At UN, As Appeal of Appleton Dismissed, Ahlenius Echo, OIOS Defanged: of Porno &Procurement Rules

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 28 -- In a time with the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services has gone quiet or worse, the UN Appeals Tribunal on Friday morning dismissed an appeal from Robert Appleton, to whom former OIOS chief Inga-Britt Ahlenius wanted to give a D-2 post.

Ahlenius, it will be remembered, left the UN with a volley ofcriticism of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's leadership, or what she called the lack thereof. Inner City Press story here.

Ahlenius' replacement, Carman Lapointe, has no only not criticized or meaningfully investigated the Ban administration: she has quashed various investigations which had been ongoing, including one involving UMOJA, as Inner City Press has covered, here. There are cases her OIOS should look into, but one hesitates to even refer them.

Appleton was in line for the investigative D2 position in OIOS, but in March 2009 it was re-advertised. He was again recommended to get it, but was turned down again a full year later in 2010.

After litigating inside the UN, he was awarded $30,000 in “moral” damages, nothing in compensatory damages. (Inner City Press covered that decision in August 2012, here.)

   Apppleton appealed, and Friday lost on every count. There was one dissent, Judge Chapman, who in reading out the decision said he could have gotten compensatory damages. But the other judges sided entirely with Ban, as they did in case after case read out on Friday morning.

One litigant was ordered to pay costs -- Appleton was denied the costs of his appeal -- and various appeals were called “non receivable,” the term Ban used to turn down the claims for 5,000 deaths from the UN bringing cholera to Haiti.

Ban wanted to redact even recommendations from a UN Dispute Tribunal case, and contested the right of the Tribunals to estimate people's harm. Appeals about pensions being pegged to the consumer price index, in Argentina, were denied. UN staffers were criticized for pornography and “authorized outside activity.”

Meanwhile the UN answered Inner City Press' questions about conflicts of interest and (anti) revolving doors rules with this, limited only to procurement:

Subject: Your question on post-employment rules
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 12:06 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Employment restrictions for staff participating in procurement activities under ST/SGB/2006/15. For all staff, and former staff, staff regulation 1.2(i) applies:

Regulation 1.2 (i)

Staff members shall exercise the utmost discretion with regard to all matters of official business. They shall not communicate to any Government, entity, person or any other source any information known to them by reason of their official position that they know or ought to have known has not been made public, except as appropriate in the normal course of their duties or by authorization of the Secretary-General. These obligations do not cease upon separation from service.

We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

  

At UN Appleton Gets $30,000 Award, Ban Ki-moon Hit, Wan OIOS

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 14 -- The UN saga of Robert Appleton, or really of Ban Ki-moon and Inga-Britt Ahlenius who upon leaving the UN blasted Ban's management, was the subject of a 37 ruling by Judge Coral Shaw of the UN Dispute Tribunal on Tuesday. Inner City Press has obtained a copy of the ruling and puts it online here.

 Like Ahlenius, in a way, Judge Shaw is critical of Ban and his team, including then chief of staff Vijay Nambiar. On page 32, the SRG's conduct is found "unlawful." A few pages later Appleton, who after 17 months got a job at the Global Fund, is awarded $30,000 in damages.

  The real issue here is the independence of the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services. While Ahlenius was less that accountable, fleeing questions of why she declined to investigate the UN's Inner City Press - exposed sole source contract with Lockheed Martin in Darfur, at least the manner in which she left showed independence and a desire to shake up the UN.

   Currently OIOS investigates almost nothing. Whistleblower have little to no confidence in OIOS, nor in the Ethics Office. Some say the Press is their own way to go -- and then some working in the UN try to eject the Press as well. Is that actionable at the Dispute Tribunal? Some say yes. Watch this site.

As Ban Again Dodges on 2d Term, Claims a Transparency Not Seen at UN

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 14 -- With expectations he'd confirm he'll seek a second term, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held a press conference in New York on Friday. He began by focusing on three issue, not mentioning the critiques of the UN on any of them.

Ban mentioned Haiti, but not the allegation that UN peacekeepers brought cholera to the island and then covered it up. He has been asked to remove the UN immunity of a UN staffer there for a murder inquiry, but his spokesman Martin Nesirky has refused to address Ban Ki-moon's response.

Ban mentioned Cote d'Ivoire, but not that UN peacekeepers under the command of his close ally Choi Young-jin in fact turned tail and retreated leaving a neighborhood of supporters of Alassane Ouattara to be attacked by forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo. All Ban would say is that those who comment attacks will “face accountability.”

Ban mentioned Sudan and Darfur, but did not address the the UN Mission there this week provided free transportation and logistics help to an indicted war criminal, Ahmed Haroun. What was that about accountability?

After these three points, Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky presided over a question period in which issues like the Middle East, North Korea and Ban's own statements a month ago about his Panel of Experts being able to do work in Sri Lanka were not present or allowed. As the frustration against Ban and Nesirky grew in the room, some journalists started shouting out questions.

One question was about the corruption and lack of transparency in the Ban administration alleged by former top UN investigator Inga Britt Ahlenius.

Ban, reading from notes, claimed that 99% of his officials now make public financial disclosure on the UN's web site. This figure is not true. Many officials simply file a one page form that they refuse to make any disclosure public.

Other Ban envoys, such as Alexander Downer who simultaneously works for a business consultancy Bespoke Approach, don't make financial disclosures.

Ban's expert on genocide Francis Deng is allowed, on UN time, to work on private book projects. He owns property, allegedly in the Sudanese region impacted by the referenda and stalled popular consultations. But his “public financial disclosure” doesn't even state what state of Sudan his property is in, nor how much it is worth. On UN time Deng writes books about Sudan and the referendum, but the UN refuses to say that the contents are attributable to the UN.

Questions pend for weeks in Ban's Spokesperson's Office. Spokesman Martin Nesirky says proudly that that are questions that he simply will never answer, without even explaining why. This is not transparency.

