| UN Corruption Detailed at
UNOPS in 4th Letter Sent to
Banned Inner City Press by Staff
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack UN
GATE, June 25
–
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, We are a group of
UNOPS employees who wish to
remain anonymous due to a
genuine fear of retaliation
and adverse professional
consequences. We are
reaching out to you because of
your reputation as an
investigative journalist, as
well as your commitment to
integrity and accountability.
We would like to bring to your
attention a series of concerns
regarding alleged abuses of
authority, favoritism,
irregular recruitment
practices, retaliation against
staff members, and other
actions that appear to be
inconsistent with the ethical
standards and values that
UNOPS is expected to
uphold. Over time,
several staff members have
attempted to raise these
concerns through the available
internal reporting mechanisms.
However, despite multiple
reports and supporting
evidence, there is a
widespread perception among
staff that certain individuals
benefit from protection,
resulting in a lack of
meaningful action and
accountability. Our
objective is not to target
individuals unfairly, but
rather to encourage UNOPS to
commission an independent,
impartial, and external
investigation into these
allegations. We firmly believe
that only an independent
review can restore confidence
in the institution and ensure
that all concerns are examined
objectively. We possess
documentary evidence
supporting the allegations
outlined in the attached
report and remain available to
provide additional
information, answer questions,
or clarify any aspect of the
case, while preserving our
anonymity. We hope that
your attention to this matter
may help ensure that these
concerns receive the
independent scrutiny they
deserve. Thank you for
your time and
consideration.
Sincerely, A Collective of
Concerned UNOPS Employees
------
A Growing Unease
Extending Beyond Managerial
Tensions For several
months, an increasing number
of current and former
employees of UNOPS CAMCO and
NAMCO offices have been
raising concerns about a
significant deterioration in
the working environment,
marked by contested management
practices, opaque recruitment
processes, and an increased
reliance on mechanisms that
have fostered a climate of
fear within the
organization. At the
center of the criticism is the
management of Ms. Nathalie
Angibeau, whose decisions have
become the subject of internal
reports and recurring concerns
among staff. According to
numerous testimonies
collected, the issues raised
now go beyond administrative
or organizational
disagreements. They
increasingly touch upon
fundamental questions of
governance, institutional
ethics, staff protection, and
adherence to the values that
UNOPS and the United Nations
claim to uphold. A
Culture of Fear and the
Isolation of Employees
Several employees describe a
management approach that
involves isolating individuals
perceived as critical or
independent. According
to these accounts, employees
who raise concerns regarding
recruitment, decision-making
processes, or certain
management practices gradually
see their responsibilities
reduced, their access to
information restricted, or
their participation in
strategic discussions
limited. Former and
current managers report being
excluded from meetings
directly related to their
areas of responsibility,
marginalized in
decision-making processes, or
deprived of essential
information necessary to
perform their duties. For many
employees, this situation has
created an environment in
which challenging a decision
or reporting an irregularity
is perceived as a professional
risk. The Structural
Vulnerability of ICA
Personnel Beyond the
management practices being
denounced, several internal
observers highlight a more
structural issue: the
contractual model
itself. In many offices
in the Global South, more than
70% of staff work under
Individual Contractor
Agreements (ICA), a status
that does not provide the same
protections as those afforded
to personnel on fixed-term or
permanent contracts.
According to several employees
interviewed, this contractual
precarity creates a
significant imbalance of power
between managers and
staff. ICA holders have
more limited avenues for
recourse, benefit from reduced
institutional protection, and
remain highly dependent on the
periodic renewal of their
contracts. This
situation fosters an
environment in which some
employees hesitate to report
abuses for fear of losing
their jobs or not having their
contracts renewed.
