Businessman denies discussing bid with Annan

A BUSINESS executive who wrote an email suggesting that Kofi Annan may have known about a UN oil-for-food contract awarded to his son's company denies ever talking to the UN secretary-general about the firm's bid.

The brief statement from Michael Wilson's lawyers left one key question unanswered: did anyone else talk to the secretary-general about the bid from the Swiss company Cotecna Inspection?

A memo from Mr Wilson describes a brief encounter in which officials from Cotecna discussed the company's bid for the contract with the UN chief "and his entourage" during a summit of French-speaking nations in Paris in late 1998.