Exclusive:
UN Jobs Sold
By Ivorian
Mission in
Ladsous' UN
Peacekeeping,
Leaks Show
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 7 --
In UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous,
position in
missions from
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo to
Haiti was
corruptly put
up for sale, a
49-page
“Strictly
Confidential”
UN
investigative
report
obtained and exclusively
published
by Inner City
Press show.
The report, by
the Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services, is
an
“Investigation
into Corrupt
Practices in
the Selection
and
Recruitment of
Members of UN
Police for UN
Peacekeeping
Operations,”
#353/13.
Referred to is
“Le
Departement
des operations
de maintien de
la paix et son
SGA M.
Herve
Ladsous.”
The documents
show that
Ladsous was
formally
informed of
the corrupt
recruitment
practices in
his Department
by Cote
d'Ivoire all
the way back
on April 22,
2014. But,
whistle-blowing
sources tell
Inner City
Press, little
to nothing has
been done.
“It's a cover
up,” one
source
complained to
Inner City
Press. Hence
this
publication.
Inner City
Press, prior
to this
exclusive
publication,
has raised its
contents to
two members of
the Cote
d'Ivoire
Permanent
Mission to the
UN, referred
to throughout.
Ladsous, once
questions of
corruption was
raised, has refused all Inner City Press questions, for example here.
Under Ladsous,
the Cote
d'Ivoire
mission, in
particular its
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Bafetigue
Ouattara, was
allowed to
charge money
to choose and
promote UN
Peacekeeping
personnel. One
witness said
it was like
Bafetigue
Ouattara
“had
your career in
his hands.”
(While Inner
City Press is
informed that
Bafetigue
Ouattara is no
relation to
the Ivorian
president,
others say he
let people
believe that
he was, and
that despite
the exposure
of his role to
Ladsous since
at least April
22, 2014,
Permanent
Representative
Youssoufou
Bamba has
suffering more
repercussions.
In a January
5, 2015
letter, Bamba
states that he
told Ladsous
of the racket
(“practique
de racket”)
in UN
Peacekeeping
missions.. On
January 22,
2015, Ladsous
refused to
answer any
Inner City
Press
question,
saying “I do
not respond to
you, Mister.”
Video
here.
The corruption
was first
discovered in
Ladsous'
mission in the
DR Congo,
MONUSCO.
Bafetigue
Ouattara was
copied on
correspondence
and thereupon
wrote to all
Ivorian
officers in
MONUSCO
coaching them
on what to say
and not say.
Hubertine
Foue, part of
the corruption
in MONUSCO,
was by then in
Ladsous' mission
in Haiti,
MINUSTAH.
But
Ivorian
authorities in
Abidjan -- in
the Ouattara
government --
were said to
ban Ms. Foue
from traveling
to the UN in
New York to be
interviewed.
The “strictly
confidential”
UN report says
that Bafetigue
Ouattara
charged $4,000
to arrange
placements in
Ladsous' UN
Peacekeeping
missions.
Paragraph 39.
Several of the
payments were
made via the
Trust Merchant
Bank account
of Hubertine
Foue as an
intermediary.
Paragraphs 40
and 43.
After
detailing
sample cases
of payments
for jobs in
Ladsous' UN
Peacekeeping
mission, the
report
detailed the
transfer of
the payments
from Hubertine
Foue to
Bafetigue
Ouattara, for
example 10
million CFA
Francs put
into the ABRI
Housing
Project.
Paragraph 221,
Figure 6.
Another part
of the payment
was to buy
Bafetigue
Ouattara, then
living in West
Orange, New
Jersey, a car,
a Honda Pilot.
To procure
jobs in
Ladsous' DRC
mission
MONUSCO,
Hubertine Foue
transfered to
Bafetigue
Ouattara bank
account in
Cote d'Ivoire
$18,834, then
$13,000.
But what has
been done? Why
has this been
covered up?
Who should be
held
accountable?
How will the ongoing
review panel
into UN Peace
Operations,
chaired by
Jose Ramos
Horta,
deal with
this, and
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row to head UN
Peacekeeping?
We'll have
more in this
exclusive
series. Watch
this site.
, 
