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GHANA: ANNAN'S SON TO PAY GHANA'S DEBT January 25, 2006
Kizza Harajah
(SomaliNet) Kojo Annan, the son of Secretary General, United Nations Kofi Annan will pay the Ghanaian government import duties he evaded when he lied that a car he bought was for his father.
"The automobile was not for the secretary general's own personal use and therefore the exemption was not justified," his lawyer, William W. Taylor III, said in a Jan. 19 letter to the customs services in Accra.
"I write to inform you that Mr. Kojo Annan wishes to make full payment of the amount due to the government of Ghana as a result of this transaction," the letter went ahead to say.
This follows a September report by the committee led by Paul A. Volcker on corruption in the oil-for-food program. Using his father's name, he earned a $6,541 discount from Mercedes and evaded $14,103 in import duties.
It was in desire to discover whether there was a linkage between Kofi Annan and the award of an oil-for-food contract to Cotecna Inspection Services, the Swiss company, of which his son was an employee.