CNN gets a letter from Crown Prince Kojo of the United Nations and he's a cranky lad:
Kojo Annan, in his first public comment on the subject, told CNN in a written statement: "I have never participated directly or indirectly in any business related to the United Nations."I'm sure the Crown Prince spent a lot of time opening crates.
Annan, 31, who lives in Lagos, once worked for Cotecna, a Switzerland-based company that inspects commercial freight shipments. It employs 4,000 people in 100 countries.
"I feel the whole issue has been a witchhunt from day one as part of a broader Republican political agenda," Annan said in his statement to CNN.Deny, deny, deny and and claim it was a frame-up. Not a bad plan, but he better polish it up a little since just last week it was revealed that he was turning in expense reports for things like:
Kojo Annan, 29, claimed fees and expenses for eight days' work in July 1998, including six days in Abuja "during my father's visit to Nigeria". On another, he claimed expenses and $500 a day for a 15-day trip to New York and the UN General Assembly in September 1998 for meetings on "special projects".Sounds like United Nations business to me. But gosh, he has plausible deniability - his company got a juicy contract from Emperor Kofi, but he wasn't really involved because he was collecting some nice fees for doing something else. Of course, that brings up the difficult question of what exactly he was doing:
What appears missing from documents seen so far is any indication of what Kojo Annan's employment either on staff, or as a consultant, actually delivered in the way of results for Cotecna; or what services he was providing for which he submitted expenses during the noncompete period following his employment.I believe the technical term is "no show job." But it wasn't no work and no play for Kojo:
On November 17, 1997, one Cotecna official based in Niger, where Kojo Annan was staying at a company guest house, sent an email in French to Mr. Pruniaux in Geneva, noting, "It's important that KA respect the hours and rules of the liaison office" because "laxity on his/our part" would lead the local staff, given his background, to ask, "Why him and not us?"Woohoo! Anyhow, those evil Republican congressmen want to help Kojo get his message out:
"We'd be happy to hear from him under oath if he has things to contribute to the investigations," said Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.).Silly fellow! Royalty doesn't have to answer questions from the commoners.
