (sic) 1-12-98 and that we could count on their support."

The memo was first disclosed by the New York Times.

ANNAN HAS 'NO RECOLLECTION'

Annan, in Paris on Tuesday, "has no recollection of any such exchange," Eckhard told reporters.

A view that the United Nations would support Cotecna's bid "could not have come from the secretary-general because he had no knowledge that Cotecna was a contender for that contract," the spokesman said.

Cotecna officials later attended a question-and-answer session on the U.N. bidding in New York on Dec. 1, 1998 -- the meeting the memo was apparently referring to. Wilson, in a second memo obtained by Reuters, said the session went well.

"Our chances of getting the contract are very good. We presented a sound technical tender competitively priced. With the active backing of the Swiss Mission in New York and effective but quite (sic) lobbying within the diplomatic circles in New York, we can expect a positive outcome to our efforts," Wilson wrote.

The first memo, commenting on an unrelated matter, referred to the presence at the Paris summit of a Cotecna official identified as "KA," but it was unclear whether this was a reference to Kojo Annan.

Cotecna, U.N. officials and Kojo Annan's lawyers could not immediately say whether he had attended the Paris meeting or been in contact with his father at the time.

Cotecna won a multimillion-dollar U.N. contract on Dec. 31, 1998, to certify goods coming into Iraq under the $67-billion oil-for-food program, which ran from late 1996 until 2003.

The program is under investigation by several U.S. congressional committees as well as the Volcker panel.

The program allowed Iraq, then under U.N. sanctions, to export oil and use the proceeds to import humanitarian goods.

A report released by the Volcker committee in late March concluded Annan did not influence the contract award.

Cotecna, which said it uncovered the memo only recently, reiterated in a statement its view that it had won the contract "fairly and on the basis of price."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: annan; contract; cotecna; memo; oilforfood; questions; raises; role; unitednations
ANNAN HAS 'NO RECOLLECTION'

Annan, in Paris on Tuesday, "has no recollection of any such exchange," Eckhard told reporters.

---

I don't recall.

1 posted on 06/14/2005 7:00:27 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

A newly disclosed memo appeared to cast doubt on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's insistence he was unaware of a bid by a Swiss firm that employed his son for a lucrative contract under the scandal-tainted U.N. oil-for-food program. U.N.-appointed investigators were 'urgently reviewing' the memo, Michael Holtzman, a spokesman for the Independent Inquiry Committee led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, said on June 14 2005. French President Jacques Chirac (L) welcomes U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the Elysee Palace June 14, 2005. (Philippe Wojazer/Reuters)


2 posted on 06/14/2005 7:01:38 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ...... The War on Terrorism is the ultimate 'faith-based' initiative.)
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To: NormsRevenge

3 posted on 06/14/2005 7:18:37 PM PDT by StoneGiant
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To: NormsRevenge
Annan, in Paris on Tuesday, "has no recollection of any such exchange," Eckhard told reporters.

Like anybody with half a brain believed him the first time he denied knowing his son was involved. But then again, this is the U.N. At most, he will lose his job. You or I, dear Freepers, would not see the light of day if this memo had our names on it. The U.N. is not accountable to anyone - that is the root of it's extreme wickedness. That is why tyrants love it so.
4 posted on 06/14/2005 7:22:23 PM PDT by AD from SpringBay (We have the government we allow and deserve.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Hey--it worked for Her Heinous--why not for Kofi Klatch?


5 posted on 06/14/2005 7:39:40 PM PDT by Pharmboy (There is no positive correlation between the ability to write, act, sing or dance and being right)
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To: Pharmboy

Looks like the Kofi memo has more punch than the Downing Street memo...


6 posted on 06/14/2005 7:51:16 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

E in the O--I can't wait to see the Slimes (non)coverage of this item tomorrow.


7 posted on 06/14/2005 7:52:52 PM PDT by Pharmboy (There is no positive correlation between the ability to write, act, sing or dance and being right)
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To: NormsRevenge

The headline is deceptive. I have no questions about Annan's role.


8 posted on 06/14/2005 8:08:28 PM PDT by dervish
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To: NormsRevenge

Busted by Reuters.


9 posted on 06/14/2005 8:10:26 PM PDT by tobyhill (The war on terrorism is not for the weak!)
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To: NormsRevenge

Volcker has egg on his face. He was a little too quick to say they have no evidence that Annan helped Cotecna get the bid.


10 posted on 06/14/2005 8:11:29 PM PDT by dervish
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To: NormsRevenge
Key phrase in the article --
[The memo] stated: "We had brief discussions with the SG and his entourage. Their collective advise (sic) was that we should respond as best as we could to the Q&A session of the (sic) 1-12-98 and that we could count on their support."

The memo was first disclosed by the New York Times.


11 posted on 06/15/2005 6:49:54 AM PDT by syriacus (Did Margaret Hassan "disappear" because she knew the Oil for Food program failed to help Iraqis?)
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To: syriacus
Annan, in Paris on Tuesday, "has no recollection of any such exchange," Eckhard told reporters.

[sarcasm]
How can Annan, a guy with such a poor memory, be expected to run the UN?
[/sarcasm]

12 posted on 06/15/2005 6:52:18 AM PDT by syriacus (Did Margaret Hassan "disappear" because she knew the Oil for Food program failed to help Iraqis?)
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