UNDP Moved on 30,000 Boxes of Records Mid-Investigation, Dervis' Successor Must Answer

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/undp1boxedout011709.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 17 -- Just after the sudden departure announcement of its Administrator Kemal Dervis, the Iran-led Executive Board of the UN Development Program is slated to meet this week in New York. Dervis' tenure was steeped both in secrecy and controversy -- click here for Inner City Press' farewell to Dervis -- and these two come together in an emerging story the Board should be considering this week.

In the midst of the so-called Nemeth Committee's investigation into UNDP's dealings with the Kim Jong-il government of North Korea, UNDP quietly sought bids to move 30,000 boxes of documents out of its headquarters to private locations until at least 2011. Inner City Press has obtained a copy of UNDP's "Terms of Reference" and, beyond the prevalence of mis-spellings not usually found in such formal document, finds therein no argument about why wider UN system restrictions on document outsources are not complied with. Click here for the document.

Earlier this month, Inner City Press asked outgoing US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad a number of questions about unfinished reforms at the UN and UNDP. Khalilzad said that access to past audits remains a problem at UNDP, but claimed that "going forward," UNDP audits will be available on the same terms as those of the UN Secretariat. We'll see.

The US Mission also said that Ban Ki-moon would have preferred having a single unified UN Ethics Office, the one run by the now-isolated Robert Benson, covering UNDP. Why then shouldn't acceptance of this desire of the UN Secretary General be a condition for nomination to succeed Dervis? There are Scandinavian names being thrown around, a Norwegian minister and others. Associate Administer Ad Melkert is said to have disqualified himself. This will be a litmus test.

Footnote: also indicative of UNDP's lack of transparency is the agency's role in the disappearance of the UN's envoy to Niger, Canadian Robert Fowler. He was visiting a UNDP-funded, Canadian-owned gold mine in a remote region of Niger not related to his purported mandate. There was reportedly a UNDP driver, but no security. The UNDP vehicle was found its with doors open and lights on, cell phones still in the car. Inner City Press posted basic questions to UNDP's spokesman, who responded that there will be no comments or information until the "denouement." That was more than three weeks ago.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1boxedout011709.html

At UNDP, Kemal Dervis' Desires, Scandals and Silence Recalled As He Departs

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/undp1dervisout010809.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 8 -- Kemal Dervis, the UN Development Program's Administrator, announced Thursday he will leave the post on March 1, ostensibly for personal and family reasons. His tenure was marked by a series of scandals in UNDP, from funding violent disarmament in Uganda and diamond mining in Zimbabwe to procurement fraud cover-ups and financial irregularities in its North Korea program. Through it all, Dervis largely avoided the media, repeatedly telling Inner City Press that he refused to answer questions in the hallway of the UN, as even the Secretary General and his top officials do. He presided over retaliation, and then fought to keep UNDP exempt from the UN system's Ethics Office.

Why is Dervis leaving? There are a number of theories. One has it that he had his eye, in the UN system, on the Deputy Secretary General post. Many close observers had been predicted that Asha Rose Migiro would leave in February. But recently word came down that she is staying. And soon thereafter, Dervis announced he is leaving the system. Others less plausible tie his sudden announcement to the North Korea scandal, and Ban Ki-moon's recent trip to Washington.

What will Dervis do next? There's high brow chat of a university post, lower brow talk of filthy lucre or Turkish politics. Perhaps he'll write a book like the one his predecessor commissioned, "UNDP: A Better Way?"

All that said, Inner City Press has a single semi-positive memory. On his way into the Secretariat building one blue-skied day, Dervis stopped and mused that, you only have so many mornings like this in your life, you have to enjoy them. We hope he does -- and that the next UNDP Administrator does a better job. At Thursday's UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson if he will at least commit to what his predecessor did, releasing a short list of candidates for the post. I don't know yet, the Spokesperson said. We will follow this one.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1dervisout010809.html

UN Development Program "Launders Money" in Latin America, Chart and Sources Say

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
and see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1latam040208.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 2 -- The UN Development Program expends significantly more in relatively affluent Latin America than in Africa, a continent-wide analysis obtained by Inner City Press reveals. In 2006, over 90% of UNDP's $1.3 billion in expenditures in Latin America were so-called "cost sharing," in which governments give UNDP money in order to do procurement or pay salaries to people already in the government's employ.

