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by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack

UN GATE, May 22 – How corrupt is today's UN under Antonio Guterres? Well, even those few UN officials bounced for corruption are simply re-hired, and no one answers why.

Inner City Press today publishes this, from UNOPS whistleblowers:

Dear Matthew Russell Lee and Inner City Press Editorial Team, 

 You are being copied on correspondence addressed to the President of the Executive Bureau of UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS, H.E. Mr. Cornel Feruță, Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations, before the Executive Board annual session to be held from June 8–11, 2026 at UNHQ [from which Inner City Press remains banned by Antonio Guterres with no action by USUN]

Fabrizio Feliciani served as UNOPS Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for more than eleven years (2013-2025). This tenure exemplifies a structural failure explicitly identified by the UNOPS Personnel Integrity & Accountability Watch in its August 2025 letter to the Executive Board: “regional directors remain in their positions for many years without leadership renewal, a situation that has enabled the formation of power clans focused on safeguarding their own interests.” Mr. Feliciani’s departure was secured only after sustained, documented internal pressure (UNOPS Personnel Integrity & Accountability Watch, August 2025).

During his tenure, the LAC regional portfolio under Mr. Feliciani’s direct oversight was the site of the following documented failures and irregularities: 1- The Mexico medicine procurement debacle (2021–2023): UNOPS entered into a multibillion-dollar agreement with Mexico’s health institute, INSABI, to procure medicines for a population of over 128 million, collecting at least $109 million in fees. An internal UNOPS audit in April 2022 found that 50% of medicine procurement processes and 46% of medical supplies procurement were unsuccessful, posing severe reputational risks. Children receiving cancer treatment were among those directly harmed by the resulting shortages. The Mexican government terminated the agreement in early January 2023. The project was publicly championed by the U.N. as a model of transparent, anti-corruption procurement, even though it failed by its own internal metrics. (Expansión Política, July 2021; El País, February 2021; Milenio, 2023)

2- The Guatemala medicine procurement crisis (2024–2025): A $943.9 million agreement with Guatemala’s Ministry of Health, signed during the final phase of Mr. Feliciani’s tenure, led to the distribution of contaminated medicines, including paracetamol with visible fungal growth, to patients at least in ten hospitals. UNOPS incurred over $143 million in administrative costs and commissions. The agreement was signed without the Congressional authorization required under Guatemalan law. A criminal investigation was subsequently opened, formally titled “UNOPS: Corrupción Presidencial” (Publinews Guatemala, October 2025; El País, October 2025).

3- Peru conflicts of interest and accountability failures: In Peru, UNOPS and its reputation faced significant criticism and controversy over its management of public procurement and infrastructure projects, particularly through agreements with state entities such as the Ministry of Housing and SEDAPAL (the Lima regional state water utility). In 2022, local media and judicial investigations linked UNOPS-administered procurement frameworks to broader allegations of corruption among public employees, opacity, deficient oversight, weak transparency controls, and accountability failures regarding politically exposed public works contracts associated with the administration of former President Pedro Castillo.  This resulted in the arrest and jailing of former government officials and in media whistleblowing about the UNOPS Country Director’s husband's conflicted involvement in this project. In 2023, the then Minister of Housing, Construction and Sanitation, Hania Pérez de Cuéllar, and Lima’s Water and Sewerage Service (Sedapal) decided to terminate the technical assistance agreements they maintained with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). Critics alleged that outsourcing procurement functions to UNOPS reduced effective government supervision, limited access to procurement information, complicated accountability for contractor selection and project execution, and contributed to an environment in which irregular contracting practices and alleged corruption could occur with insufficient institutional scrutiny. (Infobae Perú, March 2026; Compras Estatales, 2025; Dailymotion investigative report, 2022). 

4- Nicaragua-Costa Caribe Project (2021–2025): The $95 million World Bank- financed hurricane reconstruction project, managed by UNOPS under Mr. Feliciani’s  regional oversight, was rated “unsatisfactory” by the World Bank in June 2025. Staff complaints documented deficient design studies, inadequate field execution, payments for incomplete work, and technical alerts that local management systematically ignored. At least $888,000 in losses were attributed to the ESINSA road contracts alone. Staff who raised concerns faced retaliation. The UNOPS Personnel Integrity & Accountability Watch letter of August 24, 2025, stated explicitly: “The failures in UNOPS Nicaragua’s Costa Caribe Project, which unfolded under the direct watch of Regional Director Fabrizio Feliciani, illustrate all that is wrong with UNOPS.” (Inner City Press, Confidencial Nicaragua, 2026).

5- The DUNDEX scheme: The August 2025 letter to the Executive Board, also reported by Inner City Press (September 22, 2025) and circulated on social media, describes DUNDEX as “a company created solely to conceal a direct contract award, with inflated salaries and contracts to retired UN staff,” in contravention of UN rules governing the hiring of retired personnel. Critically, the letter names Mr. Feliciani as one of the senior officials who used, enabled, and endorsed the irregular decisions underpinning this scheme, alongside Executive Director Jorge Moreira Da Silva, Sonja Leighton-Kone (Deputy Executive Director), Mr. Jens Wandel, Ms. Nicole Jordan (General Counsel), Mr. Giuseppe Mancinelli, Mr. Fernando Cotrim, Ms. Mónica Siles, and others. Social media posts, including those by Ian Richards, have further amplified and documented this complaint publicly. This is not an anonymous allegation: it is a formal complaint submitted to the Executive Board and independently corroborated by multiple sources. (UNOPS Personnel Integrity & Accountability Watch, August 2025; Inner City Press, September 2025

Earlier letter on Inner City Press' DocumentCloud here

   No explanation, from Guterres, Courtenay Rattray, nor Melissa Fleming, neither of whom have answered letters from pro bono law firms about applying free press principles (including Article 19) to the UN, and readmitting Inner City Press, which re-applied on June 19, 2025 to covering UNGA80.  We'll have more on this.

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