New Controversy for Kojo Annan 

With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff 
Dec. 14, 2004
Newsmax
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/12/14/131418.shtml
Kojo Annan, the embattled son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, finds himself involved in yet another controversy. 
New financial and security questions have arisen regarding the younger Annan's business and personal life. 
Annan is one of several high-profile figures involved in a U.N.-supervised Iraqi aid program that U.S. and U.N. investigators believe may have been embezzled of as much as $23 billion. 
The U.N.-Iraq Oil-for-Food program, which ran from 1997 to 2003, was supposed to allow Baghdad to purchase medicines, food and other humanitarian goods by allowing Iraq to sell a limited amount of oil under Security Council supervision. 
To make sure prohibited items did not make their way into Iraq, the U.N. hired several organizations to verify the imports. 
Originally, the verifications were provided by Lloyd's of London. However, in late 1998, the Swiss firm Cotecna was awarded the contract. 
The award raised some eyebrows since Cotecna had no previous experience in the field. 
Cotecna did have an important employee: Kojo Annan, the son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. 
Kojo and Cotecna have both publicly denied that the family connection had anything to do with the U.N. contract. 
Both also note that at the time the U.N. contract was won, the younger Annan had already left the company. 
The period was late 1998 and early 1999. 
Then, in late November 2004, the New York Sun broke the story that Kojo had actually remained on the Cotecna payroll till early 2004, almost five years later than previously admitted. 
Kojo explained that the additional payments were non-competition awards, which are legal under Swiss law. 
It was estimated that the payments totaled $150,000 during the period in question. 
U.N. sources tell NewsMax the figure is now actually closer to $225,000 and may climb still higher. 
It is believed by U.S. and U.N. investigators that the Swiss firm played a central role in the massive embezzlement. 
Cotecna, it is suspected, certified that goods entering Iraq were in fact what had been contractually purchased by the U.N. program and authorized by the Security Council when they were not. 
U.S. investigators now believe that many of these imports were either outdated medicines or foodstuffs, which were certified as new. 
Cotecna, it is believed, allowed the U.N. program to pay full value for the merchandise, though the real prices paid were in fact substantially lower. 
The differences between the paid prices and the real prices were skimmed by various Iraqis and officials associated with the U.N. program. 
That, U.S. congressional investigators say, could run as high as $23 billion. 
Annan the son has denied any wrongdoing. 
Meanwhile, if the Oil-for-Food imbroglio were not enough, senior U.N. officials accuse Kojo Annan of compromising security at his father's official home in New York City. 
The secretary-general's official residence is a fashionable three-story townhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side (3 Sutton Place). 
The trendy villa overlooking the East River is often the venue for official and private functions by the U.N. chief and his wife, Nane. 
While the U.N. rules do permit members of the secretary-general's extended family use of the residence, Kojo, it seems, has often stretched that use to its limits. 
NewsMax has learned that on at least three occasions since 2000, Kojo, who normally resides in London, has made use of the residence when his father and stepmother were out of town. 
I went up to the residence one night and I see all these strange faces, explained a veteran U.N. security official. I asked [another security officer] 'Who are all these people?' I was told they are friends of Kojo, the official explained. 
Do we have names of the people, do we know who they are? the official continued. 
I do not know, came the response. 
The U.N. veteran continued, It was incredible that Kojo could bring personal friends into the official U.N. residence unannounced and unchecked. 
These people could have weapons, they could have stolen property, we did not stop them because the officers [on duty] were afraid of Kojo. 
Another U.N. security official explained to NewsMax that the parties thrown by Annan were a serious violation of U.N. security protocols. 
It is the home of the secretary-general, everyone needs to be cleared, he explained. 
NewsMax has been told that at least two private parties had been hosted by Kojo. 
To this day, none of the guests at these parties has ever been identified, says a senior U.N. security official. 
Last year, news broke that British intelligence may have planted bugs in Kofi Annan's U.N. office. 
Similar concerns exist at the Annan residence.