Clinton/Bush Takeover of UN Will Have To Wait
Contractor Now Denies He Talked With Annan on Oil-for-Food Bid
UNITED NATIONS, June 16 - The contractor executive in the United Nations oil-for-food program who claimed in a 1998 memo that Secretary General Kofi Annan supported an award to the company where his son Kojo worked now denies ever talking about the bid with Mr. Annan.
In a statement issued by his lawyers, the executive, Michael R. Wilson, said Wednesday that he "never met or had any discussion with the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, on the issue of the bid for the U.N. contract," not "during the bidding process or at any time prior to the award of the contract."
The Dec. 4, 1998, memo from Mr. Wilson, made public on Tuesday, said that in late November 1998 he had conversations with "the S.G. and his entourage" and was told that his company, Cotecna Inspection Services, "could count on their support."
Mr. Annan, who denies having known about Cotecna's bid, said Thursday that he would leave the matter to Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman who heads a United Nations-appointed panel investigating the program, "to look into it and get to the bottom of the allegations."
He urged reporters "to resist the temptation to substitute yourself for the Volcker commission."
In a report on March 29, the Volcker panel concluded that Mr. Annan had not influenced the awarding of the contract. On Tuesday, the committee said it was "urgently reviewing" the case in light of the December 1998 memo.
Congressional committees investigating the program have been exploring whether Kojo Annan and Mr. Wilson have tried to coordinate their accounts of what they told United Nations officials about Cotecna's bid for the $10-million-a-year contract.
This is not the first time that Mr. Wilson has recanted a statement involving the secretary general and his son.
The March report of the Volcker committee records an interview with Mr. Wilson last January in which he recounted a conversation with Kofi Annan in November 1998, when Mr. Annan's son was still a consultant for the company, about a potential conflict of interest in Cotecna's bid.
The Volcker report said that 15 to 20 minutes after the interview, Mr. Wilson called the investigator to change the conversation date to after Kojo Annan had left Cotecna.
WARREN HOGE and JUDITH MILLER
Julia Preston contributed reporting from New York for this article.
UNITED NATIONS, June 16 - The contractor executive in the United Nations oil-for-food program who claimed in a 1998 memo that Secretary General Kofi Annan supported an award to the company where his son Kojo worked now denies ever talking about the bid with Mr. Annan.
In a statement issued by his lawyers, the executive, Michael R. Wilson, said Wednesday that he "never met or had any discussion with the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, on the issue of the bid for the U.N. contract," not "during the bidding process or at any time prior to the award of the contract."
The Dec. 4, 1998, memo from Mr. Wilson, made public on Tuesday, said that in late November 1998 he had conversations with "the S.G. and his entourage" and was told that his company, Cotecna Inspection Services, "could count on their support."
Mr. Annan, who denies having known about Cotecna's bid, said Thursday that he would leave the matter to Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman who heads a United Nations-appointed panel investigating the program, "to look into it and get to the bottom of the allegations."
He urged reporters "to resist the temptation to substitute yourself for the Volcker commission."
In a report on March 29, the Volcker panel concluded that Mr. Annan had not influenced the awarding of the contract. On Tuesday, the committee said it was "urgently reviewing" the case in light of the December 1998 memo.
Congressional committees investigating the program have been exploring whether Kojo Annan and Mr. Wilson have tried to coordinate their accounts of what they told United Nations officials about Cotecna's bid for the $10-million-a-year contract.
This is not the first time that Mr. Wilson has recanted a statement involving the secretary general and his son.
The March report of the Volcker committee records an interview with Mr. Wilson last January in which he recounted a conversation with Kofi Annan in November 1998, when Mr. Annan's son was still a consultant for the company, about a potential conflict of interest in Cotecna's bid.
The Volcker report said that 15 to 20 minutes after the interview, Mr. Wilson called the investigator to change the conversation date to after Kojo Annan had left Cotecna.
WARREN HOGE and JUDITH MILLER
Julia Preston contributed reporting from New York for this article.
posted by R7 | 6/17/2005 09:59:00 AM
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