Annan in oil for food link

INVESTIGATORS of the UN oil-for-food programme said yesterday they are “urgently reviewing” new information that suggests UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan may have known more than he revealed about a contract that was awarded to the company that employed his son.

The December 1998 memo from Michael Wilson, then a vice president of Cotecna Inspections SA, mentions brief discussions with Annan "and his entourage" at a summit in Paris in 1998 about Cotecna's bid for a €8.3 million-a-year contract under oil-for-food.

If accurate, the memo could contradict a major finding of the Independent Inquiry Committee that there wasn't enough evidence to show that Annan knew about efforts by Cotecna, which employed his son, Kojo, to win the contract. Cotecna learned it won the contract on December 11, 1998, days after the meeting.

The statement from the Independent Inquiry Committee, led by Paul Volcker, said it would "conduct additional investigation regarding this new information".

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said UN officials reviewed the final records of the Paris trip "and there is no mention in that trip record of any exchange with Michael Wilson".

"We spoke to the secretary general who is in Paris today, and he has no recollection of any such exchange," Eckhard said.

Earlier, Cotecna said it had found the memo as part of its "continued efforts to assist investigators".