In
Afghanistan,
UNDP Auditors
Get No
Documents,
Scam
Promotions
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive, 5th
in a series
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 26 -- For
the UN
system's Law
and Order
Trust Fund for
Afghanistan,
auditors "were
not provided
general
ledgers and
supporting
documentation
in respect of
expenses... at
Jalalabad and
Kandahar
offices," documents obtained
by Inner City
Press show.
As
noted
in the first
installment of
this series
LOTFA purports
to be
about training
and "building
capacity" of
Afghan police.
But it is
essentially a
money transfer
and payroll
service, with
a
sideline as a
travel agency.
But
even its
payroll
service is
mismanaged and
not overseen.
In sample
"Observation
# 5" the
auditors say
that
"During
the course of
our audit we
were not
provided
general
ledgers and
supporting
documentation
in
respect of
expenses
pertaining to
first quarter
(Jan-March
2011) at
Jalalabad and
Kandahar
offices. We
were given the
understanding
by
concerned
management
that the said
record was
sealed by
Ministry of
Finance after
the Internal
audit
verification
conducted by
Government
Internal audit
department,
hence it could
not be
unsealed
without the
prior approval
of concerned
Minister and
President
Office.
Moreover,
we were not
provided with
the internal
audit reports
of these two
offices."
At the
June 26 UN
noon briefing,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
read out a
statement in
response to
Inner
City Press'
June 25
questions:
"I was
asked
yesterday
about the
views of the
UN Mission in
Afghanistan
about a UNDP
[United
Nations
Development
Programme]
project there.
As I’ve
already said,
this
is primarily a
question for
UNDP, but
Special
Representative
Jan
Kubiš is
closely
following
developments
and has
already raised
his
points and
concerns with
the UNDP
leadership in
New York, as
well as
in Kabul."
But
UNDP has STILL
not sent any
substantive
response, now
after
90 hours.
As
well as
resubmitting
the first
round of
questions late
on June 22,
Inner City
Press
requested
comment on
this and two
other audits,
and asked UNDP
to state:
1)
WHY
Manoj Basnyat
is no longer
the country
director --
did this have
ANYTHING to do
with the LOTFA
irregularities?
2)
the
date on which
each of
Basnyet,
Sandeep Kumar
and Ubadallah
Sahibzada
became aware
of the
irregularities
and of the
attached
audits.
Thanks, on
deadline.
Twenty
hours later,
rather than
answer a
single
question or
comment on any
of the audits,
UNDP's
Abdel-Rahman
Ghandour
responded that
the first
round of
questions had
ended up in
UNDP's spam
folder. But
obviously the
questions
above hadn't.
And still
there have
been no
answers, now
ninety hours
in. (We are
still seeking,
however, a
copy of
Sandeep
Kumar's book
"On the
Edge.")
Meanwhile,
the
following has
come in over
the transom:
Hi
Matthew, Just
to let you
know about
Manoj Basnyat.
He was shifted
out of Afg end
of March on a
routine
basis, because
he had
completed his
term there. He
is currently
in NY
at UNDP HQ...
Only
now Manoj
Basnyat's name
is
coming up...
if you do a
search with
his name and
Bangladesh
Country
Director, you
will see that
Basnyat was
kicked out
from
Bangladesh as
Country
Director for
UNDP after
just one year
there!... due
to
pressure from
staff and the
Govt. of
Bangladesh. He
was a D1 then.
Of
course, at
UNDP, corrupt
of inefficient
morons are
never kicked
out.
Instead they
are promoted.
He was
promoted to
post of CD in
Afghanistan
and got his D2
just last
year!....
Corruption and
inefficiency
are often
thought of as
crowns of
glory at the
UN and at
UNDP. So,
thanks to
these
problems,
Manoj will
probably be
promoted
and made a
Resident Rep /
Coordinator
very soon...
His
boss in
Afghanistan,
Michael
Keating is
even worse and
has a terrible
reputation as
well. Michael
got his post
only because
of the pull
from Tony
Blair himself,
because for
the past 2
years, Michael
worked in
Blair's Africa
Commission
based in
Geneva. And
that is how it
goes on at UN
and
UNDP...
That
is how it is
going. Watch
this site.
, 
