UN secretary general Kofi Annan replied, "Hell, No!" yesterday, when asked if he would resign because of his handling of allegations about the Iraq oil-for-food programme and other scandals involving UN personnel, writes Conor O'Clery in New York.
Mr Annan was responding to a report by an independent inquiry that raised "serious questions" about his son Kojo's role in a company that had a contract under the Iraq programme.
The report found that the secretary-general did not improperly influence the award of a lucrative UN contract to the Swiss firm Cotecna Inspection SA that employed his son. However, it criticises him for his "inadequate" response to allegations of a possible conflict of interest.
"Parents everywhere will understand that this is a most difficult moment," Mr Annan said. "My son Kojo acted inappropriately. I love my son and have always expected the highest standards and integrity." He was "deeply saddened" at Kojo's failure to co-operate fully with the inquiry, headed by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker and had urged him to reconsider.
"I hope he will reconsider. He did not give me an answer immediately on the phone." The secretary general, told journalists at the UN: "After so many distressing and untrue allegations have been made against me, this exoneration by the independent inquiry obviously comes as a great relief." The report found that Kojo lied to his father, telling him that he left Cotecna in 1998 at the time the UN contract was signed, whereas he continued to receive secret payments of some $400,000.
Kojo Annan and Cotecna tried to cover up the payments and Cotecna officials did not tell the truth to the UN, stated the report which also found that the day after the Volcker inquiry was approved, the secretary-general's former chief-of-staff ordered the shredding of three years of documents, destroying potential evidence.
At a separate press conference, Mr Volcker said the investigation found no evidence that Kofi Annan improperly influenced the process by which Cotecna was selected.