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By Matthew Russell Lee & sources, Exclusive

UN GATE, July 13 – UNESCO, like the whole UN system under Antonio Guterres is falling apart in corruption and fraud.

  Inner City Press has been reporting on serious malfeasance by the French Audrey Azoulay administration at UNESCO in Paris, almost as bad as Antonio Guterres' corruption in and of the UN in New York. A fish rots from the head.

UNESCO has been a no-man's-land for years. Now, the final countdown has begun for DG Azoulay, and it's quite pleasant to watch. 

Knowing that she has less than 490 days left at the office, she desperately rushes to organize more Louis Vuitton fashion shows and K-pop concerts at UNESCO, essential elements of her legacy as Director General.

 One more piece of evidence - on the same day, 18 June 2024, of the informal exchange session organized by the Chairperson of the Executive board of UNESCO, Ms Vera El Khoury Lacoeuilhe with Ms Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations (more about this session here), DG Aoulay opted to skip this professionally binding meeting and organized, on the same day, a fashion show at UNESCO attended by all her Parisian friends. What's more, not only did she not attend the Board session, she even attempted to sabotage it through various technical subterfuges. This speaks volumes about her conception of what the function of DG of a UN agency should be.  At this stage of her mandate, it’s obviously hopeless to seek any improvement.

One can do nothing about it – that's the level and vision of the Frenchwoman Azoulay for UNESCO - fashion and superficial bragging in glamorous press articles, surrounded by international stars. As if rubbing shoulders with famous people could help her become famous in her own right. As a legendary Spanish painter once said: "There is no greater human tragedy than to dream of having talent when you have none". 

As the end of Audrey Azoulay's administration is near, in a desperate attempt to maintain some sense of direction and respect for her disastrous tenure, she continues to promote in the complacent press the idea of a two-year extension to her mandate as DG. On what basis, only she knows. UNESCO's Constitution makes no provision for such an extension, but it would be highly amusing if she tried it with the help of the Quai d'Orsay. At the very least, constructive debates could be held around her management skills and her achievements as head of the UN Agency.  According to the latest information from our sources in Paris, DG Azoulay recently reappointed Firmin Matoko as ADG for Africa and External Relations. 

This is another example of her decision-making out of ruling lines. No recruitment process, no short list, no information of the Executive board about it. It will be interesting to see how the heads of the governing bodies react to this appointment.  Last year, we wrote about Matoko that the debates in which he’s participating demonstrated the intellectual inability of ADG Matoko to defend the political orientation fixed by his boss Azoulay. Supposed to retire and leave the Paris based Agency in few months, he "kept demonstrating his high standards of brain-sterility and docile incompetence.

Clearly, ADG Matoko is not an asset to this administration", said an ambassador usually sympathetic to the French regime. "They are losing it all".   Since then, Firmin Matoko has indeed retired, but the Ghanaian who replaced him has never been able to match him in terms of docility and obedience. That's why Audrey Azoulay simply sacked him and reappointed Matoko to his old post, at the age of almost 70. The question of why Azoulay wants a corrupt ADG and not one who respects UN rules is one that member states can ask at their convenience. 

Azoulay's Cabinet explains internally that his appointment is temporary. If member states accept this false explanation, Azoulay will have a free hand to choose any other senior official in the remaining 490 days of her regime and appoint them without a proper recruitment procedure, since she will be able to justify such appointment in the same way, claiming that it will only be temporary, until she leaves the organization next year. How pathetic.

 Calamity and corruption everywhere at the UN.  UNESCO's two staff unions, likewise the majority of staff members, are appalled by the level of non-compliance with rules and regulations. However, as the two unions have less and less power and influence over matters concerning internal misconduct and mismanagement, only limited sanctions can be expected, even after the public exposure of serious cases of corruption, abuse of power and embezzlement.  In addition, Canada's external auditors are due to report shortly with their findings on the 2023 budget deficit management scandal revealed by Inner City Press - here  

For the record, CFO Magdolna Bona's unprecedented decision and violation of the rules was fully approved by her direct boss, ADG for Management, Nicholas Jeffreys of the UK. Following Jeffreys' approval, they both risk now losing their jobs for committing a serious professional error and twisting the facts presented to member states at a public session of the Executive Board. More bad news for DG Azoulay is the recent decision by Egyptian President El-Sisi to appoint Badr Ahmed Mohamed Abdel-Aty to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigration. She had high hopes that her very good friend, Egypt's current Ambassador to France and Permanent Representative to UNESCO, Alaa Youssef, would get the job, as his appointment had been rumored for some time.

Unfortunately for him and for her, the revelation by Inner City Press of his wife's business activities in France, despite her diplomatic status, - among other concerns - put an end to this long-awaited promotion.  It remains to be seen whether Alaa Youssef's reluctance to support his compatriot's candidacy for the DG post will play into the balance, since it's obvious that Cairo can't count on him to defend Anani's interests in this fierce competition. Too bad for the candidate, but Alaa Youssef doesn't yet seem ready to break his privileged friendly relationship with Audrey Azoulay to properly defend Egypt's interests at UNESCO. Tough political decisions lie ahead in Cairo for the future of Egypt's Ambassador to France. 

 The recent session of the Executive board revealed a new reality: more and more countries are becoming interested and concerned about UNESCO's role and position in the world. The fundamental question, therefore, is when will member states take action on the cases of corruption, influence peddling and embezzlement that have come to light? Clearly, the solidarity of the European Union's club of wealthy countries still plays a role in guaranteeing institutional impunity for French DG Azoulay and her senior managers. Only non-EU member states can therefore decide how long France's arrogant mismanagement of the agency will last.  In the corridors, at receptions and bilateral meetings, criticism is growing louder and louder. They will only grow louder in the months to come, as Azoulay's term of office draws to a close, and tongues are loosened even further.

  This is where UNESCO stands today, a UN agency ravaged by financial misappropriations, propitious to the flourishing of abuse of power, corruption and nepotism. We will have more on all that. Watch this site.

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