Memo author denies lobbying Annan
Oil-for-food e-mail 'amplifies' concerns, senator says
From Richard Roth and Phil Hirschkorn
CNN
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UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The author of an e-mail that renewed scrutiny on Kofi Annan's role in Iraq's oil-for-food program denied Wednesday that he ever lobbied the U.N. secretary-general to award a lucrative inspection contract.
An attorney for Michael Wilson issued a statement saying Wilson "never met or had any discussion" with Annan during a November 1998 conference both men attended in Paris.
The statement also said Wilson denied having any discussions prior to the awarding of the contract to Cotecna, a Swiss company where Wilson and Annan's son once worked.
The Swiss firm was paid $10 million a year to authenticate shipments of food, medicine and supplies shipped into Iraq.
A U.N. official who was a member of the procurement panel that approved awarding the contract to Cotecna also told CNN Wednesday the secretary-general exerted no influence.
"I never got a hint I had to favor this or that company," the official said.
Wilson wrote the e-mail, which was made public Tuesday, in December 1998, when he was Cotecna's vice president for marketing in Africa, in which he told top company officials that "we had brief discussions with [Annan] and his entourage" at the conference and that "we could count on their support." (Full story)
At the time, the secretary-general's son, Kojo Annan, had been on the company's payroll for three years, with assignments in Nigeria and Ghana. Wilson was a family friend who introduced Kojo to Cotecna after the younger Annan graduated from college.
Wilson left Cotecna in 2000, according to the company. His London-based attorney, Clarissa Amato, declined to disclose any other information on his whereabouts or current business interests.
Amato and her legal firm, Schillings, also represent Kojo Annan in inquiries about his involvement with Cotecna and the oil-for-food program.
A spokesman for the secretary-general said Tuesday that Annan had no involvement in the bidding process that led to the contract, and a Cotecna spokesman said company officials have "grave doubts about the reliability" of Wilson's e-mail.
But the chairman of a Senate committee looking into the oil-for-food program, Sen. Norm Coleman, said in a statement that the e-mail "corroborates our suspicions and amplifies our concerns about the secretary-general's serious conflict of interest."
"On its face, the document shows that the secretary-general was informed of Cotecna's bid for the oil-for-food contract in late November 1998, several weeks before the contract was awarded to them," the Minnesota Republican said, renewing his call for Annan to resign.
Coleman also called for additional investigation by the independent committee probing the oil-for-food program, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, saying disclosure of the e-mail required "at a minimum" additional interviews with Annan, his son and senior Cotecna executives.
A spokesman for the Volcker committee said Tuesday that it "is urgently reviewing newly disclosed information."
In March, the committee issued an interim report saying it found no evidence that the secretary-general improperly steered the U.N. contract to Cotecna.
Under the oil-for-food program, Iraq was permitted to export a limited amount of its crude oil in exchange for food, medicine and supplies.
The program, the largest humanitarian operation in U.N. history, was designed to help Iraq deal with the international economic sanctions imposed after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
It generated $64 billion in revenue from its launch in late 1996 until the U.S.-led invasion toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Over seven years, 248 companies incorporated in 61 countries bought 3.4 billion barrels of Iraqi crude oil, with the proceeds deposited in a U.N.-controlled bank account that paid vendors who sold U.N.-approved goods back to Iraq. The oil revenue also paid for weapons inspectors.
Multiple investigations were prompted by reports that Saddam extorted billions of dollars in surcharges from chosen oil buyers, received kickbacks from suppliers of goods and may have awarded rights to buy oil as political favors to countries that supported rolling back sanctions.
