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To Accommodate Smoking, UN Spends $130,000 on Ducts Faced with Demolition Within Two Years

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

UNITED NATIONS, January 2 -- Practicality, it seems clear, is the better part of diplomacy. How else to explain the UN spending $130,000 to install for two years a ventilation duct system for an indoor cafe in which no one is supposed to be smoking?

On the Saturday before Christmas, while covering a rare weekend Security Council meeting at which sanctions on Iran were adopted, Inner City Press noticed in the UN basement that the Austria / Vienna Cafe had been walled off. Informal inquiries found that the plan was to ventilate the space to remove cigarette smoke. This cafe is often smoke-filled, despite a 2003 Secretary-General's Bulletin purporting to ban smoking in the UN, as it is banned in all public indoor areas in New York City.

Inner City Press sent written questions about the work to UN officials and spokespeople, before and after New Years. On Tuesday in two separate written response, Inner City Press was told that the contract was subject to competitive bidding and that cost of the work was $130,000. To Inner City Press' follow-up question of whether the work would be destroyed when the now-adopted $1.88 billion Capital Master Plan (CMP) results in the gut rehabilitation of the UN, the official in charge, Ms. Joan McDonald, replied that "this work will not be destroyed by the CMP... CMP have confirmed."

But when Inner City Press subsequently telephoned the CMP's Administration and Communication Chief Ms. Vivian Van de Perre, she stated that all of the work being done in the Vienna Cafe will be ripped out. Then why are they paying $130,000 for the work? "That's a good question," she said, adding that she'd had the same doubt and asking, "Have you spoken with Joan McDonald?" Well, yes, this very afternoon:

Subject: Re: Follow-up questions on Vienna Cafe work

From: mcdonald [at] un.org

To: Inner City Press

Sent: Tue, 2 Jan 2007 3:56 PM

Matthew

Apologies for the delay in response as you are aware I was out last week...

Q: what consideration was given, and by whom, to the relation between the cost and the amount of time the ventilation would be in use, before being destroyed in the upcoming gut-rehab of the space under the Capital Master Plan?

[A:] This work will not be destroyed by the CMP. This CMP have confirmed. During the life of the CMP there will be projects carried out by FMS which are not covered by CMP... We coordinate all FMS projects with CMP. FYI the review process of this project was like all other projects through the Chief of FMS and in this particular case I was consulted and I agreed that the project should go ahead. The work is completed. The clean up of the area, including furniture and shampooing the carpet will happen today and tomorrow and the cafe will be back first thing Thursday morning.

A visit to the area on Tuesday morning by Inner City Press found holes in the ceiling now covered with sheet plastic. A workman on the scene with a tape measure, when asked about the work, said that only the asbestos abatement had been completed, and that the duct work, by Alex Wolf & Son, has yet to be done and can only be performed from six p.m. to six a.m., since the cafe will re-open later this week.

In Ms. McDonald's above-quoted message, FMS stands for "Facilities Management Services." In the most recent UN phone book, the director of FMS is Martin Bender. But Mr. Bender has not been coming in to work, due to an investigation into his alleged collusion with a UN contractor. (Mr. Bender's replacement, Andrew Nye, did not respond to telephone and email requests for comment on this story.) The Procurement Fraud Task Force is interviewing others in Facilities Management Services. Whether related or not, FMS clearly does *not* coordinate with the Capital Master Plan, whose spokesperson told Inner City Press on Tuesday that all of this work will be ripped out.

Smoking: outdoors in Cambodia, free. Indoors at the UN? $130,000 for two years

In 2003 Mayor Bloomberg prohibited smoking in public indoor areas in New York City. (More recently, the UN's WHO is a beneficiary of Bloomberg's $125 anti-smoking grant.) Kofi Annan followed suit with a Bulletin, 2003/9, stating that "No smoking shall be permitted in any of the UN premises at Headquarters." Nevertheless smoking continued, defended in a pinch by Ambassadors citing diplomatic immunity. Russia's then-Ambassador Sergey Lavrov was quoted that Annan "doesn't own this building," while heading off to smoke in the Delegate's Lounge.

More recently, the front line of the smoking battle has been in the area outside the Security Council chamber. Diplomats and staffers often smoke there. Petitions have gone up on the wall, with dozens of signatures, alongside lists of the impacts of smoking. A copy of Kofi Annan's Bulletin that "No smoking shall be permitted in any of the UN premises at Headquarters" was even posted.

