UN WATCH

UN scales back efforts to deal with internal corruption

January 12, 2010
The Associated Press
By John Heilprin

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations has cut back sharply on investigations into corruption and fraud within its ranks, shelving cases involving the possible theft or misuse of millions of dollars, an Associated Press review has found.

At least five major cases in Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa are among the inquiries halted as the U.N. scaled back on self-policing over the past year.

The world body was rocked in the past decade when more than 2,200 companies from some 40 countries colluded with Saddam Hussein's regime to bilk $1.8 billion from a U.N.-administered oil-for-food program for Iraqi humanitarian relief.

In response, it established a special anti-corruption unit, the Procurement Task Force, in 2006 that over the next three years uncovered at least 20 other major schemes affecting more than $1 billion in U.N. contracts and international aid.

But at the beginning of 2009, the United Nations shuttered the agency and diverted its work to the Office of Internal Oversight Services' permanent investigation division.

Since then, the number of cases opened, pursued or completed has dropped dramatically and the division has let go most former task force investigators, the AP found in an examination of U.N. documents, audits and e-mails, along with dozens of interviews with current and former U.N. officials and diplomats.

Over the past year, not a single significant fraud or corruption case has been completed, compared with an average 150 cases a year investigated by the task force. The permanent investigation division decided not to even pursue about 95 cases left over when the task force ceased operation, while another 80 unfinished cases have languished.

It also stopped probes into contractors and cut qualified staff and other resources — and halted five major corruption investigations documented by the task force in the final days of 2008.

Nancy Boswell, president of anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International-USA, fears the U.N. is greatly diminishing its self-policing capabilities.

"One year after the (Procurement Task Force) was terminated, it is deeply troubling that allegations persist that the (Office of Internal Oversight Services) has not vigorously pursued open cases, that its leadership has not put in place a permanent head of investigations and that it may be narrowing its scope of inquiry," Boswell said.

U.N. officials — who operate a $5 billion annual budget and whose extended agencies and funds spend at least $20 billion a year more — say their commitment to rooting out corruption is undiminished.

"The investigations division, I am convinced, is doing a very good job, and is continuing the good work," U.N. management chief Angela Kane said in late October. She repeated the assertion last week.

But the U.N.'s track record over the past year suggests otherwise:

— Nothing has come of a task force report completed in December 2008 that found $1 million a day flowing out of a safe in a U.N. project office in Kabul — part of $850 million intended for Afghanistan's rebuilding and elections between 2002 and 2006. A year later, U.N. managers say the case is still under review.

— Task force staff ran out of time before they could complete two more investigations on Afghanistan. One involved evidence that a U.S. firm padded its charges by $1 million and the other that U.N. staff diverted millions of dollars from Afghan elections, roads, schools and hospitals, according to U.N. documents and officials.

Task force investigators found evidence some of the money went to expand U.N. operations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East without authorization. And they found no documentation to confirm how the Kabul office used tens of millions of dollars meant to promote democratic elections in Afghanistan.

— No action has been taken on a task force finding that about half of $350,000 in U.N. funds intended to launch a radio station for women in Baghdad was used to pay off personal loans, a mortgage, credit card bills and taxes, as well as for cash withdrawals from a bank in Jordan. The task force recommended disciplining a U.N. staff member and referring the case to national prosecutorial authorities. Neither has happened.

— A task force investigation of collusion and bid-rigging involving a transport company in Africa found contracts steered to one company and two of its senior officers. The task force recommended the case be prosecuted; nothing has happened. U.N. managers say the case is under review.

— In another case, task force investigators obtained evidence of major corruption involving more than $200 million in transportation contracts for U.N. peacekeeping throughout Africa. U.N. procurement records show Russian companies held a large proportion — a quarter of about $400 million in U.N. air transportation contracts in 2009. The case has since been dropped.

At the end of 2008, the U.N. General Assembly refused to fund the task force for another year. Russia and Singapore, in particular, protested findings of wrongdoing involving citizens or companies from their nations, though the U.N. Board of Auditors concluded the task force acted impartially and helped deter fraud and corruption.

The Government Accountability Project, a Washington-based nonprofit law firm that defends whistleblowers, says the U.N. quashed the task force, buried its cases and retaliated against an investigator trying to protect some probes' computer files.

"We did talk to investigators. They were concerned that investigations which were substantial and which had accumulated credible evidence of wrongdoing had not been zealously pursued since the task force was disbanded," said Bea Edwards, the firm's international program director. "It appears there was political pressure brought to bear that may have been instrumental in delaying or stopping (task force) investigations."

The task force had 20 white-collar crime investigators, led by a veteran former U.S. federal prosecutor, Robert Appleton. Its work has led to at least four convictions, millions of dollars in restitution orders, misconduct findings against 17 U.N. officials and the banning of 47 U.N. contractors due to fraud, other illegality or rules violations.

Now, all but two task force investigators are gone from the investigation division, in most cases because the U.N. would not renew their contracts. Some vacancies have been filled, but with staff lacking experience in fraud and corruption cases. U.N. officials told the AP that investigators were instructed to interview witnesses using a standardized form rather than relying on case-specific examination techniques and pointed questioning.

In July, the investigation division quietly let the task force's contract expire with the firm that examined computer data, reconstructed deleted files and provided other expert forensic support services. Investigators were never given a reason.

Edric Selous, a senior legal officer for the U.N.'s Office of Legal Affairs, said the investigation division made "a huge effort" to close out the task force's remaining 175 cases — but none were sent to his office for review.

"There's been a diminution in the number of cases received since December," said Selous, whose office advises the U.N. secretary-general on referring cases for prosecution outside the United Nations.



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UN Envoy: Sri Lanka execution video authentic
January 7, 2010
BBC News

Video apparently showing extra-judicial killings by Sri Lankan troops is genuine, a UN envoy has said.

UN special rapporteur Philip Alston said three independent experts had confirmed the video was authentic, renewing calls for a war crime inquiry.

The footage - which Sri Lanka says is fabricated - shows a man dressed as a soldier shooting a man in the head.

It was allegedly filmed in January during the final stages of the bloody conflict with Tamil Tigers rebels.

The government in Colombo said it concluded the video was fake after conducting its own investigation.

But Mr Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extra-judicial killings, told reporters: "The conclusion clearly is that the video is authentic."

He said the video had been examined by three US-based independent investigators.

He named them as Peter Diaczuk, an expert in firearms evidence, Daniel Spitz, a prominent forensic pathologist, and Jeff Spivack, an expert in forensic video analysis.

At the same time he noted that there were "a small number of characteristics of the video which the experts were unable to explain".

"Each of these characteristics can, however, be explained in a manner entirely consistent with the conclusion that the videotape appears to be authentic," he added.

The UN official also called on the Sri Lankan government to hold an independent inquiry into possible war crimes committed by both sides of the conflict.

It is not clear where the footage, which also shows other bodies on the ground, was taken.

The video was provided to the BBC and other media organisations by a group called Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, which said it showed "the reality of the behaviour of the government forces during the war".

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka said the video had been taken in January 2009 using a mobile phone.

Sri Lankan troops finally defeated the Tamil Tigers last May -- after nearly 26 years of war.