Critics use questions raised by Volcker report against Annan

QUESTIONS raised by a probe of the UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq may have given critics more ammunition against the world body, even though Secretary-General Kofi Annan was cleared of corrupt practices.

A report on Tuesday from an inquiry conducted by Paul Volcker, a former US Federal Reserve chairman, found no evidence that Annan had influenced bidding for a lucrative contract under the $67 billion programme to a Swiss firm that employed Annan's son, Kojo. It also said that the firm as well as Kojo Annan, aged 31, a businessman in Nigeria, had misled his father on his continued relationship with the firm. However, the report also said that Annan and UN officials failed to thoroughly investigate the potential conflict-of-interest and that Annan's former chief of staff and long-time ally shredded possibly relevant documents.

US senator Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican and major critic of the United Nations, called for Annan's departure. "His lack of leadership, combined with conflicts of interest and a lack of responsibility and accountability point to one, and only one, outcome: his resignation."