The United Nations may have never faced such a scandal: the son of the
Secretary-General received payments from a firm with a U.N. Iraqi oil-for-food contract. A scandal that many ignore or dismiss, yet it is a pain in
the day to day lives of those who are in the top positions in the U.N.; a pain that will simply not go away. The allegations of corruption have been
the source of speculation in the media and among many members of the U.N. Today Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "very disappointed and
surprised" that his son had continued to receive payments until this February from a firm that had a contract with Iraq's Oil-for-Food program, a
program that was meant to help the starving people of Iraq long before this latest war.
Fox News Full Article
UNITED NATIONS � Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday he was "very disappointed and surprised" that his son had continued to receive payments
until this February from a firm that had a contract with Iraq's Oil-for-Food program, the subject of numerous corruption investigations.
Annan told reporters that he had been working on the understanding that payments to his son, Kojo Annan, from the Swiss-based firm Cotecna Inspection
S.A. stopped in 1998 "and I had not expected that the relationship continued."
But on Friday, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Kojo Annan's lawyer had informed the independent panel appointed by the secretary-general to
investigate allegations of corruption in the Oil-for-Food program that the younger Annan continued to receive monthly payments through February
2004.
The disclosure was the latest embarrassment for Annan and the United Nations over the humanitarian program which was instituted in December 1996 to
help Iraqis cope with sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
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This is not new news yet by the statement today from Kofi Annan that he was "very disappointed and surprised" should tell everyone who thinks,
something.
"surprised".. as in he did not want to believe it?
"surprised" as in he had hope that it would all just go away?
Kofi Annan... I ask you.. Does the level of corruption in the UN oil for food program really suprise you?
Your own son was involved and after this many years you now say you are "very disappointed and surprised" ?
This scandal has and will do far more damage to the status and credibility of the United Nations than many are willing to believe or accept.
Can the UN and its current leadership be trusted with international funds ever again?
What is most shameful is this money was meant to help a mass of starving people.. a people starving in part as a result of sanctions imposed on their
counrty by none other than the UN itself.
Related ATSNN Discussion:
U.N.: Annans Son Got Payments On Deal
[edit on 29-11-2004 by Banshee]