In the basement, someone gave up the fight. The extent of smoking at what's also call the Viennese Cafe has been noted online by NGOs and bloggers of the right and left, and even from the youth. It has been pointed out that many more staffers than diplomats frequent the Vienna Cafe, presumably making the three-year old no smoking policy easier to enforce. But enforcement, one wag noted, has never been the UN's strength. And so the contact for the ducts, to suck smoke from the cafe. But when the whole area is going to be gut-rehabilitated in two years or less, why pay $130,000 to accommodate smoking, which is already prohibited?

A half-dozen workmen were onsite at 7 p.m. Tuesday night. Several acknowledged the absurdity of the work. A man in with an "FMS" badge sewn on his shirt, unnamed to avoid retaliation, pointed at the holes in the ceiling and said, "For this, they should have taken the whole ceiling down. Because when they fix this area, all of the ceiling that's been left will have to do -- it's asbestos. And they aren't even ventilating the seating area by the back conference rooms, where people smoke all the time. Why not send them all up to the Ex-Press Bar and open a window? Or just tell them they can't smoke, like the rest of us?"

To recap, a UN official who signed off on this work has told us that the work will not be ripped up by the Capital Master Plan gut-rehabilitation, while a spokeswoman for the Capital Master Plan has told us unequivocally that the work *will* be ripped out, "all of it." Even putting aside the issues raised by accommodating an already prohibited activity, and beyond the she said - she said, one wonders how a $1.88 billion rehabilitation would not involve the full rebuilding of this space.

New Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday told reporters that the UN is "sometimes unfairly criticized" so he is encouraging staff "to have continuous dialogue with the press." So maybe these questions will be answered. Watch this site.

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com

UN Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540

Waste at UNDP Includes Environmental Unit's Junket of 145 Staffers to Goa, Hometown of Unit's Director

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

UNITED NATIONS, December 27 -- The UN Development Program flew 145 staffers, at agency expense, to the Indian resort of Goa, for a length "retreat" of a unit whose director is a native of Goa. The UNDP's Global Environmental Facility, run by Frank Pinto, spent money meant for the poor in what UNDP staffers characterize as a junket. Of the UNDP-determined $300 of Daily Sustenance Allowance (DSA), each attendee directly received only $20 in cash. The rest went straight to contractors, it is reported, chosen by hometown guy Frank Pinto. After the conference was finally over, Frank Pinto stayed some extra days to see his mother.

After stonewalling for twelve days, UNDP's Communications Office confirmed the Goa location, the DSA arrangement and that Mr. Pinto stayed behind, while intially avoiding the asked questions about how much it cost, and, while claiming Goa was the cheapest of five locations they considered, declining to name the other location nor how they, or the venues in Goa, were selected. Even in response to Inner City Press' follow-up questions, UNDP declined to provide the simple information: how much did it cost?

Beyond the waste of money and the lack of transparency, virtually nothing was decided on at the retreat, attendees say. It was not even restful, according to more than one participant. Arriving on time required missing a first weekend at home, where many had children to attended to. Attending the full retreat required three weekends away from home. After thirty hours of flying, jet lag made concentration more than a little difficult. By the time jet lag wore off, some had already left. But the money kept being spent. What's the accounting to donor countries, or to the poor for whom these wasted funds were meant?

A group shot of UNDP's Global Environmental Facility

Twelve days ago, Inner City Press asked UNDP in writing for information about the Goa retreat, including the DSA arrangements. No information, not even a confirmation of receipt of the questions, was received until, on December 26, Inner City Press sent Mr. Pinto, his deputy Yannick Glemarec and his planning associate Veronique George the following factual questions about the retreat:

"what was discussed, how many staff (and which) attended, for how long, how much it cost, and all Daily Sustenance Allowance arrangements. Please provide an itinerary, including costs and expenses at each. Please confirm or deny that you stayed afterwards, with relatives. How were the venues, including restaurants, chosen? And anything else you wish to say, again, as quickly as possible and on deadline. We requested information on Goa retreat ten days ago, but have received none, have interviewed sources and prepared article."

Twenty-four hours after this inquiry, Mr. Pinto responded by, instead of providing any information or defense, referring Inner City Press back to the UNDP Communications Office which had refused to provided information or responses for the past twelve days --

In a message dated 12/27/2006 2:50:24 PM Eastern Standard Time, frank.pinto [at] undp.org writes:

Dear Mr. Lee, Please be advised that your email of 26th Dec below will be answered by Cassandra Waldon of UNDP's Office of Communications.