UN Says Porno Is Behind It, Dodges on No Bid Lockheed Contract, Valium

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/dm1kane052109.html

JFK Airport, May 21, updated May 26 – The range of questionable management practices at the UN were on display Thursday, as Department of Management chief Angela Kane belated came to field questions from the Press. Inner City Press asked her around millions of dollars the UN mis-payed to military contractor Lockheed Martin in Darfur, about a pornography scandal that continues to reverberate in the UN, and about her Department's retaliation against staff member they quick provided information about unlicensed distribution of Valium and controlled substances by the UN Medical Service.

On the pornography scandal, she claimed that all of those implicated have been disciplined, noting that five views are different than five hundred. This was just after she was asked about the Wall Street Journal's expose of the UN's mishandling of sexual harassment cases.

Two of these three questions, Ms. Kane referred to others. On the report that the UN paid $4.3 to Lockheed's PA&E subsidiary for construction services, at a time no construction took place, she said to “ask Susana Malcorra,” the head of the Department of Field Services. She said that the Secretariat disagrees with the findings of the UN's own Office of Internal Oversight Services.

Then, she said to ask the head of OIOS, Inga Britt Ahlenius, about a non-public report she says cleared the Medical Service of wrongdoing. Ahlenius hasn't answered Press questions for months, and Kane could not commit to making the report purportedly clearing the “doctors” public, despite chiding the Press for not reporting on it. (Kane is known to be asking the Office of Legal Affairs to make publications print the UN's position, even if based on reports the UN withholds.)

She said of course US licenses are required by those in the Medical Service, and some countries only require a single lifetime license, never renewed. She denied that US authorities are looking into the matter. We'll see.

Update: On May 26, Inner City Press received the following

From: unspokesperson-donotreply@un.org
To: matthew.lee@innercitypress.com
Sent: 5/26/2009 1:45:29 P.M. Eastern Standard Time

In response to your recent news story on the Medical Service, we are transmitting the following information provided by OIOS:

In response to media reports claiming that ga group of largely unlicensed doctors and nurses are dispensing and in some cases taking and self-medicating with Valium, Diazepam, Demerol, Ambien and other controlled narcoticsh at the UN, the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) informed us that the facts need to be correctly stated.

The Office informed us that a complainant had reported to OIOS about possible abuse in the management and dispensation of controlled substances in the Medical Services Division (MSD) of the United Nations. OIOS immediately assigned two investigators to conduct preliminary inquiries into this report.

Based upon the information obtained, OIOS confirmed that the Medical Services Division does have a process in place to ensure safe custody and dispensation of controlled substances.

OIOS concluded its preliminary inquiries and determined that the complainant's claims about the abuse of the dispensation of controlled substances in the MSD could not be verified. It adds that a fully conclusive verification can only be obtained upon a full investigation. This would require review of confidential medical records, to which OIOS does not have access.

Is this what the UN means by exonerated -- that it creates "rules" that preclude its supposedly independent investigative unit from verifying a whistleblower's allegations which are backed up by photographic and other evidence?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/dm1kane052109.html

At UN, Lockheed Took Millions for Services Not Rendered, Budget Wars Ignored

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un5lockheed051509.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 -- While there has been little press coverage of the UN's budget committee this May session, down in the UN's basement on Conference Rooms 3 and 5, things are coming to a head. On May 14, the Secretariat's use of a $250 million no-bid contracts to Lockheed Martin's PAE subsidiary in Darfur was roundly criticized. Upstairs in the briefing room, Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe said she had heard nothing it.

More generally, sources tell Inner City Press that "the Westerners" are trying to jam budget items through under unrelated agenda items, and that Brazil and others in the Group of 77 and China are preparing their own alternative program of work for the rest of the month. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he would focus on running the UN right. But of the budget committee, which funds it all, Ban's Spokesperson's Office has apparently heard nothing.

From the May 14 transcript:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask, in the Fifth, in the Budget Committee today, Inga-Britt Ahlenius of OIOS (Office of Internal Oversight Services) read out a report about the Lockheed Martin or PA&E contract for Darfur. She was harshly critical of it. She said that $4.3 million was for construction services where no construction took place, and she specifically criticized the Secretariat’s response to her audit and said that it was published without it being checked with her. So I wanted to know, I am sure the Secretariat is aware of this OIOS... Is this money going to be recouped? Can we get a press conference by Ahlenius and an explanation by the Secretariat of why they’re rejecting her findings?

Deputy Spokesperson Okabe: We can ask her to try and come and speak to you, but, as you know, you have to take that request directly.

Inner City Press: Is the money going to be recouped? She said that she found $4.3 million paid by the UN for services never rendered.

Deputy Spokesperson Okabe: This is the first I have heard of this. So I don’t have anything beyond what you’ve heard about the... OIOS report.

Question: Maybe Angela Kane as the head of the Department of Management will be the one to respond to this.

Deputy Spokesperson: She will be coming; there is a date already set, as will Michael Adlerstein.

The UN official who pushed through the ill-fated Lockheed / PA&E no bid contract, Jane Holl Lute, is now the number two official in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. As usual at the UN, there has been no accountability at all, a theme to which we will soon be returning. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un5lockheed051509.html

As UN Budget's Passed, G-77's Champagne Dreams Echoed by Nicaraguan Priest, "Non-Stop Nothingness" to 8 AM

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unga1budnica122408.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 24, 4:30 am [to 8 am] -- It was four in the morning on Christmas Eve when the General Assembly prepared to meet on its budget. Delegates emerged from the basement, where for days issues ranging from development jobs to the rent of the Group of 77 were debated, capitals were called, cigarettes were smoked. Now like a school semester it was almost over. Goodbyes were being said. Secretariat officials, long term players, surfed sentimentality to the benefit of their own offices, if not the wider UN much less world peace.

