I have never participated directly or indirectly in any business related to the United Nations.

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". Annan also claimed that connections with Cotecna severed after 1998 however Kojo continued to be paid by the company until February 2004. S.

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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 of 1991) and showed a conflict of interest because it compromised the UN's neutral role. 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. 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.