This is the Office to which Inner City Press directed written questions, including about Goa and DSA, twelve days ago. But perhaps it took Mr. Pinto's entreaty to begin to get some answers.

The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) was founded in 1991, with the involvement of since-disgraced official Maurice Strong, driven out of the UN system for nepotism and corruption. According to the in-house history for which UNDP paid over $500,000, "UNDP: A Better Way?", the GEF made "the range of environment funds.... available for UNDP's use... three times the core funding of the autonomous programs then embedded within UNDP."

A sample project, earlier this month, involved UNDP-housed GEF funding "a night of food and fashion" in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, click here for more.

The GEF is co-run by UNDP and by the World Bank. Twelve days ago, Inner City Press asked UNDP for details on this Goa retreat; no information has been provided. This article thus runs, and inquiries will begin with the World Bank in Washington.

In fairness, speaking for UNDP since it refuses to speak for itself, there are other Inner City Press sources who argue that GEF is by far from the most wasteful UNDP unit, and who specifically praise Mr. Frank Pinto. That is why, despite UNDP's Communications Office stonewalling, Mr. Pinto was provided with his own opportunity to substantively comment on the Goa trip. It is unfortunate, we think, that he did not. Rather, after twelve days of silence (and delaying the story for more than a week), UNDP's Communications Office on Wednesday afternoon sent the following partial response:

From: cassandra.waldon [at] undp.org

To: Inner City Press

Cc: veronique.george [at] undp.org; yannick.glemarec[at] undp.org; frank.pinto [at] undp.org

Sent: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 3:42 PM

Subject: RE: Questions re UNDP-GEF, Goa retreat- on deadline

Dear Matthew, I am writing in response to your query received by UNDP's Communications Office and our Energy and Environment Group (EEG) regarding that Group�s strategic planning workshop, which took place in Goa, India in June 2006. We have looked into this matter and are convinced that all aspects of this meeting � from selection of the venue to travel itineraries and daily subsistence arrangements for participating staff � followed UNDP procurement rules and travel procedures. On the two specific points you raised:

a) The GEF strategic planning workshop was part of the larger EEG strategic planning workshop which brought together UNDP energy and environment staff from across the globe. Initially, five possible locations for the workshop were explored, and Goa was approved as the least expensive option, as per UNDP procurement rules. The contract with the hotel in Goa included full room, board and transport to and from the airport. Hence, $20/day was provided to participating staff for incidental expenses.

b) The cheapest air ticket routing for the workshop for staff traveling from New York was NY-Mumbai-Goa-Mumbai-Goa-NY. Mr. Pinto received approval to remain in Mumbai on the return trip for annual leave and did not receive DSA or other allowances during this period. This fully complies with all UNDP travel procedures.

This does not provide an itinerary, or, most striking, explain which the other four "possible locations" were, and how Goa could be the cheapest. UNDP has now been asked, in writing:

How many staff attended? did any non-staff attended - in which case, who?

How much did it cost?

How were venues selected?

Please provide an itinerary, including costs and expenses at each.

And, questions obviously raised by your message --

What were the other four "possible locations"?

How were they selected?

How much more would each have cost?

Beyond the other pending questions, Inner City Press asked re-asked about Somalia, and about specific projects at UNDP-Russia "in light of the fraud finding in the most recent public audit, and refusal to provide the 'report... released'" mentioned in the public audit but apparently "released" only to UNDP itself, and not even to the member states on UNDP's Executive Board.

At or past deadline, UNDP answered some of the above, while glaringly still refusing to say how much the Goa junket cost. The number of participants, however, was 145:

From: cassandra.waldon [at] undp.org

To: Inner City Press

Sent: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 6:10 PM

Subject: RE: Goa- 4 other options and costs, also Somalia, Russia

Matthew, On participants: 145 UNDP-EEG staff attended the Goa workshop along with a handful of long-term UNDP environment consultants essential to EEG strategic planning purposes.

On other locations considered: Bangkok was 14% more expensive, Nairobi was 28% more expensive, Marrakech was 33% more expensive, and New York was 68% more expensive. Prospective conference venues had to have facilities available to accommodate the group in one room for plenary session plus sufficient breakout rooms and hotel rooms for participants. Proximity to UNDP field environment projects for site visits was also considered an advantage.