In the Delegates' Lounge in the lead-up to the GA meeting, champagne corks were popping. And some things had been accomplished. A shot across the bow of unaccountable UN investigator Inga-Britt Ahlenius. A check-in and check-up on the imperious envoy to Lebanon Terje Roed Larsen. For development, 92 new posts, albeit spread out in regional commissions all over the world. Champagne at four a.m. was not entirely unearned.

But as bitter after-taste was the failure to follow through. A year ago, this committee demanded answers about the UN's no-bid contract with Lockheed Martin, $250 million for camps in Darfur that Lockheed never built. There was no follow through; Lockheed took the money and ran.

At 4:20 a.m. the hold-up for the GA meeting was to pick up Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, el Presidente, from his residence. He would come to deliver a speech. Lincoln's was only four minutes, one of his staffers pointed out. There were potato chips and peanuts. The PGA, it was said, was already in the building. And so it remained until it approached 5:45 in the morning.

Update of 6:05 a.m. -- the usual press entrances to the GA hall, through the 3rd floor, were unmanned and locked. A film strip about the Holocaust was playing in a loop. Back on the 2nd floor, one guard stood on protocol and placed phone calls about the locked doors. Another guard simply waved Inner City Press through. Inside the chamber, from the blue colored "VIP" seats on the left side of the chamber, d'Escoto and his Moldovan master of ceremonies looked vaguely ridiculous on their raised green marble stage as if from Star Trek. The voting had begun, paragraph by paragraph --

when a UN Security Officer demanded that Inner City Press go back up to the third floor. But upstairs, the doors were still locked. Back downstairs, the Officer spoke into his walkie talkie, "McClachy! McClachy!" A delegate walked by and asked why the Press was being harassed. On the screens above the podium, votes were being recorded. The U.S. was again disassociating itself. Go upstairs again, the officer said. This time the doors were open. A request over the dark blue velvet rope for a copy of the voting sheet was meant with incomprehension. I'm giving these to them, was the answer. Many nations' seats were unfilled. One one vote -- after all the disruption, hard for now to know which -- the results were 109 for - 13 against - 35 abstaining. It doesn't add to 192.

Update of 6:21 a.m. -- Myanmar is speaking, against "the use of human rights for political purposes," bragging about the Constitution passed in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, with opposition to it illegal. "We will not be bound by it," Myanmar's representative said. And with that, the reports of the Third Committee were done, and those of the Fifth Committee began, at 6:23 a.m..

Update of 6:31 am - as a representative from the Philippines, rapporteur of the Fifth Committee, reads out the titles of resolutions adopted without a vote, Inner City Press is approached again, admonished for having accepted the invitation to enter from the second floor, since the third floor was locked. Front the seats in the back, the chairs of Bangladesh, the Bahamas and Azerbaijan are empty, while the representative of Austria, a country entering the Security Council in January over the defeated Iceland, is sound asleep throughout the Third Committee votes. Turkey's seat, too, was empty, while the representatives in Venezuela's and Zimbabwe's seats were sleeping.*

* - full disclosure: Inner City Press fell asleep and was photographed while waiting for d'Escoto to begin the General Assembly session, sometime around 5:30 a.m., and awoke amid the detritis of a drained case of Baltika, the "Famous Beer of Russia."

Update of 6:57 a.m. -- D'Escoto is droning on reading the names of Fifth Committee resolutions, still not vote on any of them. They are flying through: DPA, Development, ICT...

Update of 7:05 a.m. -- the first request for a vote is from France, on paragraph 3bis of Draft Resolution 4 about Terje Roed Larsen. Lebanon speaks against France's proposed deletion of the paragraph, and urges delegates to "press the red button." On so little sleep, it's good to be direct. And vote it taken, and comes out in favor of France's pro-Larsen proposal, 50; against, 88, abstentions, 3. "In consequence, France's proposal is not approved," d'Escoto intones, in Spanish.

Update of 7:13 am -- the US representative says the paragraph was politicized. Syria begins to disagree.

Update of 7:29 am -- after a 15 minute speech by Syria, d'Escoto reminds "with all due respect that we are taking too much time," then says "I give the microphone to Israel." But the delegation asking for the mic is Lebanon, sitting behind Israel. Perhaps since he was accused of not letter Israel speak, d'Escoto wants to show he'll call on them even if they don't ask for the floor. One can see the sky is light, through the smoked glass windows facing north from the UN.

Update of 7:35 a.m. -- d'Escoto has left the podium, another presiding officer, also speaking Spanish, takes his place.

Update of 7:38 a.m. -- d'Escoto is back, hugs his replacement and resumes his seat, you figure it out. He thanks the president of the Fifth Committee.

Update of 7:44 a.m. -- the budget items are over, d'Escoto starts a speech, mentioning the "Culture of Peace," people are standing and leaving. The representative of Yemen is screaming into his cell phone. "There's no security," a cleaning man remarks. Talk about a whimper, dream about a bang.

Update of 8:02 a.m. and hopefully the last -- on the green carpet in front of the General Assembly, the delegates are pouring out. The President, too: d'Escoto approaches Inner City Press, his handshake is warm, like the Russian beer in the Delegates' Lounge. Inner City Press apologizes for some reason for the delegations that left in the middle of his speech. "The Latins, they all stayed," a d'Escoto aide says hopefully. Ion the Moldovan, master of cerimonies, adds, Look who's hear working hard.

A Security Officer, coming in well-rested from a night of sleep, asks Inner City Press what's been happening.

"Non-stop nothingness," is the phrase that comes to mind.

