On
Selling of UN
Jobs in DRC
& Haiti,
UN Says It's
Up to Cote
d'Ivoire
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
Series
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 11 --
In UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous,
positions in
missions in
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo and
Haiti were
corruptly put
up for sale, a
49-page
“Strictly
Confidential”
UN
investigative
report
obtained and exclusively
published
by Inner City
Press on
February 7
show.
On
February 10
there was a
partial
answer,
video here;
transcript
here:
UN Deputy
Spokesperson:
I was asked
yesterday
about a report
from the
Office for
Internal
Oversight
Services
(OIOS) and the
follow-up
undertaken by
the Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations
(DPKO).
What I can say
about that it
that the
matter was
investigated
and the
Permanent
Mission of the
concerned
Member State
was
notified.
Upon receipt
of the OIOS
investigation
report, the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
took decisive
measures,
including
ordering the
repatriation
of the UN
Police
Officers
involved. DPKO
and OIOS
ensured that
the issue was
thoroughly
investigated
and actions
taken.
Follow-up by
the Member
State is
ongoing.
No police from
Côte d’Ivoire
will be
extended
beyond their
current
assignments.
The deployment
of any
subsequent
Ivoirian
Police to UN
operations has
been suspended
until
confirmation
from Côte
d’Ivoire that
action has
been taken on
the OIOS
investigation.
Yes?
Inner
City Press: I
wanted to ask
you about the
response that
you just read
to the
question I
asked
yesterday
about the OIOS
report, the
leaked OIOS
report.
I wanted to
know, first,
it names
specifically
10 police
officers as
having paid
particular
amounts of
money to the
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
of Côte
d’Ivoire.
So, I wanted
to… maybe I'm
missing the
first
part.
First, are
those 10, have
they been
repatriated?
Two, what
action has
been taken
with regard to
the Deputy
Permanent
Representative
of Côte
d’Ivoire given
that the OIOS
report shows
his bank
account
receiving the
money?
Is that
considered a
crime?
Is he still
representing
his country
before the
UN? And
since you said
it's ongoing,
I've seen a
copy of a 5
January letter
from
Ambassador
[Youssoufou]
Bamba, the
Permanent
Representative.
Has there been
any
communication
received since
then, in terms
of getting to
the bottom of
this?
And have
assurances
been sought
from any other
troop- or
police-contributing
countries,
regarding
their
practices of
recruitment
and selection
of candidates
for missions?
Deputy
Spokesman
Haq:
I've already
told you how
we're dealing
with any
recruitment
from Côte
d’Ivoire and
that's quite
clear.
Regarding your
question about
the named
police
officers, all
of those
officers
involved are
either gone
already or in
the process of
leaving.
And like I
said, we've
ordered the
repatriation
of the
involved UN
police
officers.
Regarding your
question about
the Deputy
Permanent
Representative,
our Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations met
with the
high-level
representatives
from the
Member States
both at the
level of the
Permanent
Representative
and the Deputy
Permanent
Representative
and informed
them that one
of its
currently
serving police
officers, an
important
source of
information on
this matter,
was allegedly
receiving
threats from
individuals in
Côte
d’Ivoire.
We're
following up
on that
particular
matter with
that.
Regarding how
the country is
to be
represented,
of course,
that is a
question to
ask the
Government of
Côte d’Ivoire.
Inner City
Presss:
Right.
But, isn't
soliciting a
bribe to
receive a
benefit from
the UN a crime
in some way?
Deputy
Spokesman
Haq: In
terms of
whether
criminal
charges would
be levelled on
the Côte
d’Ivoire… the
Ivorian
official
involved,
that, again,
is a question
to ask the
Government of
Côte
d’Ivoire.
He's their
official, and
they will have
to follow up.
Inner City
Press:
Do you think
that this… the
panel on
peacekeeping
operations
under [José]
Ramos-Horta,
is this the
type of
obviously kind
of hole in the
system that
was exploited
for personal
gain that
should be
reviewed?
Deputy
Spokesman
Haq:
This is a
clear-cut case
of corruption
which was
found by our
Office for
Internal
Oversight
Services, and
we're
following up
on that.
Clearly, quite
a good measure
of the
follow-up also
needs to be
handled by the
Member State
involved.
But there are
many
unresolved
questions; watch
this site.
Two
days after
that
exclusive, on
February 9
Inner City
Press asked UN
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq for
the response
of UN
Peacekeeping,
whose chief
Herve Ladsous
since Inner
City Press
raised
corruption has
refused all
Press
questions,
specifically
what Ladsous
has done in
the ten months
he has been on
notice of this
corruption, as
shown by the
leaked
documents. February 9 video here.
On
February 10,
UN deputy
spokesperson
Haq came to
the noon
briefing with
a prepared
answer, which
he read out. February 10 video here. He said
that further
recruitment of
UN Police for
Cote d'Ivoire
has been
suspended
pending that
country taking
action.
Inner
City Press
asked if all
ten police
described as
paying bribes
have been
repatriated,
for the status
of the Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Ouattara shown
taking bribes,
and if
inquiries have
been made with
other
countries
which send
soldiers or
police to the
UN.
Haq
said that the
ten have left
or are in the
process of
leaving. Six
months after
the final
report? "In
the process of
leaving"?
Worse,
Haq said it is
up to Cote
d'Ivoire if
the Deputy
Permanent
Representative
remains in his
post at and in
the UN. Isn't
collective
bribes for UN
posts a crime?
And not only
in Cote
d'Ivoire?
Inner
City Press
asked Haq if
this obvious
loophole
allowing
corruption
will be
reviewed by
Ban Ki-moon's
panel of Peace
Operations, to
which Inner
City Press has
already
forwarded the
OIOS report. Video here.
Another
question that
has been
raised to
Inner City
Press by
diplomats
after reading
the exclusive
is whether
Ladsous had a
duty, at least
before the UN
Security
Council's trip
to Haiti last
month led by
Chile and the
US to tell
Council
members that
bribes had
been collected
for positions
in the
MINUSTAH
mission there.
Inner
City Press has
raised the
question to
MINUSTAH's
chief and
spokesperson,
as to DR Congo
mission
MONUSCO's
chief Martin
Kobler, separate
story here (as
Kobler runs to
be Ladsous'
peer atop UN
aid agency
OCHA.)
Haq
told Inner
City Press
that "this was
corruption
found by our
own internal
oversight."
But the report
says the UN's
OIOS
"received"
information
about these
possibly
corrupt
practices on
July 24, 2013.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
