"Ghost
Staffing" at
UN Afghan
Force Shown by
Leaks to ICP,
LOTFA Echo
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 7 –
Following up
on Inner City
Press exclusive
publication of
UN Development
Program audits
of its Law and
Order Trust
Fund
Afghanistan,
including
double
payments and
other irregularities,
whistleblowers
have exclusively
provided Inner
City Press
with more
damning
documents.
Today's third
document,
exclusively
published here,
concerns
"'Ghost
Staffing' at
the UN Protective
Force," about
which the UN
Department of
Safety and
Security said,
"Just let it
be for now."
Click here to
view.
On
August 5,
Inner City
Press
exclusively
published this one,
linking it to
the LOTFA
scandal: an
official "was
again advised
that it may be
illegal for
salaried police
officials to
take cash
payments to
augment their
salaries" but
the adviser
was told it
was "no longer
my priority
under LOTFA
and that I was
no longer to
address these
issues with
DPII or DSS."
This and the
other
documents
indicate that
little was
fixed, that
UNDP goes
after
whistleblowers,
and does not
follow up even
when for
example it is
involved in
visa fraud.
Inner City
Press on
morning of
August 5 asked
no fewer than
four
spokespeople
at UNDP,
including the
personal
spokesperson
for UNDP
Administrator
(and UNSG
candidate)
Helen Clark
for their
response to the
below.
More
than 48 hours
later -- no
answers. Inner
City Press exclusively published the second document,
here:
about payments
by UNAMA /
UNDSS to fully
salaried
Afghan forces.
Click
here.
Both UNAMA and
UNDSS are run
by Ban Ki-moon's
Secretariat,
so Ban's spokespeople
must answer.
UNDP's Helen
Clark herself
has refused
official
inquiry about
these
irregularities.
So on August 6
Inner City
Press asked
UN deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq:
Inner
City Press:
The payments
by UNDSS
(Department of
Safety and
Security) and
UNAMA (United
Nations
Assistance
Mission in
Afghanistan)
in Afghanistan
to members of
the Ministry
of Interior
and other
Afghan forces
that are
already under
full salary by
the
Government.
Various
documents have
come out that
show an
internal
UNDP (United
Nations
Development
Programme)
whistle blower
seeking to
raise these
issues within
UNDP because,
I guess,
because as the
country team,
or whatever.
But the
documents
list, they
name UNDSS,
they name
UNAMA, and
basically the
person was
told, “Don’t
raise
this anymore.”
So, I was
anticipating
you to say
“Ask UNDP”.
And I have
more than 24
hours ago. I
don’t have any
answer from
them. But I
want to ask
you, because
the documents
are not just
about UNDP,
but about DSS
and UNAMA, is
it… what are
the rules? Is
it UN’s,
DPKO’s
(Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations),
DPA’s
(Department of
Political
Affairs) and
DSS’s
understanding
that
Afghan forces
shouldn’t
receive out
double
payments. If
this
information
came to light,
I think it
did, what was
done about it?
That’s my
question to
you. I don’t
know if you
get an answer
today. Is it
possible?
Deputy
Spokesman Haq:
As I’m sure
you’ve
anticipated,
and indeed you
said
you
anticipated,
yes, I’m aware
that UN
Development
Programme is
in
touch with you
on this.
They’ve
informed you
that they will
get
back to you.
And so, we
will first
have to wait
for what their
reply
is. First ask
them.
Inner
City Press:
How long --
Deputy
Spokesman: No,
no. It’s no
use trying to
get the two of
us talk
at cross
purposes with
each other.
UNDP will get
back to you.
That UNDP "is
in touch with
you" was and
is not true:
there has been
no response at
all. The statement
UNDP "will get
to you"
remains
unfulfilled.
This is
today's UN system
-- even when
UN system
staff unions
wrote to Ban
Ki-moon about
Helen Clark,
and Inner City
Press repeated
asked about
the letter,
there has been
no response.
Here is what
Inner City Press
asked on
August 5, no
answer after
48 hours:
This
is an Inner
City Press
Press request
on deadline
for UNDP's
comment /
response to
the following
narrative
provided to us
by UNDP
whistleblowers:
UNDP
purchased
$100,000 in
fuel for a
special police
unit and it
was discovered
that some or
all of the
fuel was
stolen by the
police. The
project
manager -
chief
technical
adviser for
the project
refused to
purchase
another
allocation of
fuel due to
this reported
corruption.
Refusing to
purchase this
additional
fuel caused
problems
between the
project
manager -
chief
technical
adviser and
the chief of
UN security in
Afghanistan.
This
followed with
reports that
several
vehicles
purchased by
this same UNDP
project and
given to this
same special
police unit
were not being
used for the
unit but had
instead been
given as
political
gifts or other
reasons to
other offices
of the Afghan
government.
After giving
these vehicles
to higher
ranking
officials the
Colonel of
this special
police unit
was promoted
to General.
The
project
manager -
chief
technical
adviser
reported this
and nothing
happened. As
part of the
review which
discovered
this the
corruption of
payments made
by the UN
security
office in
Afghanistan to
the special
police unit
was also
discovered and
reported.
This
is also a
request for
UNDP response
/ comment on
another issue,
of visa
overstay, also
on deadline:
UNDP's
staff from
Afghanistan
have not
returned to
their duty
station after
being granted
visas to
attend/participate
in the recent
UN Games in
the USA. UNDP
supported the
official/G4
visas for all
of these
Afghan
nationals and
now they have
remained
behind in the
USA... How can
the
organization
justify
sending a
dozen people
half-way
around the
world to
compete in 'UN
Games'? How
many of them
were given
business class
tickets since
the travel
exceeds the 9
hour standard?
Is this a
proper use of
public monies?
How can an
office so
critical to
the
development of
Afghanistan in
this time of
change see it
as beneficial
for a dozen of
their staff to
go on a paid
junket to the
USA?
[Names
redacted in
this format /
for now]
This
is on
deadline. This
is also a
request for
UNDP's
response to
the staff
survey and the
critique(s) of
the
restructuring
/ layoffs.
More than four
hours and one
UNDP press
conference
latter, no
answers from
UNDP. When
they arrive,
we plan to
have more. Watch
this site.
, 