"If you don't publish that, I'll stop telling you things." Consider it done.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unga1budnica122408.html

At UN, From Togo Lies to Red Flags, Discrimination and Corruption Alleged on the Record, "GA Should Act"

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1owondo090808.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 8 -- Whistleblowers about the UN are nearly always nameless, given the UN's record of retaliation. Given this record, Inner City Press grants and defends anonymity of whistleblowers. Recently, however, a former UN system staff member in Angola, Ivory Coast and at the International Criminal Court for Rwanda approached Inner City Press with his story, explicitly asking that he be quoted by name. He produced UN evaluations of his previous work, and a list of UN system jobs he has applied for without success.

"They've put a red flag on my file," he said. "I'm a lawyer but they've given me no chance to defend myself. The General Assembly should start a team to investigation discrimination and corruption in the UN, and they should use my story and my contacts. Please go ahead and name me."

His name is Joseph Owondo. He first approached Inner City Press at the Security Council stakeout. He wore an identification card from the Guinea-Bissau mission, for which he is working. He previously worked for the mission of his native Gabon, and before that for the UN, most recently in 2003 to 2005 as head of human rights for the UN Mission in Ivory Coast. He left, voluntarily, and returned to New York. Later he applied for a UN human rights post in Togo, another French speaking country. But after he applied, a colleague called him and said, "There's already someone for that post."

"How can that be?" he asked. "They've just advertised the post, and they say they're going to interview me."

"That's just for show," his friend told him. "You'll see."

When the interview occurred, it was conducted according to Mr. Owondo by a three-person panel. None of the three spoke French. "But the official language of Togo is French," Owondo protested.

"Togo officials all speak English," the head of the panel insisted.

Owondo disagreed, and made his answers in French. He did not get the job, the person it has been pre-promised to got it.

"This is what happens in the UN and everyone knows it but doesn't say," Owondo told Inner City Press this week. "People are afraid, they'll lose their jobs or have red flags put on their files and never get a job. This is what's happened to me."

Owondo paints a bleak picture of the current UN, saying that disappointment is widespread, even leading, he said, to suicide. "That lady who died out on the lawn?" he asked, pointing down at the grass between the UN and the East River. "Why does a person come in to their work if they want to kill themselves? Then a man died for lack of medical attention. We've hit a new low. The UN belongs to everyone. Member states have to beat their hands on the table and change things."

On August 4, Inner City Press exclusively reported on a seven-page letter to Ban Ki-moon which alleged systemic corruption and discrimination in the UN, primarily in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Click here for Inner City Press' story, which called the author, who wrote under the pen name Alice Gervais, a whistleblower, and wondered what investigation or retaliation might follow.

After publication, and without Inner City Press even having asked, a member of Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson told Inner City Press that no request for protection for retaliation had been filed with UN Ethics Officer Robert Benson, and that Ban Ki-moon would have no response, since it was an "anonymous" letter. Since then, numerous staff members have complained to Inner City Press about this non-response, asking why the factual allegations in the letter, against high UN officials, are not being inquired into, for example by the Office of Internal Oversight Services. Inner City Press sent OIOS chief Inga-Britt Ahlenius questions weeks ago, only to receive an auto-response that Ms. Ahlenius is on a six-week vacation extending through September 15.

On September 3, Inner City Press re-sent the seven-page letter to the spokesman for DPKO, Nick Birnback, and two other UN officials, asking for comment and response on the factual allegations in the letter. To date no such response have been received. Mr. Owondo has told Inner City Press that he has been "accused" of being the author of the letter.

"I did not write it," Owondo emphasized. "Many of the things in the letter, I know nothing about. But there is truth in that letter, that must be investigated. The General Assembly, which starts later this month, has to look into this. The UN itself won't do it, they just try to silence staff members who speak out. Take my evaluations, please put them online. I have nothing to be afraid of. They know where to reach me."

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1owondo090808.html

UN Admits Child Sex Problem, But Ban in Denial on Congo Gold and Guns Cover-Up

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un8oiosmonucsex052708.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 27 -- The UK-based Save the Children released a report about systemic and unpunished child sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers, and the UN quickly embraced the report, calling it useful. Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Michele Montas called the report "largely accurate." While Inner City Press was not permitted to ask her questions about this phrase - for example, did this characterization apply to the testimony of a girl in Cote d'Ivoire that she was gang-raped by ten peacekeepers? -- Jane Holl Lute came and gave a briefing about the report.

Since a major critique is of the lack of punishment of wrongdoers in blue helmets, Inner City Press asked Ms. Lute for an update on the Moroccan peacekeepers suspended in Cote d'Ivoire, on the Sri Lankan contingent repatriated from Haiti, and of Pakistan's failure to even response to a "note verbal" from the UN asking if those repatriated for the "gold for guns" trading scandal have been put on trial or punished. "I came down to speak about the report," Ms. Lute said, "not those cases.". They are, of course, related. She subsequently acknowledge this, at least as to Cote d'Ivoire, saying the UN Peacekeeping has "asked the mission" there to respond to charges that they were given evidence of child sexual abuse and did not act on it. She said there might be accountability for the mission leadership there. It was unclear if she meant the departed leadership, which most say will not work for the UN again, or current leadership.

While Ms. Lute said that the new Memorandum of Understanding with troop contributing companies does not limit UN responsibility, previously the head of the Office of Internal Oversight Services Inga-Britt Ahlenius told Inner City Press that the new MOU (A/61/19, Part III, Annex) provides that "It is understood that the Government has the primary responsibility for investigating any acts of misconduct or serious misconduct committed by a member of its national contingent."

So not only is punishment left in the hands of the troop contributing country -- so is investigation. Is this credible? Even Ms. Lute said that there are questions regarding if the UN can investigate itself. Inner City Press asked her if Ban Ki-moon, or UN Peacekeeping, favor the formation of a global watchdog unit on the issue. She said the Peacekeeping supports it, but she didn't know Ban Ki-moon view. Nor do we, even after Ban purported to speak about the issue on Tuesday.

