Harare airport

Kojo Annan, son of the Secretary General of the United Nations, is under investigation for his role in a company that negotiated to sell millions of barrels of Iraqi oil under a UN oil-for-food scheme which proved to be cover for massive corruption. The question is when the dubious role he played in the same company in another scam - the construction of the new international terminal at Harare airport - will also be investigated.

Clearly Kojo, a young man in his twenties, has many questions to answer in relation to both major financial scams, and the extent to which his father's reputation and indeed the good name of the UN itself, have been tarnished, remains to be seen.

The UN's oil-for-food programme allowed Saddam Hussein the former dictator of Iraq to trade limited amounts of oil in order to buy food, medicine and other essential supplies while his country was under trade sanctions. But the scheme went badly wrong, the extent of the corruption now being the subject of an international investigation. Kojo Annan's involvement and the extent of his complicity centres on his business relationship with the oil tycoon, Hani Yamani. Hani, the son of Sheikh Yamani, the former Saudi oil minister, was owner of the company which negotiated for an Iraqi oil deal worth US$ 60 million.

In 1999, two years after his father was elected UN Secretary-General, Kojo was appointed a director of that company, Air Harbour Technologies (AHT), and no doubt he was an important asset to the company, by virtue of his name and what it represented if for no other reason. Kojo claims ignorance of Yamani's wheeling and dealing under the oil-for-food programme and says that he had ceased to be a director of AHT in July 2001, two months before the oil deal was struck. Enough suspicion of wrong doing remains however for the UN to proceed with its investigation. Ultimately the programme was the responsibility of the head of the UN, Kojo's father, and so there was always the potential for a serious conflict of interest insofar as Kojo benefited under it financially.

Undoubtedly it will take some time for the role Kojo played in the Iraqi scheme to be laid bare. But there is no reason to wait for that investigation to be completed before reviewing Kojo's role in the other major financial scam that concerned the same company, AHT, and some of the same key players - the contract to build the new international terminal at Harare.

This was one of the biggest projects ever undertaken by AHT, the tender price at that time (the late 1990's) being around Z$ 5 billion. Ever since the tender was awarded under a cloak of secrecy and involving none other than Leo Mugabe, Robert Mugabe's nephew, the deepest suspicions have surrounded the whole project.

Allegations soon surfaced of serious corruption and cronyism involving Hani Yamani, Kojo Annan, Leo Mugabe and a clutch of top ranking ministers and other officials in the Mugabe regime. As the project was nearing completion a serious rift developed between AHT, the main contractor, and the Zimbabweans. In a letter written to Robert Mugabe in 1999 Yamani set out details of the (unlawful) payments made to government ministers and officials in order to facilitate the granting of the tender to his company. He complains that he lost US$ 3 million through paying Zimbabweans. According to Yamani payments were made to Emmerson Mnangagwa, Leo Mugabe, Simon Khaya Moyo, Enos Chikowore, Herbert Murerwa and others, including Ali Halimeh, then Ambassador of the PLO and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Harare. Robert Mugabe himself benefited financially through a contribution for the construction of his residence at Zvimba, and US$ 50,000 was contributed to ZANU PF party funds. The problems arose it appears when some of the recipients of these bribes became greedy and started to demand more, threatening to undermine Yamani's all-important personal relationship with Mugabe himself if Yamani failed to comply.

After providing details of his alleged betrayal by government ministers, officials and financial intermediaries, Hani Yamani writes in his letter of 15th July 1999 to Robert Mugabe: "Most important to me is my relationship with you and the First Lady, which is worth more to me than money and fame … I respect you and I am honoured by your trust in me. I am a victim of plotters who derive all their power from you, but who deal for their personal ambitious agenda."

One may not shed too many tears for Yamani and the millions of US dollars he says he "lost" through the bribes paid out by his company. Nor need one be too concerned at the discomfort of this rather groveling supplicant at losing the good esteem of his number one patron. (Indeed it is likely that the deals he mentions are but the tip of the iceberg of a scam involving a whole galaxy of ZANU PF stars - a scam the full extent of which may only be revealed when that party is no longer in power). But of more immediate concern are the serious questions outstanding about the role played by Kojo, the son of the UN Secretary-General, who was and who remained a director of AHT throughout the crucial period when this massive fraud was perpetrated.

It is time for another investigation to begin. It would be naïve to expect the Zimbabwean authorities to initiate that investigation or even to assist with enquiries, but that should not stop the United Nations probing the affair. They have a clear interest in exposing international fraud and corruption on this scale, and once again the Secretary-General's personal link with one of those under investigation should not stand in the way.