No bribery found yet in U.N. pact
By Alexander G. Higgins
December 25, 2005
The Washington Times
Original Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20051224-083633-5845r.htm


GENEVA -- An international accounting firm has said it has yet to find any evidence of bribery in its examination of the awarding of a U.N. construction contract, but it was too soon to rule out any wrongdoing. 

    The firm Ernst & Young said a criminal investigation by a Swiss judge now under way will determine whether a bribe was paid to influence the selection of the winning contractor for renovation work at the Geneva headquarters of the World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO). 

    Geneva Magistrate Jean-Bernard Schmid said he is examining whether a friend of the family of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan acted illegally in obtaining a fee of $3 million from construction companies that won contracts to renovate the building. 

    Mr. Schmid said three construction firms paid Ghanaian businessman Michael Wilson's consulting company the $3 million in connection with their $45 million winning bid for the renovations. 

    Mr. Wilson, who was mentioned repeatedly in U.N. oil-for-food investigations, was a former vice president at Swiss-based company Cotecna Inspection SA, which certified deals for humanitarian supplies to Iraq under the oil-for-food program. Cotecna employed Mr. Annan's son, Kojo, and was awarded an oil-for-food contract. 

    Mr. Wilson was a childhood friend of Kojo Annan. 

    One of the key issues in an independent U.N. inquiry into the oil-for-food affair has been whether Kofi Annan was guilty of a conflict of interest because the U.N. awarded the contract to Cotecna while his son was a consultant for the company. But the inquiry found insufficient evidence that Kofi Annan knew about the contract award to Cotecna. 

    Ernst & Young said its two-month investigation to date has not provided any evidence of bribery in connection with the renovation, according to a copy of a confidential report by the firm obtained recently by the Associated Press. 

    But it added that the existence of financial wrongdoing can be neither excluded nor confirmed. 

    The criminal inquiry is still ongoing and could lead to new elements. It is therefore premature to make a pronouncement on the reliability of allegations on the building renovation, it said. 

    The full report contrasted with what WIPO said last week when it claimed Ernst & Young had brought to an end the recent allegations and unfounded attacks on the organization that have appeared in a few news media. WIPO refused to make the full report public. 

    In the report obtained by the AP, Ernst & Young said certain weaknesses in the management of the organization, such as described in this report, constitute a factor which might lead to irregularities being committed. 

    It noted that the final report of the U.N. oil-for-food investigation led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker in October referred to payments by Mr. Wilson to a senior WIPO official. 

    Attempts to reach Mr. Wilson or his company were unsuccessful. His home phone is unlisted and phone lines to his office have been disconnected.