Notably, while the UN quickly capitulated to the Save the Children report, it continues to aggressively deny reports by BBC, Human Rights Watch and now one of its former auditors about the the trading of gold for guns in the Congo. Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon about the former auditor's op-ed in the New York Times of May 23. "I have given my answer to this question," Ban said -- strange, since he was out of town in Myanmar on May 23. Yes, he had previously been asked about the guns for gold trading scandal, by Inner City Press. We have looked at it closely, he said at the time. Tuesday he added, "we did not find much to the allegations." Now that a former UN auditor has come forward to say that his report was whitewashed and covered-up, there seems to be more to say. But Ban did not say it, on Tuesday. He did, however, call Save the Children very helpful.

What explains this different approach to reports by seemingly similarly situated NGOs? Why does the UN find it easier to cop to allegations of child sexual abuse by its peacekeepers than to charges that peacekeepers traded guns for gold with rebels in the Congo? Could it be that the latter is based on leaked UN documents -- the current UN hates leaks -- or that the charges of providing guns to militias to kill civilians is so devastating? "OIOS should look into it," Ban said on Tuesday. "This is what I am going to do." Video here, from Minute 23:23.

We'll see, www.innercitypress.com/un8oiosmonucsex052708.html

UN's Congo Scandal was Covered-Up, Former OIOS Investigator Says, Accountability Delayed

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un7oiosmonuc052308.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 23 -- Faced with evidence that UN peacekeepers traded guns for gold with rogue militia leaders in the Eastern Congo, the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services engaged in a cover-up and issued a whitewash report, its deputy chief investigator in the Congo announced in a detailed article published Friday morning. At the noon briefing at UN Headquarters, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe for a response to the expose, if the militia leaders have been re-interviewed, as OIOS chief Inga-Britt Ahlenius said she was trying to bring about, and for a briefing by Ms. Ahlenius. Video here, from Minute 20:03.

Ms. Okabe replied, "Normally I do not represent OIOS as you know, but in response to these questions these you just asked, OIOS does have a number of points, so I'm going to read them, but this is really for follow-up with OIOS." She referred to a "background" briefing given on April 28 by a senior - but not the most senior - OIOS official, who insisted that his name not be used. What was presented at that briefing is directly contradicted by the new information from former OIOS investigator Matthias Basanisi. As Inner City Press pointed this out, Ms. Okabe put down her talking points and said, "I will provide you this after the briefing."

The five points that OIOS had given to Ms. Okabe are, in full, as follows:

- OIOS categorically denies all the accusations by Mr. Basanisi as baseless.

-Professional investigations cannot rely on rumor and unsubstantiated allegations, and require corroboration and evidence to draw definitive conclusions.

-During the course of his investigation, Mr. Basanisi was not able to provide credible corroboration of a single allegation. In fact, he never progressed further than cataloguing allegations.

-OIOS reiterates that it drew the right conclusions based on the evidence. As in all cases, OIOS applied common quality control procedures to examine and test whether evidence has be adduced.

-Should, however new evidence come to light -- OIOS will investigate.

Inner City Press asked Ms. Okabe, regarding just the first of the five points, if OIOS disputes that Mr. Basanisi was its deputy chief investigator in the Congo from 2005 to 2007. Ms. Okabe said, "This is what OIOS gave me. I don't speak for OIOS." Who does?

An obvious question for Ms. Ahlenius to answer is, "Did OIOS remove Mr. Basanisi and others from the Congo investigation when they resisted attempts to influence the outcome?"

Previously, Ms. Ahlenius told Inner City Press by e-mail that "given the fact that the persons known as 'Dragon' and 'Kung FU' respectively have changed their statements from denying obtaining any armaments from UN peacekeepers in their interviews with OIOS on 19 and 20 of July 2007, OIOS investigators in Kinshasa currently are making efforts to obtain access to them." That was more than three weeks ago. Have the interviews taken place? Inner City Press hopes to have more on this, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, soon.

Questions on which more is hope for from Mr. Basanisi include, who attempted to "influence the outcome"? Were such persons in his chain of command? If so, who? Are such persons still in the employ of the United Nations? If not, why?

Mr. Basanisi asserts that the reason for the whitewash is that the UN needs to continue to receive troops from Pakistan and India, and therefore covers-up abuses committed by these contingents. This would imply that the pressure to quash his report came from Peacekeeping -- that is, either Jean-Marie Guehenno or the just-passed head of the Department of Field Support Jane Holl Lute. Guehenno has already confirmed that he is leaving -- still unanswered is the question of which Frenchman will replace him, Jean-Maurice Ripert, Jean Arnault or some other. Jane Holl Lute, who was passed over to head DFS in favor of Susana Malcorra, is said to be preparing to leave. Some analogize this to the way the mere repatriation of accused peacekeepers keeps accountability from ever taking place. Time, then, is of the essence, and these questions must be answered.

Answers -- which Inner City Press has sought without success from Ban Ki-moon himself -- are particularly important in light of two audits of the Office of Internal Oversight Services which OIOS chief Inga-Britt Ahlenius told Inner City Press she owned and would not release have been put online by Inner City Press, here (1st) and here (2nd).

The reports are damning. The first, by Erling Grimstad, states among other thing that

"OIOS suffers from an ineffective and unclear structure, lack of independent budget and limited to no administrative support (check in and separating procedures, travel arrangements, etc.), poor management, conflicts at the senior management level, lack of communication inside ID/OIOS as well as with stakeholders and clients of ID/OIOS, lack of standard operating procedures and constant disagreements with regard to the scope of some of the investigative procedures of the division. This has obviously resulted in instability, high turnover rates and non-optimal working conditions for investigators."

The second report, on the "culture" of OIOS and compiled by Michel Girodo, states for example that, "secrecy and central control of information facilitated independence but also insulated managers from external review."

