[Marinir] [KCM] Kojo Anna Terima 300.000 Dolar dari Perusahaan Cotecna

Sat Mar 26 22:25:08 CET 2005

Bantuan kemanusiaan "Oil-for-Food Programme" untuk Irak, di korup juga oleh
putra Sekretaris Jendral PBB; Kofi Annan ....

http://www.kompas.com/utama/news/0503/24/055151.htm

Updated: Kamis, 24 Maret 2005, 05:51 WIB
NASIONAL
Kojo Anna Terima 300.000 Dolar dari Perusahaan Cotecna
Washington, Kamis

Kojo Annan, putera Sekretaris Jendral PBB Kofi Annan, menerima sedikitnya
300.000 dolar dari perusahaan tempat kerjanya dulu, Cotecna, sebuah
perusahaan pengawasan Swiss yang terlibat dalam program Minyak untuk
Pangan PBB.

Financial Times memberitakan, Rabu (23/3) jumlah uang tersebut hampir dua
kali lipat dari apa yang dilaporkan sebelumnya. Pembayaran dilakukan dengan
sedemikian rupa untuk menutup-nutupi dari mana uang itu berasal dan untuk
siapa.

Laporan itu disiarkan ketika sebuah tim penyelidik independen yang dibentuk
Annan untuk menguak skandal yang terkait dengan program penjualan minyak
untuk pangan di Irak itu akan menyampaikan hasil temuannya pada Selasa.

Kojo Annan bekerja untuk Cotecna di Nigeria sampai Desember 1997 dan
kemudian dipekerjakan lagi sebagai seorang konsultan. Cotecna membantah
tegas ketidakberesan itu.

Seorang juru bicara Cotecna di Nigeria menolak membeberkan berapa perusahaan
itu membayar Kojo Annan dan mengatakan, pernyataan mengenai hal itu terserah
pada hasil penyelidikan.

Kofi Annan menunjuk mantan pemimpin bank sentral AS Paul Volckner untuk
memimpin penyelidikan itu dalam upaya menghalau tuduhan mengenai korupsi
pada program minyak untuk pangan yang katanya telah membayang-bayangi PBB.

Program minyak untuk pangan, yang berlangsung dari Desember 1996 hingga
November 2003, dimaksudkan untuk meringankan dampak sanksi-sanksi
internasional terhadap rakyat Irak, yang mengizinkan negara itu menjual
minyaknya secara terbatas dan menggunakan hasilnya untuk membeli kebutuhan
kemanusiaan.

Sebuah surat kabar Irak tahun lalu menerbitkan daftar individu yang katanya
menerima alokasi minyak dari eks-rejim Saddam Hussein.

Panel Volckner mengatakan bahwa direktur program itu, Benon Sevan,
mengarahkan alokasi-alokasi minyak kepada sebuah perusahaan yang terkait
dengan pendahulu Annan selaku sekretaris jendral PBB, Boutros Boutros-Ghali,
dan rejim itu berusaha membeli pengaruh melalui Sevan.

Panel itu tidak menjelaskan bahwa ia telah menerima suap atau melakukan
kejahatan namun mempertanyakan pembayaran uang kontan yang katanya berasal
seorang kerabat, dan penyelidikan mengenai hal itu akan terus
dilakukan.(AFP/Dna)

--------------------------

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d3341e7a-9b1b-11d9-90f9-00000e2511c8.html

World / International economy

Cotecna link to Kojo Annan under scrutiny
By Claudio Gatt
Published: March 22 2005 22:00 | Last updated: March 22 2005 22:00

After being caught up in a bribery scandal in Pakistan and losing a big
contract in Nigeria, Cotecna, a Geneva-based company that inspects exports
and imports, was keen for new business.

One of the people it was counting on for help was Kojo Annan, who had been
employed by the company since autumn 1995, working in Lagos.
His father, Kofi, had recently been appointed secretary-general of the
United Nations.

