With
UN
Chief Investigator Charged with Retaliation, OIOS Spins
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 31 -- While the UN refuses to answer Press questions
about charges against its chief investigator Michael Dudley, on
Monday the UN Spokesperson sent the press a defensive statement from
the Office for Internal Oversight Services, disputing that there has
been a fall off in cases pursued.
But
Dudley himself
in a case closing memo stated that outside contractors and even UN
staff as soon as they retire are of less concern, to put it
diplomatically.
More
than a week
ago, prior to the US House of Representatives hearing on UN
corruption, including the issues surrounding Mr. Dudley, Inner City
Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky:
“Michael
Dudley, the acting head of OIOS' Investigations Division, is under
investigation, for among other things, retaliation and evidence
tampering. Given that Ban Ki-moon says he prides himself on the
transparency of his administration, what specifically are the facts
surrounding the investigation process regarding Mr. Dudley, and will
the UN be reassigning him to other duties during the investigation?”
After
at first
ignoring the question and declining to even acknowledge it, finally
Nesirky's deputy Farhan Haq responded that “On Michael Dudley's
case, the case is ongoing before the Dispute Tribunal and we would
have no comment as it proceeds.”
But
the question
was, “will the UN be reassigning him to other duties during the
investigation?” It is inappropriate for the UN to not answer that
one way or another, particularly as regards its chief investigator.
For now we note that
in connection with the House of
Representatives hearing, GAP urged
“That
the UN Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services
appoint a qualified Director to the OIOS Investigations Division
(OIOS/ID), the unit responsible for the investigation of misconduct
and whistleblower cases. OIOS/ID has been without a permanent
director for more than three years and the current acting director is
under investigation for allegedly retaliating against two
whistleblowers.”
UN's Ban sweats in Ms. Lapointe, answers on Dudley not shown
Here
is OIOS'
statement sent out Monday by Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson's office, on
which we will have more:
From:
UN
Spokesperson - Do Not Reply ]at] un.org
Date: Mon, Jan 31, 2011
at 10:11 AM
Subject: Note to correspondents from the Office for
Internal Oversight Services (OIOS)
OIOS Response to PTF Caseload
Follow-up Articles
With
regard
to recent misinformation appearing in the press on the matter
of Procurement Task Force (PTF) cases transferred back to the United
Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) following the
expiration of the PTF’s mandate, the current
Under-Secretary-General of OIOS, Ms. Carman Lapointe, has set the
record straight, indicating that:
·
The 175 cases handed back to OIOS translated into 162 cases,
once duplications and consolidations were sorted out;
·
Of the 162, sixty-two were closed within six months by a
Transition Team established to ensure continuity—a team primarily
comprised of eleven former PTF members;
·
Fully 123 cases were closed by the end of November 2009,
within eleven months of the end of the PTF;
·
Today, only ten cases remain "open", all in the
lowest priority category as determined by the PTF itself and
subsequently confirmed by former PTF members on the Transition Team;
·
No outstanding PTF investigation was closed by the Transition
Team, or subsequently by OIOS, without justification for doing so
being documented by the investigators and approved by OIOS
management.
Furthermore,
no
cutback in the pursuit of investigations into corruption and fraud
has occurred. All reports of any such activity continue to be
investigated as a high priority, given their potential for financial
loss and damage to institutional integrity.
Ms.
Lapointe
replaces former OIOS chief Inga Britt-Ahlenius, who has just
published a book savaging Ban Ki-moon's leadership. One assumes that
Ban's office is keeping a closer eye on OIOS and its new chief. So
will we.
Inner
City Press
has received a number of anonymous telephone calls defending Mr.
Dudley, and would be eager to hear more -- especially on the record.
Watch this site.
* * *
At
UN,
Ban's
Claim of 99% Public Financial Disclosure Called
“Metaphorical”
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January
28 -- Rather than admit that UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon misspoke when he claimed two weeks ago that 99% of his
officials have made public financial disclosure, Ban's spokesman
Martin Nesirky told Inner City Press on Friday, “I wouldn't get
hung up on the ninety nine percent figure as a mathematical absolute,
because it is also a metaphorical expression, that nearly everyone”
disclosed. Video here,
transcript
below.
But
this claim of
99% transparency has been Ban's response to questions about the UN's
lack of accountability under his watch. On January 14,
Ban told the
press that “now ninety nine percent of senior advisers of the
United Nations have declared their financial assets publicly on the
website.”
