By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive, 3d
in series
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 24 -- The
Law and Order
Trust Fund for
Afghanistan
has
allowed for double payments in
Kandahar and
Jalalabad,
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
# 7"
the auditors
say that
"During
the
course of our
field visit to
Jalalabad and
Kandahar
offices we
noted certain
instances of
double
payments of
salaries in
employees'
bank
accounts...
Further, we
noted certain
instances
where EPS
contained
different
employee names
with the same
bank account
numbers...
Double payment
ofsalaries to
staff results
in direct
financial
losses to the
project."
The attached
audit provides
names and bank
account
numbers,
but has other
portions
redacted.
Even
when give at
least 40 hours
to comment on
its own
internal
audits of
its scandal
plagued Law
and Order
Trust Fund for
Afghanistan,
the UN
Development
Program
chooses to
attack the
Press rather
than explain
its waste,
fraud and
abuse.
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
forty hours
in. (We are
seeking,
however, a
copy of
Sandeep
Kumar's
book "On the
Edge.")
As Abdel-Rahman
Ghandour was
told
yesterday, "When
you comment on
the audits
we've already
sent you,
we'll send
you more
to comment on.
This is going
to be a
series, so if
and when you
provide
comment, it
will be
included."
In
the meantime,
Inner City
Press has
obtained and
is publishing
a letter from
the
European Union
External
Action
service, not
to UNDP but to
the UN
Secretariat's
envoy to
Afghanistan
Jan Kubis,
the Special
Representative
of Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon.
The
EU letter,
from
Vygaudas
Usackas, urges
protection of
whistleblowers,
something that
neither UNDP
nor the UN
Secretariat
are known for.
Unlike
UNDP, at
least the UN
Secretariat
has a daily
noon press
briefing.
Watch this
site.
