Speculation about the search for a new leader for The Coca-Cola Co and allegations that the beverage giant is contributing to atrocities in Colombia are "ill-informed," retiring Chairman and Chief Executive Doug Daft said on Wednesday.

　　Daft made the comments at the company's annual meeting in Wilmington, Delaware. At the same time, he and Donald Keough, a director, refused to give further details on the search to replace Daft, who leaves the company at the end of this year.

　　"There's kind of a media frenzy about this," said Keough, who is on the search committee. "It kind of goes with the territory. But the fact is, this board that you have elected has a simple responsibility, to bring to the fore a chairman and a CEO. To say any more than that would be totally inappropriate."

　　Keough said only that Coke has interviewed several candidates and is in the middle of the process. A source close to the search has told The Associated Press that the search has been narrowed to about a half-dozen serious candidates.

　　Later at the meeting, all 16 board members were re-elected for another one-year term. Influential billionaire investor Warren Buffett faced the strongest opposition from some large shareholders who were concerned about his independence given his outside business ties to Coke.

　　Even so, he received more than 84 percent of the vote in a preliminary tally.

　　Meanwhile, outside the hotel where the meeting was being held, there were about a dozen people protesting the actions at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia and India.

　　The protesters were angry about the killings of union organizers in Colombia. They also blamed Coca-Cola for allowing the sale of products contaminated with pesticides in India.

　　Daft, for his part, said the criticism of Coke is unwarranted, especially when it comes to the Colombia situation.

　　(The Associated Press)