Inner
City
Press
reviewed the UN's web site and found that this was not the case. On
the eve of hearing before the US House of Representatives Foreign
Affairs Committee about the UN, Inner City Press published
a list of
the many Ban officials who instead of making even basic disclosure
state that “I have chosen to maintain the confidentiality of the
information disclosed by me in order to comply with the Financial
Disclosure Program.”
The
officials not
making public disclosure range from Ban' two Sudan envoys Ibrahim
Gambari and Haile
Menkerios through Rule of Law chief Dmitry Titov to
Ban's close ally and envoy to Cote d'Ivoire Choi
Young-jin.
The
lack of public
disclosure came up at the House of Representatives hearing on January
25, and Inner City Press that day and each day since has e-mailed
Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky with this request:
“Please
explain Ban Ki-moon statement that 99% of his officials have made
public financial disclose in light of the actual, much lower figure
on [the UN website], with non public disclosure by inter alia
Gambari, Choi Young-jin, Jan Mattsson, Greg Starr, Iqbal Riza, Terje
Roed-Larsen, Said Djinnit, Mr. Diarra, Ajay Chhibber, Haile
Menkerios, Ray Chambers, Peter Sutherland, dead links Nicolas Michel
and Achim Steiner, only "outside activity" and no finance
or clients for Alexander Downer, Douste Blazy, etc.”
Nesirky,
who
on
January 21 after Inner City Press asked about the UN's seeming
failure to comply with its own Regulation 1.2 said he
wouldn't answer
any more questions until Inner City Press somehow acted
“appropriately,” never answered this e-mail question.
UN's Ban & Nesirky on Jan 14: transparency claim
now called "metaphor"
At
the UN noon
briefing on January 28, Inner City Press finally asked Nesirky
directly about Ban's statement that 99% of his officials have made
public financial disclosure.
Nesirky
began
by
dodging the questions, saying that "financial disclosure means to
disclose to the United Nations what your assets are and so on. And then
it is fully within the rights of the individual to elect or not to
elect for that to be publicly disclosed. And I think you will see that
in the vast majority of cases, this is publicly disclosed."
But
Ban
specifically used the word “publicly” on January 14, saying that
“ninety nine percent of senior advisers of the United Nations have
declared their financial assets publicly on the website.” Click here
for
footage
of Ban's claims from a recent piece on Swedish TV
including Inner City Press and a FAC hearing witness.
Inner
City Press on January 28 asked Nesirky if Ban considered disclosing a
refusal to make
public any financial information to be “public financial
disclosure.”
This
is
when
Nesirky told Inner City Press, “I wouldn't get hung up on the 99%
figure as
a
mathematical absolute, because it is also a metaphorical expression,
that nearly everyone” disclosed. Video here.
So
at the UN, a
claim by Ban Ki-moon that 99% of his officials have made public
financial disclosure is just a metaphor.
From
the
UN's
transcript of January 28:
Inner
City
Press:
In his last press conference in here, the
Secretary-General said when asked about the [Inga-Britt] Ahlenius
book, that 99 per cent of officials have made public financial
disclosure. And just having looked at the website of disclosures, it
doesn’t, that number is not the number. The number of his
officials including Mr. Choi [Young-jin] of Côte d'Ivoire,
[Ibrahim]
Gambari, [Haile] Menkerios, Said Djinnit, Michael Williams, whom you
mentioned, they have all filled out a form saying “we chose not to
disclose”. So, I just… I have been trying to figure out, what is
the 99 per cent figure based on? Does he include people that say “I
won’t disclose” as having made a public disclosure? Or, what is
the actual number?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky:
Financial disclosure means to disclose to the United
Nations what your assets are and so on. And then it is fully within
the rights of the individual to elect or not to elect for that to be
publicly disclosed. And I think you will see that in the vast
majority of cases, this is publicly disclosed.
Inner
City
Press:
When he said public, that’s the phrase that he used —
he said that 99 per cent of my officials have made public financial
disclosures. So, is that… that’s not what he meant? He meant
that they have actually… they have made disclosure to the UN?
Spokesperson:
Well
I think also I wouldn’t get hung up on the 99 per cent figure
as a mathematical absolute, because it is also a metaphorical
expression meaning nearly everyone, okay?
Inner
City
Press:
But, Mr. Choi, does he think that Mr. Choi, kind of a
close ally, long-time person that he has worked with, does he think
that Mr. Choi should publicly disclose? Would he call on him to
publicly disclose?
Spokesperson:
Again,
this is a matter for the individuals concerned. Okay, yes?
No,
not okay. Watch
this site.
, 
