Annan's son faces fresh allegations in UN scandal

UNITED NATIONS, Thursday (Reuters) The United Nations faced fresh allegations against Secretary-General Kofi Annan's son in the oil-for-food scandal but predicted the U.N. chief himself would be vindicated.

At issue is an independent probe into wrongdoing in the U.N.-administered $67 billion oil-for-food program for Iraq, conducted by Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman. Volcker releases another report next Tuesday on whether Annan through his son influenced the contract bidding.

Mark Malloch Brown, Annan's chief of staff told a news conference the secretary-general believed he would "be fully vindicated" of any allegations he had a role in awarding a goods inspection contract in 1998 to the Swiss firm Cotecna .

"The fact is that Kojo has confirmed himself that he misled his father," Malloch Brown said in reference to the younger Annan's relationship with Cotecna. "We believe on Tuesday the secretary-general will be exonerated of any wrongdoing but like you we have to wait for the report."

But Malloch Brown confirmed a report in The Financial Times that Annan had met twice with Cotecna officials before the contract was awarded and once afterward. He said Cotecna officials approached the secretary-general at a public event and then saw him by way of a courtesy call through an acquaintance to talk about U.N. participation in a "national lottery" and not the oil-for-food program.

Kojo Annan at first said he was a trainee at Cotecna in West Africa and left the firm in 1997. But payments continued well afterward and The Financial Times said they reached $300,000 but was not certain if they related to Iraq.