United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan faces new allegations over the Iraq oil-for-food program that could rekindle calls for his resignation.

A highly critical report is to be released Tuesday. Leaked reports say it has already concluded that Annan failed to dispel damaging rumours of nepotism and conflict of interest. His son, Kojo, was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by a key contractor for the UN-led program.

The oil-for-food program was put into place after the Gulf War. Between 1996 and 2003, the program allowed Iraq to sell oil on the international market in exchange for food and medicine, an exemption from UN sanctions imposed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan

The reports say Annan will be accused of poor judgment, lax management and a failure to understand on his own son's actions would reflect badly, not only on his father, but also on the institution.

Kojo Annan was paid up to $400,000 by the Swiss firm Cotecna, which had the lead contract from the UN in the Iraq oil-for-food program. It's not clear what Kojo did for all that money.

But what is clear, according to the UN's own investigators, is that Kofi Annan failed to dispel the aura of nepotism his son's activities created.

Annan's spokesman Marc Malloch Brown maintains that since the secretary general did not benefit personally, his name should and will be cleared.

"We stand by it that we believe on Tuesday the secretary general will be exonerated of any wrongdoing," said Malloch Brown.

The report on the failed oil-for-food program is only the latest crisis to afflict the beleaguered secretary general.

Annan's falling out with the Bush administration that started before the invasion of Iraq is far from repaired, and last week there was a scathing report on sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers.

Last Thursday's report claimed peacekeepers were responsible for abuses in missions ranging from Bosnia and Kosovo to Cambodia, East Timor and West Africa. While Annan's most senior officials insist he is not even thinking of resigning, the report will likely stir renewed calls for him to step down.