Who’s Kobina?
I have to admit I didn’t know and I’ve been studying the Oil-for-Food scandal pretty closely. But according to the London Times:
The official investigation into corruption in the £20 billion United Nations oil for food programme is now looking at the brother of Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general.
Kobina Annan, the Ghanaian ambassador to Morocco, is said by investigators to be “connected” to an African businessman at the centre of the scandal.
The oil for food programme was set up by the UN in 1995 to provide humanitarian supplies to Iraq, which was at the time prevented from trading normally with the rest of the world because of sanctions.
However, Saddam Hussein subverted the programme by taking kickbacks from companies involved and giving cut-price oil vouchers to influential individuals around the world.
Kobina is the second member of Annan’s family to be drawn into the scandal, which has led to the resignation of several senior UN officials.
The secretary-general has so far escaped censure, but the final verdict on his conduct will not be delivered by investigators until the autumn.
Father, son, brother… incredible, huh? Forget the Mafia. Pretty soon we’ll be confusing the Annans with the Borgias and the Medici.
Meanwhile, how about this? Why don’t we take those pompous frauds in the US Senate who thought blocking the nomination of John Bolton as UN Ambassador more important than investigating the hideous corruption destroying that very international organization and put them to work doing something fruitful… like cleaning latrines in Iraq. (ht: Rick Ballard)
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