Cotecna Inspections, the company that won the contract to inspect shipments of food and medicine to Saddam's sanctioned regime, has issued a denial of any wrongdoing in the UN's oil-for-food programme (OFP) under which Iraqi oil trades were governed between 1995 and 2003.

The denial comes as the UN proceeds with its inquiry into allegations that the OFP was little more than a slush fund for Saddam Hussein's regime and hundreds of prominent officials from around the world are alleged to have taken advantage of cut-price oil bribes from the regime to sell on at a vast profit.

UN connections

Cotecna is responding specifically to questions raised over its employment and the involvement in OFP work of Kojo Annan. He is the son of UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

The Swiss-based inspection agency says it played a "limited, technical role" in the OFP and that Kojo Annan left Cotecna's employment before it won the OFP contract from the UN.

Annan junior did, however, work as a consultant to Cotecna during the OFP era. The inspection agency says that his work at this time was concerned with inspections in Nigeria and Ghana.

Documentary evidence

Letters of credit written during the programme may provide vital evidence for investigators since most legitimate international trades with Iraq during the OFP era were covered by documentary credits.

The OFP's bankers, BNP Paribas, created and stored these documents and bank officials will face some tough questioning during the UN's inquiry.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.