At UN, Ethics Office Rebuffs Whistleblower of UNDP's Diversion from Africa of Environmental Funds

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, January 19 -- The UN's Ethics Office, after four months of review, has rebuffed yet another staff member seeking protection against retaliation. In the matter of Mathieu Koumoin, who complained of diversion of funds from Africa to European companies by the UN Development Program / Global Environment Program, UN Ethics Officer Robert Benson on January 15 declined to offer protection. Click here for Benson's "confidential" letter, provided by UN sources. Benson further limits his Office's jurisdiction, stating that while cases in funds and programs like UNDP "could" be referred to his central Ethics Office if the alleged retaliation was by senior officials of the fund or program, only those senior official could make the referral. But why would a wrongdoer consent to outside investigation?

  UNDP's Administrator Kemal Dervis, who in August 2007 refused to allow Benson to review the case of a whistleblower about UNDP's suspended North Korea program, has since defended UNDP's decision to give new contractor to a vendor, Corimec, which was suspended from business with the UN Secretariat due to bribery, click here for that story,and here for its follow-up. In this light, for Benson to count on those accused to consent to his jurisdiction is laughable. As one source put it, at this rate Benson should just close down his Office and return to Canada. "Not ready for prime time," said a source, anonymous for fear of retaliation against which Benson offers no protection at all...

   Back in September 2007, prior to the purported clarification of the UN's ethics systems, Benson tried to avoid dealing with Koumoin's claims, writing as supporting his non-action that Koumoin had availed himself "of all the relevant recourse mechanisms in relation to the issues that you now raise to the Ethics Office." Click here for that Inner City Press story.

   On October 16, UNDP's Dervis in a rare Q&A dodged questions about Koumoin, answering opaquely about needing to "harmonize" the system while leaving UNDP independent, because it is "in the field" (as supposedly the rest of the UN is not). He did imply that there should be some appellate role for the UN Ethics Office, without spelling it out. Video here, from Minute 54:14.

  At a December 3 press conference, Benson made much of a so-called safety valve in the new fragmented ethic rules in which the director of a fund or program could voluntarily refer a matter to Benson's office. Inner City Press asked Benson if in cases where an agency's head or deputy head is the alleged retaliator, he or she should refer the case to the central Ethics Office, as a form of recusal. They "could," Benson said. "Should?" Inner City Press asked again, on the theory that even an Ethics Officer stripped of much of his jurisdiction can still provide guidance. "Could," Benson repeated. And now he makes it clear -- unless the accused volunteers for outside review, there will be none.

UN Ethics Office, again shooting itself in the foot, UNDP still in background

News analysis: While the UN Ethics Office's Robert Benson is by all accounts and encounters so far both genial and polite -- a nice guy, as baseball manager Leo Durocher's phrase has it -- his public decisions and statements so date have left the problems of retaliation and impunity in the UN unsolved. The answer is not asking those he rebuffs to stay quiet -- in that light, we offer below more from Mr. Koumoin -- but may require an ultimatum from the laid-back Mr. Benson: confirm the powers the post had when it was accepted, or find a new Ethics Officer, a new Office, a new day.

Postscript: Mathieu Koumoin's Voice from Abidjan

   In a letter earlier this month to Benson, Mr. Koumoin reiterated that UNDP's "retaliationagainst me started around 2004, intensified around 2005 and reached alarming levels by 2006 when it became clear to UNDP-GEF Executive Coordination that I was not prepared to violate internal UNDP rules by redirecting hard-earned GEF funds away from Africa towards UNIDO ($5 million) and IEPF/Francophony based in Quebec, Canada ($8 to US$9 million)." Koumoin, now on the run in Abijan complaining of physical threats, has raised his case within UNDP to Administrator Kemal Dervis, Tegegnework Gettu, Gilbert Houngbo,  Alberic Kacou and Olav Kjorven, head of environmental issues.

   In an exclusive communication to Inner City Press, Koumoin marvels at the Kremlin-like reaction to his case, despite the supposed importance the UN is giving to Africa, the Millennium Development Goals and climate change. Koumoin writes "to kindly request that Inner City Press prepare and post an article on the latest developments on the Ethics front considering the troubling silence from Robert Benson's e-mail... 'sent to you for your own level of comfort and your confidential records, not intended for release to the public.'" How can Benson try to limit the release of his ruling by those he rules against?

   Koumoin notes that "in September 2007, the same Benson declined to review my case arguing that the case was still playing out in the UN Joint Appeals Board.  He did so in error knowing that  the parameters of ST/SGB/2005/21 allowed consideration and reviews by the UN Ethics Office without prejudice upon other internal recourse for justice.  The UN Joint Appeals Board has since postponed my case from October to December 2007; and subsequently from January to March and then April 2008 for the simple reason that the UN JAB hopes that the case would disappear if M. Koumoin were to disappear all together in the meantime."

            Koumoin questions the disparities in Benson's office's treatment, saying "this raises the question as to why M. Benson would adamantly urge UNDP to allow him to proceed with his investigations of the August 2007 (North Korea) case when he does not appear eager to offer his ruling of the current Koumoin alleged UNDP retaliation case now that Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has reportedly clarified the jurisdiction issues." And so it goes for now at the UN. Koumoin's lawyers tell Inner City Press they intend to appeal from Benson's ruling. Watch this site.

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These reports are also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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