Annan's
Syria
Technical Team
Led By
Executive Who
Quit Group CHD
Amid
Embezzlement
Scandal
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 28 --
The technical
team sent to
Syria by Kofi
Annan was
led by a
former UN
official who
was forced to
resign from a
Geneva-based
non-governmental
organization
amid an
embezzlement
scandal, Inner
City Press has
learned and
confirmed.
For two weeks
at the UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesmen
refused to
answer Press
questions
about who was
on the team of
Annan, Ban's
predecessor as
Secretary
General
whom Ban had
name as his
and the Arab
League's Joint
Special Envoy
to
Syria.
Several
Annan team
members
visible in
television
footage from
Cairo and
Damascus were
former UN
officials who
left the UN
under a cloud
of scandal.
There
was Alan
Doss, who
while the UN's
top envoy to
the Congo was
found to
have urged
UNDP to break
its rules and
give his
daughter a
job.
There
was Nicolas
Michel, who
left as the
UN's top legal
officer after
admitting
taking $12,000
a month from
the Swiss
government to
pay for
a Park Avenue
apartment
while employed
by the UN.
After
the two
weeks the UN
in New York
announced that
Alan Doss was
no longer on
Annan's Syria
team, and
Annan's
spokesman
Ahmad Fawzi,
himself
another former
UN
communications
official, told
Inner City
Press that
Nicolas Michel
was just a
consultant,
paid only when
used.
But
despite
Annan's
spokesman
Fawzi being
less opaque
than Ban's,
Inner City
Press
continues to
receive
complaints
about members
of Annan's
team,
for example
Martin
Griffiths
who's
described as
in charge of
the
"technical
team" Annan
sent to
Damascus.
Griffith
worked
for the UN
then as the
executive
director of
the Center for
Humanitarian
Dialogue (CHD)
based in
Geneva, as is
the Kofi Annan
Foundation.
Griffith was
forced to
resign from
CHD after a
CHF 3.8
million fraud
was exposed in
June 2010, and
confirmed by
KPMG.
Based
on this, a
well placed
diplomat told
Inner City
Press on
Wednesday,
"Griffiths
could never
have been
hired for this
by the UN. But
Kofi has
forced
him onto the
team, and like
the rest of
them he's been
given a UN
contract and
pay for at
least six
months, no
matter what
happens with
the Syria
work."
Before
publication,
Inner City
Press sought
comment from
Annan's
spokesman
Fawzi, who to
his credit
responded with
a not only a
no-comment but
also a
confirmation,
which still
stops short of
disclosing who
else
is on the
team.
Inner
City Press
asked:
I
am told that
on the JSE
team (but not
known to me
until today)
is
Martin
Griffiths. I
note that he
resigned as
executive
director of
the Centre for
Humanitarian
Dialogue amid
and in
connection
with an
embezzlement
scandal. I
would like
your comment
on this, on
deadline,
including but
not limited to
if a reference
was provided
from this
previous
employer, and
what it said.
I
would also
like the name
of the team,
certainly all
those being
paid
with UN money,
and
confirmation
that they are
receiving six
month
contracts and
that Mr.
Guehenno is
now an
Assistant
Secretary
General, for
six months.
Would this
remain the
term whatever
the
outcome or
duration of
the Syria
work?
Annan's
spokesman
Fawzi replied
on these:
"Mr
Griffiths
is a highly
qualified
member of the
JSE's team on
a UN
contract. I am
not going to
comment on his
previous
employer. Mr
Guehenno is at
the ASG level
and most of us
have 6-month
contracts.
That's it for
now."
Does
this last
mean that the
full team, at
least those
being paid
with UN money,
will soon be
disclosed? We
will have more
on the team,
and its
relation to
the UN. Watch
this site.
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