Phantom
Afghan Police,
UNAMA Emboiled
in Corruption,
ICP Series
Shows
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive, 7th
in Series
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 1 -- More
than a week
after Inner
City Press
posed
Afghanistan
corruption
questions to
the UN
Development
Program, and launched
its audit-a-day
exclusive
series,
UNDP has yet
to provide any
response on
the four
internal
audits Inner
City Press
asked them to
explain.
The series now
resumes.
The
Law and Order
Trust Fund for
Afghanistan
has
pervasively
and throughout
the country
allowed for payments to police
not on the
official
payroll, audit
documents
obtained
by Inner City
Press show.
As
noted
in the first
and second
installments
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. In
sample "Observation
# 6" the
auditors say
that
"We
observed
differences
between number
of police
personnel as
per HR
record
maintained by
MOI and EPS
records. We
noted that EPS
record
was showing
excess number
of police
personnel than
the number of
police
personnel
appearing in
the HR
record...
Differences in
personnel
records
between HR and
EPS may have
following
impacts/risks:
Salaries may
be paid to
persons who
are not
actually
on the
payroll;
Double
payments of
salaries may
be made to
staff
members."
The attached
audit shows
that in in
Asmayi Region,
the excess
staff number
was over 1000.
In Kunar it
was 429; in
Badakhshan it
was 219.
"We're talking
real money on
these phantom
Afghan
police," as
one
whistleblower
exclusively
said to Inner
City Press.
On
the afternoon
of June 22,
Inner City
Press asked
UNDP, among
other things:
"Please
describe
expenses for
Ms. Grynspan's
trip to
Afghanistan,
including
leasing (from
UNAMA) of
plane for
flight from
Dubai, and the
redeployment /
hiding of
armored
vehicles
during her
visit."
On
June 27, UNDP
answered
thusly:
"The
UN
Under
Secretary-General
and UNDP
Associate
Administrator
Ms. Rebeca
Grynspan flew,
as recommended
by UN
operations, on
Dubai-Kabul-Dubai
flights made
available on
12 and 14 July
by UNAMA, on
UN operated
planes, as
they were the
most suitable
and secure
options. UNDP
uses armoured
vehicles to
ensure the
safety of
staff,
including for
high level
officials who
come on
mission."
As
Inner City
Press reported
in its first
story in this
series,
whistleblowers
complained to
it that UNDP
leased a Lear
Jet for
Grynspan,
while "the
SRSG flies
commercial"
for much less
money.
Given the
non-responsiveness
of UNDP, Inner
City Press
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson's
office, which
referred the
questions back
to UNDP,
beyond
providing a
canned
statement from
SRSG Jan
Kubis.
Now,
another
whistleblower
has
exclusively
provided Inner
City Press
with this
comparison of
the mission in
Iraq (UNAMI)
with the even
more corrupt
on in
Afghanistan
(UNAMA)
"UNAMA
and
UNAMI were
both told to
prepare 19%
budget cuts as
Special
Political
Missions
funded by core
funding and
with the UN
facing
pressure from
member states
to cut back.
"At
the
joint Video
Conference
with New York
the
heavyweight
USGs,
Ladsous and
Pascoe, were
rolled out,
along with
acting head of
DFS,
Tony
Banbury.....
UNAMI were
praised for
having one a
good job:
decided their
political
priorities,
nationalized
where
possible, cut
support staff
by 15% etc;
UNAMA by
contrast had
cut
substantive
political
posts, ignored
the
instruction
for a cut in
mission
support
by 15% across
the board, and
tried to claim
'cuts' by
shifting some
support staff
to Kuwait.
"The
reason?
Everyone knows
that UNAMA s
run
by the Chief
of Mission
Support,
Stephani
Scheer
(allegedly aka
'Cindy', in
the book about
the Oil for
Food scandal
"Backstabbing
for
Beginners');
indeed on the
Thursday night
after the
Budget
submission,
she was in the
UNAMA Social
Center in a
"tired and
emotional"
state loudly
reminding
everyone that
"You all
work for me!".
With
international
support staff
cut by 5% and
political
staff by 20%
she seems to
be correct -
only a third
of the
mission is
"substantive",
the rest is
"support and
security", and
despite 8
flights a day
to Dubai, used
by the
SRSG and all
UN agencies,
she has
insisted on
retaining the
UNAMA jet
which usually
flies
half-empty
and, of
course, needs
a large
support
element....
"It
looks
like LOTFA us
not the only
UN budgeting
Afghanistan
that could
do with
International
Community
scrutiny....NATO
members are
said to
be
particularly
upset that
theUN is
cutting back
just as they
leave
(who will take
the blame if
the UN is not
there?)....they
should be
even more
upset by the
way their
money is being
wasted and the
real
jobs cut."
The above
again spreads
the scandal
beyond UNDP to
the UN system
as a whole. As
to UNDP, one
would think
the agency
will have to
answer this
specific: "the
date on which
each of
Basnyet,
Sandeep Kumar
and Ubadallah
Sahibzada
became aware
of the
irregularities
and of the
attached
audits." Watch
this site.