The simple question, how much was spent, has still not been answered, nor has any itinerary, including the referenced site visits to UNDP field environment projects. As to the "short list" of five sites, and the estimated costs, we'll have more - including any response we receive from Mr. Pinto or his associates. Already we can report that some staffers had promoted a location that never made the short-list: Cape Town, South Africa. These staffers, in fairness, complained that the Goa location had only five restaurants nearby. In this narrative, the choice of Goa grew, in fact, from solidarity with the developing world. We'll have more on this soon, we hope. But as to UNDP's Communications Office and transparency, should it be this difficult -- 12 days of silence, then two rounds of follow-up and reiterated questions -- to get confirmation of a retreat, and now still without the price tag?

Again, because a number of Inner City Press' UNDP 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 UNDP and many of its staff. As they used to say on TV game shows, 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.

Fraud in UNDP-Russia Includes Malloch Brown's French Water Scheme and Kalman Mizsei's Excess

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

UNITED NATIONS, December 26 -- The fraud in the Russian Federation office of the UN Development Program, blamed on local employees and a mid-level Bulgarian supervisor, may also trace to the very top of UNDP, an ongoing inquiry has found.

The most recent public audit of UNDP, A/61/5/Add.1, cites but does not fully disclose the fraud at the Russia office. Irregularities in UNDP's Russia operations date back at least to 2000, to a controversial water purification project championed by then-incoming UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown. Subsequently the regional director whom Malloch Brown chose, Kalman Mizsei, used the Russia office as a slush fund for personal expenses, while bragging about flying on George Soros' personal plane.

Those disciplined by UNDP, including Stefan Vassilev, now with the Bulgarian military, and Tatiana Gorlatch, required to cover-up for Mr. Mizsei's excesses, may have taken some blame more appropriately apportioned to those above them in the UNDP hierarchy. This is the story of an agency out of control, rarely scrutinized by the press, jealous and abusing of its ever-growing power.

Mark Malloch Brown took over at UNDP in 1999. One of his first moves was to fire three regional directors, including Africa's Thelma Awori and Europe and CIS States' Anton Kruiderink. The latter's replacement, appointed by Mark Malloch Brown, was Kalman Mizsei, who was then with insurance conglomerate AIG and who identifies himself as a close associate of George Soros (a status shared with Mr. Malloch Brown).

Malloch Brown claimed he would bring financial sophistication to what he portrayed as a sleeping UNDP. As quoted in a book he paid over $500,000 to have published, Malloch Brown decided that too few UNDP country offices had "sustainable business models," something he sought to change with so-called "cost-sharing projects" of the type into which UNDP's Latin America Bureau first veered ("UNDP: A Better Way?", pages 299, 295.)

A major initial project was in Russia, where UNDP arranged to be a middleman for a water purification project in St. Petersburg. In fact, the project was financed by and to be carried out by a private company, the French firm SNF Floerger. After misidentifying the beneficiary as Sanofi SA, Malloch Brown told Reuters that UNDP saw its new "role in piloting the project through local red tape." Click here for that Reuters June 18, 2000, article.

Virtually all of the $90 million cost was equipment. UNDP sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation, state that UNDP's role was to help the company evade or avoid paying taxed on importing the equipment. Running UNDP's Russia office at the time was one Philippe Elghouayel. In a UNDP newsletter replete with photos of himself, Malloch Brown called the arrangement "an example of UNDP�s increasing efforts to foster public-private partnerships." Click here for a copy of that UNDP newsletter.

In this scheme, UNDP would charge money to cut through "local red tape." UNDP sources indicate that concern and amazement at this Russian financial scheme and "cost sharing agreement" was widespread within the agency. UNDP would collect a hefty fee for playing the middle-man in a project regarding which is had little technical expertise, in which is role was little more than vehicle for tax evasion. One close observer of the project asked, "This is UNDP's definition of development?" But this is what UNDP has become, at least in some places and parts.

Malloch Brown

In fairness, others in UNDP argue that the water purification proposal was far from the most outlandish project of the Russia office. They argue that clean water was needed, and that while UNDP's role was that of a middleman, along with Credit Lyonnais Bank, the goal was more to limit the ten to fifteen percent usually required in bribes than to evade taxes. A variety of even less meritorious project have been pointed out, on which we hope to run future reports, not only the Moscow planetarium but also schemes with Russian prisons, social services, oil and environmental matters -- more on UNDP and the environment, and on UNDP's Russia and CIS operations, in the near future.

For barely two years, Frederick Lyons ran the Russian office, until as previously reported a Bulgarian, Stephan Vassilev, was sent to force him out. (Mr. Lyons went on to UNDP in Iran and then Afghanistan.) There are conflicting accounts of Mr. Vassilev, ranging from as the re-establisher of corrupt tied who forced Lyons to grant approval to a dubious project to renovate the Moscow planetarium to, on the other end of the spectrum, relatively upright militarist who might have let corruption continue, but would not have started it. Even if his motives may have been less than pure, Mr. Vassilev was deployed and used by a Malloch Brown-selected regional supervisor, Kalman Mizsei.