Several sources believe that
this structural vulnerability
creates fertile ground for
abuses of power when it is not
counterbalanced by robust and
effectively enforced oversight
mechanisms. Strengthened
Protection Mechanisms at
Headquarters, but Contested
Implementation in the
Field Since taking
office, UNOPS Executive
Director Jorge Moreira da
Silva has initiated several
reforms aimed at strengthening
transparency, accountability,
institutional ethics, and
staff protection. These initiatives
have been widely welcomed by
many employees. However,
several staff members at CAMCO
and NAMCO note that the gap
between policies established
at the institutional level and
their concrete implementation
in the field remains
concerning. “Putting
mechanisms in place is
essential. Ensuring that they
actually work is just as
important,†one employee
summarized. Despite
repeated reports through
internal mechanisms, few
tangible changes have been
observed locally. Desk
Reviews at the Heart of
Controversy One of the
most frequently cited issues
concerns the use of so-called
“desk review†recruitment
procedures. These
procedures have been
repeatedly used to fill
strategic positions without
going through open competitive
processes. Appointments have
been made without genuine
competition, and the selected
profiles have not always
matched the technical
requirements initially
defined. A particularly
concerning element
consistently emerges: all
recruitments carried out
through desk reviews involve
Haitian or Haitian-Canadian
profiles, indicating a
systematic rather than
incidental orientation in
recruitment decisions.
These practices have
significantly undermined
confidence in recruitment
mechanisms and in the
principle of merit.
Calls for an independent audit
of all recruitments conducted
through desk reviews are now
increasing within the
concerned offices. Proven
Favoritism and Organizational
Inconsistencies Several
testimonies point to contested
appointments to positions of
responsibility. Certain
recruitment and promotion
decisions do not reflect
either the experience
available internally or the
usual principles of
professional
progression. Among the
concrete situations observed
are cases where experienced
staff were sidelined from
leadership or interim roles in
favor of individuals recently
recruited through contested
procedures. Major
inconsistencies also appear in
the hierarchical structure:
staff recruited at the ICA 2
level are supervising ICA 3
personnel, representing a
reversal of responsibility
levels and demonstrating a
complete lack of
organizational logic.
Other decisions have led to
the elimination or downgrading
of existing positions while
new recruitments were
simultaneously being carried
out. These facts clearly
demonstrate practices of
favoritism and preferential
treatment. Statements
Perceived as
Stigmatizing Several
employees also report
statements made during
internal meetings that have
deeply shocked part of the
staff. One of the most
frequently cited remarks is: “People
from Central Africa are
stubborn, but I will
discipline them.†Such
statements constitute a
stigmatizing generalization
targeting an entire population
and are incompatible with the
principles of respect,
diversity, and inclusion
upheld by the United Nations.
Humiliation,
Intimidation, and the
Instrumentalization of HR
Tools The testimonies
collected describe public
reprimands, humiliations in
front of entire teams,
exclusion from strategic
meetings, and the use of
certain performance management
tools as instruments of
pressure. Performance
evaluations, restructurings,
or performance improvement
plans have been used not as
tools for professional
development, but as mechanisms
of control or sanction against
individuals expressing
dissent. These practices
raise serious concerns
regarding adherence to
principles of fair management
and staff protection. A Deepening
Crisis of Trust For many
employees, the main issue is
no longer merely the existence
of these facts, but the lack
of satisfactory responses from
internal mechanisms.
Several reports have already
been submitted to ethics,
audit, or investigation
services. Yet, a sense of
impunity remains widespread
among the employees
interviewed. This
perception contributes to the
gradual erosion of trust in
the internal structures meant
to protect staff. The
Call for an Independent
Investigation In light
of the accumulation of
testimonies, several employees
are now calling for: *
an independent audit of
recruitments carried out
through desk reviews; * an
examination of instances of
favoritism and circumvention
of recruitment procedures; *
an assessment of the
management practices being
denounced; * an analysis of
the impact of the widespread
use of ICA contracts on staff
protection; * effective
protection for whistleblowers;
* the establishment of
oversight mechanisms ensuring
the real implementation of
institutional reforms decided
at headquarters. For
these employees, only an
independent investigation,
conducted by actors external
to the concerned structures,
will make it possible to
establish the facts, restore
trust, and ensure that the
values of transparency,
integrity, fairness, and
respect for human dignity
become a lived reality in the
field. Previously: 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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Editorial [at] innercitypress.com Mail: Box 130222, Chinatown Station,
NY NY 10013 Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis. Copyright 2006-2024 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
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innercitypress.com |
Friday, June 26, 2026
UN Corruption Detailed at UNOPS in 4th Letter Sent to Banned Inner City Press by Staff
