Investigators resigned over oil-for-food inquiry 'cover-up' [View All]

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By Charles Laurence in New York and Henry Samuel in Paris
(Filed: 24/04/2005)

The two senior investigators on the Volcker commission, appointed by the United Nations to investigate the oil-for-food scandal, resigned last week because they feared a "de facto cover-up" over a report into Kojo Annan's business dealings.

The interim report, published last month, found "no evidence" that Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, had any "affirmative or improper influence" in the decision to give Swiss company Cotecna, for which his son, Kojo, was a consultant, a multi-million dollar contract to monitor Iraq's oil-for-food scheme.

It did, however, find fault with Mr Annan for inadequately investigating the affair, and raised questions about his relationship with Cotecna's management.

Last night, in the most explicit criticism so far directed at the report, Robert Parton, one of the senior investigators, told a lawyer involved with the Volcker inquiry that he thought the committee was "engaging in a de facto cover-up, acting with good intentions but steered by ideology".

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