Mizsei was, until three months ago, the head of Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States for UNDP. Mark Malloch Brown brought Mizsei, which whom he shares connections to George Soros, into UNDP from the American Insurance Group in late 2000. As described by multiple sources inside and outside of UNDP, Mr. Mizsei was at best a womanizer and more widely described as a serial sexual harasser. Mizsei imported a personal assistant, whom he quickly promoted through the system until she reached her peak in the UNDP office in Ukraine. This individual would, sources say, show up at high level staff meetings and berate Mizsei "like a lover would," a person attending the meeting says. Other female staffers he "hit on" by suggesting they water the flowers at his residence, or bring him UNDP papers, personally, on the weekend.

Kalman Mizsei also abused UNDP and its finances. For example he took a lengthy "study tour" of Russia, all paid by UNDP. There was no academic sponsor for the trip, which consisted of visiting museum with personal guide and translator, paid by UNDP. Mark Malloch Brown was responsible for signing off on these expenses. The number and length of Kalman Mizsei's UNDP-paid visits to Ukraine raised eyebrows in the agency, although often pretexts were found. Click here for UNDP photos of Mizsei's April 2006 sojourn in Ukraine to, among other things, kick off the UN Global Compact with corporations there. Click here for another Mizsei trip to Ukraine, this time for a "mini-Davos" conference. Click here for UNDP in-house news of Mizsei and Ben Slay in Zagreb, Croatia. Click here for news of Mizsei partnering the UN with Coca-Cola. There are other legends about Kalman Mizsei charging UNDP for unneeded helicopter rides over the Balkans, and throwing a cell phone at staffers while screaming, "I demand a woman!"

In the course of his many travels, Kalman Mizsei instructed staff how he needed to be treated: a hotel no more than a twenty minute walk from the work place, flowers when he arrived, and, perhaps incongruously, that no required drinking take place in formal or informal functions (sometimes difficult given the region that he covered).

Sources tell Inner City Press that Kalman Mizsei required that these unjustifiable expenses come out of project budgets in the Russia office. At first it was easy, to find long-finished projects with still open budgets. But later, to meet the costs, full-fledged fraud became required. The replacement as head of the office of Frederick Lyons by Stephan Vassilev was, sources say, orchestrated by Kalman Mizsei, either for Mr. Vassilev to perform a cover-up or to become the scapegoat.

GA President and UNDP's Dervis -- she says transparency, he says not so fast

Inner City Press asked UNDP's Communications Office about the Russia office, and also about Kalman Mizsei. Each response increasingly seems like a whitewash:

In a message dated 11/30/2006 11:29:56 AM Eastern Standard Time, cassandra.waldon [at] undp.org writes:

Matthew, Below are the responses to your questions:

Question: Was Kalman Mizsei fired or otherwise relieved or removed from his position with UNDP? If so, on what grounds?

Response: No. As stated previously, at UNDP -- like at other organizations -- with time colleagues retire, move on or are reassigned. After serving six distinguished years at UNDP, Mr. Miszei is now Professor at Central European University's Department of Public Policy in Budapest.

Kalman Mizsei left UNDP in the Fall of 2006. Despite Mark Malloch Brown's refusal to comment, sources tell Inner City Press that Mizsei's antics became so legend, and the fall-out so undeniable, that even Malloch Brown chastised Mizsei. Kalman Mizsei was given a choice: to leave UNDP voluntarily, or to stay but face charges. Mizsei chose the former, and from Hungary has sent emails bragging that he is now a personal advisor to George Soros.

Despite the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General's refusal to comment on Inner City Press' questions about Kalman Mizsei, most recently at the noon briefings of December 1 and December 6, it is noted that Mr. Mizsei was given that very rostrum, as a UN Assistant Secretary General, on April 30, 2004, click here for the Real video, from Minute 13, for six minutes of eyeglasses playing and ironic reference to human trafficking of sex workers and no follow-up questions, click here for the transcript. On the issue of UN rank, UNDP sources say that Kalman Mizsei repeatedly and inaccurately declared that he was an Under-Secretary General. In any event, he represented the UN, and the UN should answer for him; UNDP refuses to.

