By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/uncote1nephew012110.html
UNITED NATIONS, January 21 -- At what point does a misleading answer become a lie? On the topic of nepotism in the UN, a whistleblower back from Ivory Coast told Inner City Press of the employment in that country by the UN system of the nephew of Mr. Choi Young-jin, the Special Representative of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Inner City Press approached Mr. Ban's deputy chief of staff but was told he'd never heard of it. By email in late 2009, Inner City Press told Mr. Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky that
"I asked Mr. Nambiar's deputy about something I'm told, that the nephew of the SRSG to Cote d'Ivoire has been employed in Cote d'Ivoire by UN Volunteers. I had sought Mr. Choi's email address to ask him directly, but it unlike other SRSGs it is not available. Therefore I am asking your Office about Mr. Choi's relatives, specifically including but not limited to his nephew: 1) are they or have they been in Cote d'Ivoire? 2) if so, in some UN system (including UN Volunteers) capacity? Which capacity, what dates and one what basis? "
The response from Mr. Nesirky's office was, "Regarding SRSG Choi Yong-jin, please contact Hamadoun Toure in UNOCI, or Kenneth Blackman." While this seemed strange, Inner City Press sent the request to the UNOCI mission in Cote d'Ivoire, sending a copy to Mr. Nesirky.
Twelve days later, UNOCI's spokesman Hamadoun Toure replied that "To the best of my knowledge, SRSG Choi is the only international civilian staff from Korea in the mission." Of course, this evades the question -- intentionally, as it turns out.
Inner City Press immediate wrote back to UNOCI and Mr. Nesirky, that the "source states that SRSG Choi's relative was with UN Volunteers in Cote d'Ivoire, not UNOCI. And the question was and is not limited, unlike your answer, to the present tense," and reiterating the question. This was not responded to.
Rather, when Mr. Choi went to the Security Council stakeout on January 21, Inner City Press after asking about controversies further delaying the long promised Ivorian elections asked Mr. Choi, with all due respect, if his nephew worked for UN Volunteers in Cote d'Ivoire.
Yes, Mr. Choi answered, "my spokesman told me one month ago [so] I looked into... I have an American nephew" -- a graduate of Harvard, he emphasized -- who had left a well paying investment banking job to apply to work in Cote d'Ivoire through UN Volunteers, from "early 2008 to December 2008." Video here, from Minute 11:14.
Since Inner City Press' question, to Mr. Nesirky and then ONOCI specifically mentioned UN Volunteers, this makes the answer given false, seemingly intentionally so. Clearly, the evasive answer sent to Inner City Press, that "SRSG Choi is the only international civilian staff from Korea in the mission" was designed to not disclose what Mr. Choi had been asked about, and had "looked into."
Inner City Press asked Mr. Choi, again with all due respect, if he believed his nephew working for the UN system in the country where he is the top UN official complied with UN rules.
Yes, Mr. Choi responded, because UN Volunteers has a different recruitment and decision making structure.
Less than an hour later, Inner City Press asked Mr. Nesirky how this arrangement complied with UN rules. Nesirky gave the same answer, the UN Peacekeeping Missions have no say over UN Volunteers.
But as Inner City Press has been told by UN Peacekeeping sources, with the UN spokespeople being unwilling to confirm, Alan Doss, now the SRSG in the Congo (embroiled in his own nepotism scandal having told UNDP to "show leeway" by giving a job to his daughter) but then the SRSG in Liberia, brought in close family members as part of UN Volunteers.
Inner City Press began to ask Nesirky about this, but was cut off.
Nepotism questions have been raised, always with respect, to and about Ban Ki-moon himself, specifically the hiring of his son in law Siddarth Chatterjee, first by Stafan de Mistura in Iraq -- who's now in line to become Ban's envoy to Afghanistan -- then by Jan Mattsson at UNOPS in Copenhagen. Since 2009, Inner City Press has had pending with Mr. Nesirky a simple question:
"This is a request for a response to the circulated report that 'Ban Ki-moon's Son-in-Law, Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee... was a P4 employee with the United Nations. If Ban Ki Moon would not be his father-in-law, it would have taken him 12.5 years to reach to the level he is today.' Also, relatedly, please state from where the S-G's son in law Mr. Chatterjee got his degree(s), and the status of his case(s) with [name redacted for now]."
Nesirky has repeatedly refused to answer this question. Now that the response to which he referred Inner City Press about Mr. Choi turned out to be false, seemingly intentionally so, isn't it time to come clean? Watch this site.
