Annan's son - a big-spending liar?

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan finally managed to escape charges of corruption in a report on the Iraqi oil-for-food program. Yet it was evidently proven that his son Kojo brandished his father's name and lied repeatedly while under investigation.

Kofi Annan characterized the report as "deeply embarrassing." Kojo Annan, now 31, was a consultant for the Swiss firm Cotecna S.A. that won a lucrative U.N. contract in Iraq and, contrary to his repeated denials, was closely involved in the 1998 bidding process. Around the same time, he lied in order to use his father's diplomatic privileges to avoid over $20,000 in taxes and duty on a Mercedes-Benz car, the report said.

"I think the report speaks for itself and he will have to speak for himself," Kofi Annan said of his son after he was presented with the results of a year-long probe into the Iraqi oil-for-food program which revealed inefficiency and mismanagement compounded by political tensions and corruption.

Thus while the investigation had found no corruption by the secretary-general, the criticism of Kofi Annan's behavior left unanswered questions, Reuters reports.