The fact that Ms. Ahlenius refused to release these on her own is, if anything, more troubling. The refusal to disclose could not be blamed on member states. She told Inner City Press, "It is my document." Now what does she say? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un7oiosmonuc052308.html

At UN, Ahlenius Is In Denial on Congo, Goes Slow on Lockheed Martin in Darfur Inquiry

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un5oiosmonuc050808.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 8 -- The UN's embattled chief investigator Inga-Britt Ahlenius, who refused to release two audits of her Office and declined to respond to questions about them, on Thursday denied each charge against her by rote, while saying that more detailed information would be provided in informal, that is closed-door, sessions. Before the UN's budget committee, Ms. Ahlenius contested "accusations that OIOS ignored, minimized or shelved allegations of serious misconduct pertaining to weapons trading in MONUC," the UN's Mission in the Congo.

"I would like to underscore to you, as I have to the Secretary-General, that these accusations against OIOS and the Organization are completely unfounded," she said. But many on the Committee were dubious, about this denial and about Ahlenius' various plans to pull investigators out of peacekeeping missions -- even more so, after the audits Ahlenius withheld were put online by Inner City Press here and here, describing a "lack of trust in investigative outputs," politicization, nepotism and a need for a "break from the past" at OIOS.

A task that the Committee assigned to Ahlenius in December 2007, to conduct an inquiry into the no-bid $250 million contract handed to U.S.-based military contractor Lockheed Martin of infrastructure in Darfur, she had yet to complete. She said, "in response to General Assembly resolution, A/62/232, requesting the Secretary-General to entrust to OIOS to undertake a comprehensive review of the use of extraordinary measures in [UNAMID], this review... will be presented to the General Assembly in the second resumed 63rd session." The Secretariat added, in its "note on the report on the activities of OIOS," that "the Secretary-General wishes to state that in approving certain administrative measures in the setting up of [UNAMID], he acted fully within his authority and did not approve any exceptions to the application of the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations." We'll see.

Footnote: in fact, exceptions are everywhere. Not only did Ms. Ahlenius refer to Management chief Alicia Barcena someone she met in Kosovo, Ms. Danielle Coolen, to be interviewed for the UN's top procurement job -- now Ms. Barcena is pushing another candidate, Paul Baudes, reporting telling the Comptroller that she had raised Baudes' "case" directly to the Secretary-General. Procurement is full of exceptions, and the Oversight Office is no longer credible. What will it take to clean it up?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un5oiosmonuc050808.html

On UN's Congo Scandal, Ban Defers to Ahlenius' OIOS, Which Itself Stands Accused

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un4oiosmonuc050508.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 5 -- A scandal stretching from the Eastern Congo to UN Headquarters in New York gathered force last Friday, while UN Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon was in London at a meeting about Gaza.

Internal reports by and about the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services were released by whistleblowers, showing among other things that complicated allegations about Indian peacekeepers trading gold, guns and ivory with rebels were abruptly dismissed in less than two weeks by OIOS in February of this year. More systemically, two reports about OIOS, which the unit's director Inga-Britt Ahlenius had previously refuse to release, were put online by Inner City Press here and here, which describe a "lack of trust in investigative outputs," politicization, nepotism and a need for a "break from the past" at OIOS.

Inner City Press on Monday asked Mr. Ban what he intends to do about the Congo, OIOS and the lack of transparency and any freedom of information law at the UN. In a two-minute on-camera response, Ban said that it will be up to OIOS, which he hopes "will look at this issue carefully." But since the allegations are against OIOS itself, Ban was asked "how does one hold OIOS accountable?" Ban said that he cannot, that it is up to the UN General Assembly, which created the Office. Video here, from Minute 18:55; transcript here.

In interviews Monday with Inner City Press, sources from both the UN General Assembly's budget committee and its Advisory Committee of Administrative and Budgetary Questions said that OIOS' most recent proposals have not been kindly viewed, that OIOS "doesn't have an idea so far." Proposals to withdraw investigators from peacekeeping missions such as the one in the Congo to so-called regional hubs are described as "unclear" and not well-argued. "I would not give a good rating on management," a well-place source responded when asked about Ahlenius' tenure.

The problems with the Ahlenius era at OIOS are not limited to the Congo. Despite telling the Washington Post of Feb. 17, 2008 -- just as the Eastern Congo allegations about the Indian Battalion were being summarily dismissed -- that "it seems to me that the ones who argue for secret reports have something to hide," Ms. Ahlenius refused repeatedly to release the two reports about her agency. In her May 2 statement to Inner City Press, she explains

"The report was commissioned by me solely for my own managerial information to provide an independent opinion on issues in the Investigation Division. This review was only part of many inputs in the process of considering a reform. I am the owner of the report."

But one of her colleagues, who is to retire in three months time, last week told the press that regular UN budget funds were used to commission the reports. So does Ms. Ahlenius own them?

BAN did not answer whether he favors, as part of UN reform, a freedom of information law which would make clear to UN officials like Ms. Ahlenius that they do not "own" records paid for by the public.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un4oiosmonuc050508.html

At UN, Reports Withheld by Ahlenius of OIOS Are Put Online, Congo Cover-up Alleged

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un3oiosmonuc050108.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 -- The UN's culture of secrecy and impunity has been punctured with week by a one-two punch. After reporting on UN Peacekeepers involvement in the trading of gold and guns in Eastern Congo, which the UN denied and dismissed but only off the record, now there is more support for the underlying reporting, including two reviews of the Office of Internal Oversight Services which OIOS chief Inga-Britt Ahlenius told Inner City Press she owned and would not release have been put online by Inner City Press, here (1st) and here (2nd).

The reports are damning. The first, by Erling Grimstad, states among other thing that
"OIOS suffers from an ineffective and unclear structure, lack of independent budget and limited to no administrative support (check in and separating procedures, travel arrangements, etc.), poor management, conflicts at the senior management level, lack of communication inside ID/OIOS as well as with stakeholders and clients of ID/OIOS, lack of standard operating procedures and constant disagreements with regard to the scope of some of the investigative procedures of the division. This has obviously resulted in instability, high turnover rates and non-optimal working conditions for investigators."