The organisation was disbursing tens of millions of dollars under the
oil-for-food programme, designed for Iraq to buy food and medicines with
revenues from the sale of crude oil.
"They were in dire straits and in desperate need of new business," confirms
one of the many investigators now delving into allegations of corruption in
the UN. "A UN contract would have been a major coup."
In December 1998, by which time Kojo had moved from a staff position to
become a consultant, Cotecna won a contract to verify shipments to Iraq
under the oil-for-food programme. In the course of six years, the contract
was worth approximately $10m (?7.6m, £5.3m) a year, roughly equivalent to 11
per cent of Cotecna's revenues.
For the last few months, investigators from the US Congress and the
independent UN commission headed by Paul Volcker have been trying to
determine whether Cotecna used Kojo and his family connections to obtain UN
business.
Cotecna and Kofi Annan categorically deny any impropriety. Cotecna stresses
it won its first tender for a UN contract in 1992, when Kojo was not on the
payroll, and lost one in 1996, when he was.
Now, a joint investigation by Il Sole 24 Ore and the Financial Times brings
to light further details of Cotecna and Kojo's financial relationship. It
also reveals the secretary-general did not disclose last year that he had
met Cotecna executives.
One of these meetings was in January 1997, when Elie-Georges and Robert
Massey, Cotecna's chairman and chief executive respectively, and their
spouses had tea with Kofi Annan and his wife at a hotel in Davos during the
World Economic Forum. The main topic of conversation, says Robert Massey,
was Kofi Annan's native Ghana, where Cotecna had a contract.
"It was a very short, rather social meeting. The idea was to keep contact
with somebody [Elie-Georges Massey] had met before," Cotecna explained.
In September 1998, three months before the oil-for-food contract was awarded
to Cotecna, Kofi Annan received Elie-Georges Massey at the UN. Mr Massey
suggested the UN should sponsor an international lottery.
According to Cotecna, a further meeting took place in early 1999 when
"Elie-Georges Massey sought out Mr Annan at a public event in Geneva,
following a Telegraph article". In January 1999, the Sunday Telegraph of
London had raised questions about the award of a UN contract to a company
that employed the secretary general's son.
A UN spokesman confirmed that the three meetings took place. The first was
"a brief social encounter", the second "a courtesy call by an acquaintance".
At the third meeting, Elie-Georges Massey had sought to apologise for any
embarrassment caused by the Telegraph article, the spokesman said.
He said: "The secretary-general made full disclosure to the Volcker panel
and he expects it will confirm the casual nature of the meetings and the
fact that they had nothing to do with the Cotecna contract."
The main focus of scrutiny by investigators for the Volcker commission and
the US Senate is the relationship between Kojo and Cotecna.
Cotecna says from January 1999 to February 2004 it had a "non-compete"
contract with Kojo that paid $2,500 a month in fees, plus health insurance.
The total payment over the years reached about $175,000.
"It was important Kojo would not work for the competition," said Cotecna,
and "$2,500 a month was not an expensive price to pay, considering the very
important contracts at stake".
But when monies transferred between different entities or accounts connected
to Cotecna or Kojo Annan are added together, the total comes to more than
$300,000.
"To all intents and purposes, it was as if they really kept him as a
consultant," comments one investigator.
Under both US and Swiss law, a non-compete agreement must be limited in
time, geography and type of activity. Article 340a of the Swiss code says it
cannot exceed three years, except in certain circumstances. Kojo's
non-compete deal had no geographical limit and lasted more than five years.
Until August 2000, Kojo's expenses were reimbursed including his American
Express bill in 1999 which was well into five figures, the FT/Il Sole have
learnt.
Cotecna says payments were "delayed reimbursement of prior year expenses,
when Kojo Annan was a consultant to the company". But documents in
possession of investigators refer to expenses incurred in October, November
and December 1999.
In addition, it emerged from records Cotecna and Kojo provided to
congressional and UN investigators that the methods of payment changed
several times. The first three transfers were sent from the Cotecna UBS
account to Kojo's Lloyds TSB account in London.
In early 1999, soon after the Sunday Telegraph article, Kojo started
receiving payments from another entity owned by the Masseys called Meteor.
Cotecna's explanation is that "Kojo preferred to receive his monthly payment
from a company that was not directly related to the Cotecna group, and we
managed to provide him with this service".
It acknowledged that the Sunday Telegraph article may have had "a link" to
the change.
In January 2000, Kojo received $8,925.45 from Cofinter, a Swiss company also
owned by the Masseys, which they had proposed using for the international
lottery.
Cotecna describes this payment as "a mishap".
The following month, instead of going to Kojo, the money started to be paid
by Cotecna to Westexim, a company registered in London whose ownership is
obscure.
In the company's records was found an entry, in French, for a transfer of
$4,000 on April 19 2000 to a Ms Ama Annan. The older sister of Kojo Annan is
called Ama.
The FT and Il Sole have no evidence that the money was received by Ama or
that its source was Cotecna rather than Kojo. Cotecna says "it absolutely
never paid or hired" Ama Annan, who lives in Lagos but declined to comment,
or any other member of the family.
The FT and Il Sole asked Kojo's lawyer in London for comment, but were told
that he "is not inclined to respond to your inquiry".
Claudio Gatti is a New York-based investigative reporter with Il Sole 24
Ore, the leading Italian business daily