) is the only son of ex-UN

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 Secretary-General

Secretary-General

-International intergovernmental organizations:-International nongovernmental organizations:-Sports governing bodies:...

 Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...

. A January 2005 article in The Sunday Times

The Sunday Times (UK)

The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...

catapulted him to fame when it announced that he had confessed involvement in the UN Oil-for-Food Programme

Oil-for-Food Programme

The Oil-for-Food Programme , established by the United Nations in 1995 was established with the stated intent to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs for ordinary Iraqi citizens without allowing Iraq to boost its military...

 scandal; in a libel settlement eleven months later, the paper announced that it now "entirely accepts that the allegation [of his confession] was untrue."

At issue is the use of political associations to gain the private sale of oil from Iraq through the UN—which was illegal as Iraq was under UN sanctions (following the Persian Gulf War

Gulf War

The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...

 of 1991) and showed a conflict of interest

Conflict of interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....

 because it compromised the UN's neutral role. Further, the Oil-for-Food Programme was a strictly humanitarian venture—to use it as a means to gain profit was to steal from the Iraqi people

Iraqi people

The Iraqi people or Mesopotamian people are natives or inhabitants of the country of Iraq, known since antiquity as Mesopotamia , with a large diaspora throughout the Arab World, Europe, the Americas, and...

.

From 1995 to 1997, Kojo Annan worked in West Africa for the Swiss-based inspection company Cotecna, then as a marketing consultant for the company. A July 1998 billing memo for Cotecna stated that Annan wrote that he should be reimbursed for eight days that included six days "during my father's visit to Nigeria". A fax dated August 28, 1998 included the statement, "Your work and the contacts established at this meeting should ideally be followed up at the September 1998 UN General Assembly in New York." A September 1998 hotel bill for the Holiday Inn Garden Court in Durban

Durban

Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

 was paid for by Cotecna, while he was registered as being there for the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

. He used a calling card paid for by Cotecna to call from a phone that begins 212-963-XXXX, the same beginning number for most phones in the United Nations in New York City.

In September 1998, Kojo Annan met with several heads of state and government ministers during the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly. In December, Cotecna won a $4.8 million Oil-for-Food contract.
Kojo Annan, Kofi Annan and Cotecna deny that the younger Annan was involved in the Oil-for-Food contract. Annan also claimed that connections with Cotecna severed after 1998, however Kojo continued to be paid by the company until February 2004.

The Second Interim Report by the IIC confirmed that Cotecna indeed won the Oil for Food contract fairly and based on merit. The Committee concluded that there was no link between Kofi Annan and the award of Cotecna’s contract; and Cotecna has been transparent and cooperative through this investigation.

On December 13, 2004, Kojo Annan claimed that the probe into the Oil-for-Food Programme by U.S. congressional committees was "a witchhunt from day one as part of a broader Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 political agenda."

Megadeth

Megadeth

Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...

 front man Dave Mustaine mentioned Kojo in the song "United Abominations" the title track of Megadeth's 2007 studio release, this song based on the UN sparked an official retort from the UN on July 10, by Mark Leon Goldberg of the United Nations affairs blog, UN Dispatch posted a rebuttal. This was based on the accusations Mustaine made in the song.

Kojo is cited in the Megadeth song for his active role of abusing the privileges of his father:

"Held hostage by oil-for-food
Yet their own plates are full off the fat of their lands
There's no blood on their hands, right Kojo?
They promised to tell the truth
Without leaving a fingerprint, but
They will lose the U.N. one way or another
The victim, I fear will be us, sisters and brothers" Dave Mustaine - Megadeth

Personal life

Kojo Adeyemo Annan and his sister Ama Annan are from Kofi Annan's first marriage with Titilola Alakija, a Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

n. The couple separated when Kojo was six years old and got a divorce two years later. When his parents separated, he lived with his father and spent holidays with his mother and sister. Kojo was educated in Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 at the independent school

Independent school

An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...

 Rydal Preparatory School, and in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, at Rendcomb College

Rendcomb College

Rendcomb College is a co-educational boarding and day school for 3 to 18-year-olds, located in the village of Rendcomb five miles north of Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England. The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....

, where he excelled as a rugby player and subsequently at Keele University

Keele University

Keele University is a campus university near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as an experimental college dedicated to a broad curriculum and interdisciplinary study, Keele is most notable for pioneering the dual honours degree in Britain...

. He was also educated in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. He is presently on board of several companies and lives in Accra, Ghana where he is into exploitation of gold.