UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27: The son of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan got monthly payments more than four years longer than was previously known from a Swiss firm that won a lucrative contract under the scandal-ridden U.N. oil-for-food programme, the United Nations said on Friday.

Kojo Annan, the UN leader's son, was paid $2,500 monthly - a total of $125,000 - by Geneva-based Cotecna from the beginning of 2000 through last February, as part of an agreement not to compete with Cotecna in West Africa after he left the firm, UN chief spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

There have been no specific charges of wrongdoing on the part of the secretary-general in the world body's December 1998 award to Cotecna of a multimillion-dollar contract to monitor Iraqi imports under the oil-for-food programme.

But the disclosure of the extra years of payments renewed questions about conflicts of interest and left Annan and his staff looking inept in their handling of the matter.

The programme, which let Iraq export oil and use the proceeds to buy food and other goods despite a UN ban on oil sales, was shut down after last year's US-led invasion of Iraq.

Congressional investigators say Saddam Hussein's regime reaped over $21 billion from kickbacks and oil smuggling before and during the time the now-defunct programme was in operation.

But most allegations centre on private companies and governments and not on Annan or the United Nations.

The additional 50 months of payments to Kojo Annan were disclosed in Friday's New York Sun newspaper. It said the information had been confirmed by his lawyer.

ANNAN DENIES WRONGDOING: The United Nations had previously disclosed that Kojo Annan was given monthly $2,500 payments only through the end of 1999 after leaving Cotecna at the end of 1998. Cotecna approved the payments just days after the contract was awarded.