18 November 2005 Blog Home : November 2005 : Permalink
According to yesterday's Le Figaro, he told judge Philippe Courroye during an interview on Oct 12: "I should not have done what I did. I regret it."
But he also said that the payments were made in recompense for work he had done on Iraq's behalf. "All trouble is worth a wage," he is reported to have said.
No decisions have been announced about possible criminal charges against Mr Mérimée. He told the judge that he did not declare the income to the tax authorities, according to Le Figaro.
I do wonder what the friendly people at the Trésorerie Public think of the third paragraph though... for normal people they tend not to be terribly understanding about such lapses but maybe its different if you are "Ambassador for Life". Further commentary on this is to be found at the Transatlantic IntelligencerWhat does it take to get promoted by Kofi Annan at the United Nations? For longtime U.N. staffer Abdoulie Janneh, it took less than two weeks after his recent testimony to investigators helped clear Annan of any role in his own son's alleged misuse of the name and privileges of the secretary-general to ship a Mercedes duty-free into Ghana — at a savings of more than $14,000.
Janneh's statements excusing Kofi Annan were included in a report released Sept. 7, 2005, by Paul Volcker's investigative commission into Oil-for-Food. Twelve days after the report came out, Annan promoted Janneh from assistant secretary-general to the U.N.'s third-highest rank of undersecretary-general. No one has accused Janneh of wrongdoing, and Janneh himself in an e-mail this past weekend replying to queries about the timing of his promotion called it "An unfortunate coincidence." But as an indicator of U.N. practice at the top, the tale of Kojo's Mercedes continues to raise awkward questions — which Kofi Annan's office has variously ignored or refused to answer.
But that pales into insignificance in the face of the inability of the UN press corps to get a straight answer on the whereabouts of the car in question. This would be funny if it weren't about such an important official:For the past two weeks, a few members of the U.N. press corps — especially the intrepid James Bone of the Times of London, and Benny Avni of the New York Sun — have been asking these questions, or variations thereon, almost daily at the U.N.'s noon press briefings. And Kofi Annan's office won't answer. What follows cannot quite convey the full-body experience of U.N. stonewalling, but it does provide a sample of what has become the ritual exchange between reporters and Kofi Annan's spokesperson (excerpted from more of the same):
Nov. 7: "About the Mercedes ... "
"I don't think we have anything further to talk about this car."
"I have nothing further right now."
Nov. 9: "First of all, have you found the Mercedes yet? Secondly, is Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, the one who claimed the exemption of Ghanaian import taxes at the behest of the Secretary-General's son, is he still with the U.N., and what is his post at the U.N.?"
"We have nothing further to say on either the car or the official that you're referring to. There were no adverse findings against them, and we have nothing to say."
"... we have nothing further to say. You can ask me many times, but I have nothing..."
"I have nothing further to say. This questions stems from your repeated questions every day, and I have nothing further."
"You are asking the same question over and over again. We have nothing to say on the official that you're referring to and the case that you're referring to, and I ... I have nothing further to say on this subject. I'm sorry."
Nov. 10: "Where is the Mercedes?" (Laughter)
Nov. 11: "Along the same lines of questions we are not getting answered, I'd like to review the question of where the Mercedes is, and whether any disciplinary action has been taken against the United Nations official involved in apparently fraudulently claiming tax discount for that Mercedes."
"James, it's like a broken tape recorder. My answer is the same. I have nothing further to say on the subject."
(Note to NRO readers: On the morning of Monday, Nov. 14, NRO reported that the official who had filed the claim for the import-duty exemption on the Mercedes, Abdoulie Janneh, whose recent whereabouts the U.N. had refused to comment on, had been promoted to the U.N.'s third-highest rank of undersecretary-general on Sept. 19, 2005, 12 days after the release of the Volcker report )
Nov. 14: "Now that we have found where Mr. Janneh is, can we find where the car is?"
"I think we're done with this conversation."
"We have nothing to say on the Mercedes. As I mentioned, there were no adverse findings in the Volcker report neither against the Mercedes, nor against Mr. Janneh."
Nov. 15: "On the Mercedes, do we have any update on the whereabouts of the Mercedes and can you assure us that Mr. Janneh imported only one car on behalf of Kojo Annan with a tax exemption?"
"We have nothing further on that case."
"Are you going to look for the whereabouts of the Mercedes? Because this is a question that we ask everyday and it's on the verge of comical, but we don't get answers."
"We have no further comment on the issue of the car and we don't consider it a U.N. matter."
"So the secretary-general of the U.N. owns a car and it was purchased with a tax discount given to the U.N. How could that not be a U.N. issue?"
"This is the statement that I have on this issue."
"Could you ask for clarification on that statement? And whether the secretary-general still owns that car, a question we've been asking for a long time. And what's happened to the tax discount? Has the U.N. or anybody else refunded the $14,000 tax discount?"
"I have nothing further."
Nov. 16: "... the question of the Mercedes... ."
"I have nothing further on that since what I said yesterday."
"On the Mercedes... "
"I have nothing further on the issue of the car beyond what I said yesterday."
Nov. 17: "The other day you said the issue of the Mercedes is right now not a United Nations matter, is that still the same? Are you sticking by that?
"I have nothing further to say than what I said the other day."
"Should we understand that the secretary-general has zero interest in pursuing this matter of what happened to the car in his name?"
"We have nothing further comments on the issue of this car and that's what I have to leave it at."
"It sounds like you're in an awkward spot with this Mercedes. Someone has told you that you should simply say that you have nothing further to say... .Who it is that gave you that instruction"
"I am the official spokesman for the United Nations and I take my guidance from the secretary-general ultimately."
I think l'Escroc needs to give Kojo & co lessons in passing laws that stop such impertinent questions from being asked