At UN, Budget May Cut Iraq and Conference Funding, Corruption Issues Raised, a Snapshot

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ga1budget122107.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 21, 11:30 a.m. -- On the last day to adopt the UN budget, negotiations continued in the smoky basement of the world body's headquarters, with proposals to cut the Procurement Task Force and a new UN building in Iraq opposed by proposals to reduce staffing levels, de-fund a particular conference and call for a vote on a one-time fix for UN pensioners in Ecuador. As of late Friday morning, negotiations continued. A snapshot of the elements in-play is provided in a negotiation document obtained by Inner City Press and placed online here.

The "Provisional Package" document, reflecting proposed cost-cuts as of the night of December 18, shows the Fifth (budget) Committee cutting $180 million from the Secretary-General's Special Political Missions. That is the amount Ban Ki-moon has proposed spending to build a new headquarters in Baghdad, to expand UN presence in Iraq. The Fifth Committee also proposed increasing the "vacancy rate" of UN professional staff to 6.3%, and of general service staff to 3.3%, for a savings of $35 million. All told, compared to a the Secretary-General's proposed budget of $4.5 billion, the proposed cuts of the UN's Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions ($33 million) and of the Fifth Committee ($319 million) would reduce the budget to $4.15 billion.

But are these reductions enough for the United States? Friday's New York Times reports, apparently sourced nearly entirely to the U.S. and Procurement Task Force, that Singapore is winning in its battle to shut the PTF after six months. The Times opines that the conflict around the PTF "represents the continuing suspicion developing countries have about international intervention in their affairs," which connotes, throughout 2007, the controversy around the U.S.'s allegations of wrongdoing in the UN Development Program's operations in North Korea. The Times ascribes the current PTF conflict to the Task Force's case against Singaporean procurement official Andrew Toh.

Ironically, while the Times' coverage appears to side with the U.S. and PTF against Mr. Toh and Singapore, the Times fairly clearly sided with UNDP, including running the name of an until-then anonymous whistleblower. This may show even-handedness: the Times' reporting is pro-U.S. on the PTF, while siding with UNDP over the U.S.'s allegations about North Korea. (That's more even-handed than the PTF, which is apparently uninterested in the recent $250 million no-bid contract to U.S.-based Lockheed Martin.)

But the allegations of lack of controls in UNDP's programs in North Korea were upheld by the UN's Board of Auditors, and continue to be investigated by a UNDP-named panel. Meanwhile, unmentioned by the Times, Mr. Toh has recently prevailed in his case before the UN's Joint Appeals Board, which has reputedly recommended that the UN pay him damages. (Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon can accept or reject the recommendation.)

The Times says funding for the PTF is "not a budget matter so much as a political one." But it interacts with the budget negotiations. The U.S. is calling for a vote, rather than the usual consensus, on a proposal to modify the pensions of UN retirees in Ecuador, given changes in exchange rates. The U.S. has sought to, diplomats say, line-item veto funding of a follow-up anti-racism conference which it calls anti-Israel. Meanwhile, the Fifth Committee has proposed cutting $15 million from the Office of Central Support Services, the unit previously headed by Mr. Toh. A show-down is looming, watch this space.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ga1budget122107.html

At the UN, Official Sent to Rebut Scandal Declines Lockheed Martin Contract Questions, Confirms Andrew Toh Job Offer

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/paemasri121907.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 19 -- The UN turned off its briefing room cameras before making available on Wednesday a person who insisted on being called "a senior UN official" to address charges of corruption and procurement irregularities in connection with UN peacekeeping operations. This person then repeatedly said that he could not defend or explain the UN's $250 million no-bid contract with Lockheed Martin's Pacific Architects & Engineers, but that he would ask his boss, Jane Holl Lute of the Department of Field Support, to come and give a briefing. "We are completely transparent," said the official who insisted on anonymity and said he was unable to answer. Inner City Press asked if DFS would make available at least part of its response to questions raised in the UN's Fifth (budget) Committee about the PAE contract. "It's not in our province to give it out," the official said. "They own the information now."

But a check with delegates to the Fifth Committee on Wednesday night found that they still did not have relevant information about the sole source contracts. "That's the main sticking point," one delegate told Inner City Press, before heading back down to the meeting in the UN's basement.

The purpose of the noontime background briefing, it appears, was to minimize recent reports of corruption. $610 million has not been wasted, the official emphasized. Rather, contracts worth $610 million have been impacted by irregularities. It is impossible to say how much money was lost. As to Abdul Karim Masri's reported extortion in connection with a Congo airfields renovation -- PAE has the UN's Congo airfields contract -- the official said that Masri's supervisor, Barbara Klopp, has reported irregularities by her staff to the Office of Internal Oversight Services in 2005 and 2006. "Barbara... is now with another mission," he said (sources say it's in Sudan).

On the situation of Andrew Toh, Inner City Press asked the second senior UN official, reputed to soon be retiring, about reports that Toh has been asked to work for DFS. That's true, the first official said. He had been asked to go work in the field, but "he has health problems, and so we are working up terms of reference for him to work at headquarters." We'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/paemasri121907.html