UNDP's Communications Office has said it will not comment on recruitment, hiring or promotions issues, and will not released audits like that of the Russian Federation office. (Nor will it release a full copy of that audit even to the nations on the UNDP Executive Board.) Mark Malloch Brown, when Inner City Press previously requested comment from him, responded with the word "jerk," click here for that story, in the spirit of full disclosure. Last week, Inner City Press was told it would not be possible to get a comment on reports that Mr. Malloch Brown was responsible for weakening the post-employment policy finalized on December 22, his last day in the office. Therefore this story runs as such, citing, for UNDP, its most recent public audit and long-delayed narrative response.

The most recent public audit of UNDP, A/61/5/Add.1, states

"Potential fraud had been detected at the Russian Federation office and reported to it for further investigation. The Office of Audit and Performance Review performed an investigation and released its report on 6 December, 2005. This report concluded that one payment amounting to $190,000 was fraudulent. Additional payments that could be fraudulent were under further investigation."

An article entitled "$1.2 million fraud revealed at the U.N. Office in Moscow," in Kommersant, No 163, page 9, quoted UNDP's then-spokesman William Orme that "this appears to be a sophisticated operation that has been difficult to detect. Unfortunately, we detected it only this year." The irregularities of the water purification / tax avoidance scheme dated back much further, however, as did Kalman Mizsei's use of the office. Given the reference to an OAPR report being "released" on Dec. 6, 2005, Inner City Press asked UNDP for this report. UNDP has refused to provide it, but after some delay provided a narrative, which Inner City Press published in full, stating in pertinent part:

"When the extent of the fraud became evident, Mr. Vassilev was summoned to headquarters. He was removed from his post in August 2005 and subjected to disciplinary proceedings stemming from shortcomings in management performance and oversight. Mr. Vassilev is no longer employed by UNDP... UNDP has assigned some of its most experienced staff to the Russia CO. Ercan Murat, a UNDP veteran who had served previously as Resident Representative in Azerbaijan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Afghanistan, came out of retirement to serve as acting Resident Representative in Russia from September 2005 until September 2006. Marco Borsotti, who currently serves as UNDP Resident Representative in Azerbaijan, has received clearance from the Russian Government and is expected to take up his post as the new Resident Representative in January 2007."

Ironically, of Mr. Murat it is reported that while unlike Kalman Mizsei he is not abusive of staff, his brother engaged in business deals in UNDP's Central Asia footprint that generated some controversy within the agency. Of Mr. Borsotti, we hope to have more in the near future -- UNDP's agreement with Russia specifying the procedures and standards to received the above-referenced "clearance" was requested more than ten days ago from UNDP, but has yet to be provided.

Stephan Vassilev returned to the Bulgarian military. Ms. Gorlatch, who was embroiled in a drag-out divorce and child custody fight with an affluent diplomat, may have reasons to stay silent. But given UNDP's refusal to even respond to questions about its recruitment, hiring and promotion practices, or to release audits of the Russian office, Inner City Press runs this interim investigative piece. Again, there are serious people who are arguing that the St. Petersburg water purification proposal was far from the most outlandish UNDP project. A variety of even less meritorious project have been pointed out, including schemes with prisons, social services, oil and environmental matters -- more on UNDP and the environment in the near future. Watch this site.

Other Inner City Press reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on www.InnerCityPress.com --

At the UN, Mysterious Deletion from Iran Sanctions List of Aerospace Industries Organization Goes Unexplained

At the UN, Iran Resolution Passes 15-0 Amid Media Frenzy While Somalia and UN Reform Are Ignored

At the UN, Security Council and GA Games and Holiday Spirit As Revolving Door Ban Disappears on Final Day

UNDP Not Covered By Weak UN Post-Employment Restrictions, Dervis and Mizsei and Aid to the Scapegoated

UN Post-Employment Restriction Are Watered Down for Senior Officials, Comparison to June Draft Reveals

At the UN, Curt Eulogies for Dictator, Revolving Door and Budget Left for the Last Day

UNDP's Dervis Backtracks on Transparency, Promises Accounting of Funds, Denies Role in Uganda Abuse

At the UN, Jeffrey Sachs Answers the $75,000 Question But Not on UNDP, Still Laudable Goals for 2025

Burundi Spin at the UN, Amid Coup Trial and Ceasefire Not Implemented, Great Lakes Commission Moves In

At the UN, Iran Resolution Goes Blue as Ivory Coast is Traded Away With No Follow-up on Hmung

At the UN, Annan's Long Goodbye, With Oil for Food in the Air and Hothouse Musical Chairs