The second report, on the "culture" of OIOS and compiled by Michel Girodo, states for example that, "secrecy and central control of information facilitated independence but also insulated managers from external review."

The fact that Ms. Ahlenius refused to release these on her own is, if anything, more troubling. The refusal to disclose would not be blamed on member states. She told Inner City Press, "It is my document."

Earlier this week, in a briefing in which the speakers insisted on being identified only as "senior UN officials," Inner City Press asked who had paid for the report. "The UN budget," the senior UN official replied. So how is it Ms. Ahlenius' report? Now it and a companion report are available for the world at large. While the UN speaks about moving away from impunity, who will be held responsible for all this? We'll have more on this Friday, from the United Nations.

Footnote: UN insiders are wondering about the timing of BBC's report early in the week, without any quotes from HRW, and HRW's follow-up punch, put online early Friday. Did the UN's two "off the record" briefers earlier in the week know the second punch was coming? They certainly have their sources, including inside HRW. We'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un3oiosmonuc050108.html

As UN Spins Reports of Peacekeepers' Congolese Gold Deals, Who Audits the Auditor, OIOS?

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN www.innercitypress.com/un2oiosmonuc042808.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 28 -- Faced with detailed reporting that it covered up charges of peacekeepers helping with gold trading and even rebel-rearming in the Eastern Congo, the UN on Monday released a three-and-a-half page letter from its peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno. The letter among other things acknowledges that Pakistani peacekeepers provided meals, transport and security to a group of Indian businessmen "engaged in illegal trading of unwrought gold," and that this was conveyed in a "10 July 2007 Note Verbale" to Pakistan.

This calls into question an on-camera response two months later by MONUC's force commander Major-General Babacar Gaye. On September 6, Gen. Gaye criticized the press for reporting mere allegations of involvement by some MONUC personnel in smuggling, specifically gold smuggling. Inner City Press interjected that there is a report by the Office of Internal Oversight Services, reported on by BBC, that verified the gold smuggling connection. Video here, from Minute 47:08, and see this August 11, 2007 BBC article.

Gen. Gaye's response was telling: he turned to Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Michele Montas and asked if the OIOS report has been officially released. No, Ms Montas said. Thus assured, Gen. Gaye said for the cameras that the report was given to "the concerned member state" and that if it was not publicly released, "I am not in charge of that." Thus, as long as OIOS does not officially release its reports, the UN can and will deny what is in them. Why then have an Office of Internal Oversight Services? Could it, like the UN Ethics Office is turning out to be, be mostly for show? With OIOS, a previous detailed investigative report calling for action to be taken against UN Pension Fund officials was never acted on, nor has the non-action been explained.

Also on Monday, the UN produced for the press two senior officials, but insisted they not be named. "What's the point, then?" one reporter asked. But the attitude of the two officials is symbolic of the UN's approach. One official, having often said "zero tolerance," admitted that all that happened to a Pakistani peacekeeper who drove gold traders around was to be sent back to Pakistan. Inner City Press asked for confirmation that while the UN has asked Pakistan to disclose if any punishment was imposed, Pakistan has not responded. The official agreed, and said that all the UN could do is to try to publicize the non-response. "So can we quote you on that?" Inner City Press asked. "I'll think about it," the official said. Eight hours later, the demand for anonymity remained in place.

The other official claimed that there is no basis to conclude that an Indian gold trader, flown in to the Congo and driving around in a UN vehicle, is a smuggler. He said that the peacekeeper who drove the gold trader around did so only on his own behalf -- although there was no evidence, the official quickly pointed out, that there was any profit. "If I buy a joint [of marijuana] and smoke it there," he said, gesturing to one side of the UN briefing room, "that does not mean that the UN did it." Inner City Press asked for an update on OIOS' action on the UN General Assembly's call, in the December budget resolution, for a review of the "extraordinary measures" for the Darfur peacekeeping mission, including Lockheed Martin's $250 million no-bid contract with the UN. "The Procurement Task Force is doing that," the official said. We'll see.

Inner City Press asked if the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services' own audit of its operations, conducted by a consultant paid with UN money, will be released to the public. No, was the answer, just as OIOS chief Inga-Britt Ahlenius told Inner City Press "it is my document." (Ms. Ahlenius did not respond by deadline to an e-mailed request for clarification send after Monday's noon briefing.) But now it's confirmed that it was paid for by UN money. So whose report is it? Ahlenius, meanwhile, told the Washington Post that only those with something to hide try to withhold such information. So what does OIOS have to hide?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2oiosmonuc042808.html

As UN's Ms. Ahlenius Withholds "Her" Report, UN Business Seminars Benefit Rich Countries

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1oiosgrimstad031108.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 11 -- "It's my document, for my perusal," chief UN investigator Inga-Britt Ahlenius told Inner City Press on Tuesday, by way of explaining her decision to withhold all copies of a report on her agency, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, and its embattled Investigative Division. The UN's Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions noted that "the Committee did not have the benefit of access to the review itself, as OIOS declined to provide it."

Since Ms. Ahlenius is on record stating that she wishes more of her reports could be public, if only the UN's General Assembly would let her, Inner City Press asked both at Tuesday's UN noon briefing and then to Ms. Ahlenius directly what the basis is for this withholding. The UN Spokesperson said that the question would be passed on to OIOS (video here), but in the UN's basement just before five p.m. Ms. Ahlenius said she'd not yet seen the question. Inner City Press repeated, why is the report being withheld? "I am accountable to the Fifth Committee" of the General Assembly, she said, emphasizing that the consultant who prepared the review does not have to report to the Fifth Committee (Budgetary and Administrative).

But who paid for the report? On these questions, who watches the watchers? Who will do the auditing?