While being little more than a bookkeeper -- or money launderer, as several inside UNDP sources put it -- UNDP collects a fee for all funds it processes, and books it as income. The model has become attractive to UNDP's offices throughout Latin America, leading to UNDP tarnishing the UN's name by becoming involved in procurement scandals such as a current one in Venezuela. A week ago, Inner City Press asked UNDP a series of question which have still not been answered. On Wednesday, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General's comment on how UNDP under Kemal Dervis and Ad Melkert is making the UN appear.

Just last month, the head of the UN-affiliated World Bank, when asked about UNDP's attempt to attribute its greater expenditure in Latin America than in Africa to its supposed "processing" of World Bank loans, expressed skepticism. The answer for UNDP's disparity, the attached chart now shows, is UNDP's "cost sharing" programs.

UNDP's questionable work in Latin America is not limited to countries like Venezuela, where in 2006 UNDP reported $34 million in "cost sharing." In Argentina in 2006, while spending less than $1 million in "regular resources" to promote development, UNDP processed over $268 million for the government. UNDP's Argentina web site, under the heading Acquisitions, vaguely lists much of its work as "NEX" -- the so-called national execution modality that got the agency into trouble in North Korea. There are also acquisitions of servers from CISCO, a supplier that UNDP sources say is not chosen competitively, but rather is actively promoted and favored by UNDP's country offices on instructions from UNDP Headquarters.

In Brazil in 2006, while again spending less than $1 million in "regular resources" to promote development, UNDP processed over $227 million for the government. UNDP's Brazil web site was soliciting bids, for example, up to March 28 for 100 hotel rooms for a conference to take place April 7-8, 2008 (#758).

Inner City Press is informed by Brazilian sources that the size of UNDP's cost-sharing was revealed in that country when people UNDP paid, with government pass-through money, to work for the government argued that they should not have to pay taxes, claiming they were international civil servants. A dispute ensued, and the full size of UNDP's Brazilian program, which dwarfs African programs, became known. "UNDP is renting out the UN's powers for a fee, it is engaged in essence in money laundering," a UNDP source told Inner City Press on condition of anonymity, given UNDP's known penchant for retaliation, noted not only by the Washington-based Government Accountability Project but also, at least on a prima facie basis, by the UN Ethics Office. The analogy is that governments pay the fee to UNDP in order to work around procurement and other rules -- UNDP does not have to be transparent, and does not have to follow local rules.

While UNDP in Cuba in 2006 reported $7 million in cost-sharing, the UNDP figure in Guatemala was $92 million. In Bolivia it was $31 million, in Chile $23 million, Colombia $82 million, Dominican Republic $5 million, Ecuador $30 million, El Salvador $13 million, Paraguay $32 million, Uruguay $10 million.

From poor Haiti, UNDP took in $16 million in cost-sharing, versus only $14 million in Mexico.

UNDP's response to the controversy around a contract of less than $3 million in Venezuela with Setronix has been to direct Inner City Press to UNDP's online rebuttal. But while UNDP claims that the documents it links to show competitive bidding, the documents in fact refer to " excepcion a un proceso competitivo" - exception to a competitive process. In any case, this is just the tip of the iceberg of UNDP's $1.1 billion of "cost-sharing" in Latin America (compared to UNDP's less than $600 million in annual spending in Africa.)

In Honduras, UNDP's cost-sharing in 2006 was a whopping $103 million. The web site refers, in Spanish, to the modalidad de Ejecucion Nacional (NEX -- national execution "modality," saying that it guarantees that national authorities keep control of the program and of the final responsibility for how the funds are used. UNDP, it seems, just takes a fee, and repeatedly further tarnishes the UN's name in the process.

and see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1latam040208.html