Ms. Ahlenius was exiting a meeting about procurement, at which for example the Russian delegate denounced the UN's no-bid $250 million contract with Lockheed Martin for infrastructure for the Darfur peacekeeping mission. Ms. Ahlenius' OIOS was directed by a December 18, 2007 General Assembly vote to investigate this contract and the waiving of competitive bidding and hiring rules in Darfur. Ms. Ahlenius has yet to give any substantive update on this inquiry; Tuesday she again appeared not eager to answer any questions. So much for transparency.

At Tuesday's meeting, the UN's acting chief procurement official Paul Buades listened to member states complaints, not only about the Lockheed Martin no-bid contracts but also about so-called business seminar, for which host nations can pay for the travel and "mission sustenance allowance" of UN staff. The delegate of Brazil noted that this favors rich countries, and raises "ethical issues." On this and most other topics, Mr. Buades said he would be replying in "informal" session -- that is, out of the public eye.

And on the most basic of procurement issues, which company has the contract for UN helicopters in Nepal, one of which crashed eight days ago, the UN has still refused to answer, despite Inner City Press asking yet again at Tuesday's noon briefing. While the UN to its credit has set up an online condolence book for the ten people killed when the helicopter went down, to stonewall all requests for information underlying the crash is, so far, a troubling memorial.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1oiosgrimstad031108.html

While UN Discloses Deputy's Rent, Others Officials Thumb Noses or Remain Vague on Assets, Living Through the Spousal Loophole

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1findisclosed012808.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 28 -- The Deputy Secretary General of the UN rents property to the Tanzania Cigarette Company, according to new financial disclosure forms, partially made public at the request of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Click here for DSG Asha Rose Migiro's form. While Ban asked all of the UN's top executives to list, without dollar values, their assets over $10,000, several executives have declined. The executive director of the UN Office of Project Services, Jan Mattson, checked his form "I have chosen to maintain... confidentiality." Iqbal Riza, previously Kofi Annan's chief of staff and still a "Special Advisor" to Ban, at the Under Secretary General (USG) level, also chose to maintain confidentiality.

On January 24, Ban's deputy spokesperson Marie Okabe announced that Ban "encouraged his senior officials -- at the grade of Under-Secretary-General [USG] and Assistant Secretary-General [ASG] -- to follow his lead and make public, on a voluntary basis, their confidential financial disclosure or declaration of interest statement." Apparently, Messrs. Riza and Mattson do not agree. The high officials of Mr. Mattson's previous employer, the UN Development Program, have their names listed -- Dervis, Merkert, Yuge, Jenks et al. -- but no live links to any disclosures, despite requests by Inner City Press and other for such information dating to May 2007. While the same is true for the head of UN peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno, whose deputy Edmond Mulet is not even listed, the UN's force commanders of peacekeeping missions in Liberia, Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, did provide links to forms -- but all of them chose not to disclose.

One wonders why not, given how vague many of the disclosures made actually are. Some officials, while stating that they were disclosing, chose not to include the asset section, including the envoy for Western Sahara Peter van Walsum (who also wrote, "no outside activities," which seems strange) and Ban's climate change envoy, and now South Korean prime minister-designate, Han Seung-soo. The head of the UN's office in Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, wrote under Assets only the words, "Bank Savings Accounts," and not even the name of the institution holding the funds. This purported disclosure seem inconsistent with Ms. Okabe's explanation of Ban's request for disclosure, as demonstrating to" both the general public and the Member States" that "UN staff members will not be influenced by any consideration associated with his/her private interests." How can the public be assured if so little is disclosed in most cases about the specifics of these private interests? A decision was made not to disclose anything about spousal assets, even if that is a way the UN official receives benefits. We will have more on this, and on officials who are not yet even listed, such as Joseph Verner Reed, Terje Roed-Larsen and the aforementioned deputy of peacekeeping, just as three examples.

For now, given the lack of specificity about UN officials financial assets and connections, most of what can be gleaned from reviewing those disclosures made available involves real estate. Ban Ki-moon owns an apartment and residential lot in Seoul, and non-residential property in Kyonggi Province, South Korea. His chief of staff Vijay Nambiar owns an apartment in Delhi, and lists two outside affiliations, as an honorary member and honorary fellow. Deputy chief of staff Kim Won-soo owns a house and land in Korea, and lists with welcome additional specificity mutual fund holdings in Chase, Wells Fargo and Kookmin banks, and loans with Shihan Bank and KEB, which HSBC is trying to buy from the U.S. hedge fund Lone Star. Acting chief of the Department of Field Support Jane Holl Lute lists mutual funds with Fidelity and two houses somewhere in the USA with her spouse, the Bush administrations war czar for Iraq and Afghanistan, General Richard Lute, with whom she also hold three loans from JP Morgan Chase.

Capital Master Plan chief Michael Adlerstein sold a house in "Chatham USA," but still owns land there. Two USG's own between them eight residences. Investigator Inga-Britt Ahlenius lists three houses in Sweden. Department of Management chief Alicia Barcena, who has repeatedly to Inner City Press spoken about the UN's yet-to-be-born freedom of information act, lists an apartment and house in Chile, and two apartments and a house in Mexico, as well as a mortgage with Banco de Chile. ASG Robert Orr has his mortgage with Citigroup, and mutual funds with Vanguard. World Food Program chief Josette Sheeran Shiner has her mutual funds with Wachovia. UN Pension Fund director Bernard Cocheme has an apartment in Paris, and wrote in by hand a savings account and even a garage. Peacebuilding's Carolyn McAskey lists a house and three acres with her partner, in Canada, a condo in New York and a mortgage from the UN Federal Credit Union.

Regarding humanitarian USG John Holmes, even less is clear, as the link to his form does not work. The same might be said of this system, from which a number of appointees just opt out, and others delete or don't fill in the asset disclosure. Again, the spousal loophole is one that, on reflection, does or will not make sense. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1findisclosed012808.html