Posted on 01/16/2006 2:09:22 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
EIGHT UN officials have been suspended with pay as part of an investigation into the world body's procurement services following scandals in the oil-for-food program in Iraq, UN officials said this morning.
The investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services is the result of a probe into contracts in the UN peacekeeping department, which is fielding some 85,000 troops, police and civilians around the world.
"There is an audit being done of peacekeeping department management," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
"As a result of that audit, which also took a look at the procurement department ... we have put eight staff members on special leave with pay."
But Mr Dujarric said the action was not a disciplinary move because the audit was incomplete.
"It is people who have management responsibilities," he said.
The UN has previously transferred leading officials out of procurement and other departments while investigations are going on.
Christopher Burnham, the UN undersecretary-general for management called the action "an indication that we have a vigorous ongoing and expanding investigation."
Mr Burnham, an American, ordered a review by an outside audit firm after a purchasing officer, Alexander Yakovlev, pleaded guilty in August to wire fraud and money laundering.
A UN-appointed commission investigating the now defunct oil-for-food program, headed by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, accused Yakovlev of pocketing more than $US950,000 ($1.2 million) in illegal payments from companies seeking UN contracts.
Mr Burnham last month told a news conference he intended to order a "forensic audit" to determine the exact nature of contract abuse and how much money was lost. This investigation would be completed in June.
UN Procurement Services approves the purchase of goods and services. It oversaw $US1.37 billion ($1.81 billion) in contracts for 2004.
After Yakovlev pleaded guilty in US federal court for the Southern District of New York, the UN transferred responsibility for procurement to the UN controller's office. It had been part of the responsibilities of Andrew Toh, an assistant secretary-general for support services.
UN.Secretary-General Kofi Annan also transferred Christian Saunders, the chief of procurement, to another post.
A December audit by the Swiss firm Deloitte and Touche said procurement was vulnerable to fraud and corruption.
It cited a lack of urgency in reporting wrong-doing, virtually nonexistent ethics training, and out-of-date computer systems that prevented a systematic oversight of spending.
How can I get the UN to suspend me with pay?
Got to keep their paychecks.
Harumph!
KoFox Annan merely moving chickens around in the henhouse he's carefully guarding.
And those paychecks are coming from our pockets
Let's see, two thirds of the membership of the United Nations is composed of corrupt third-world kleptocracies. Any reason to believe the bureaucrats at the UN would be any different?
Great. Now the lazy, corrupt SOBs don't even have to pretend to work any more. They can spend all their time developing new contacts and writing books and appearing on talk shows.
Isn't ths kind of like expecting Internal Affairs to clean their own mess up?
Or expecting Congre$$ to be ethical in their endeavors?
Must be linked to the National Education Association Union.
I reported via the media about UN corruption in Kosovo starting in August 2005. Reference yahoo search...Kosovo + Tom Gambill. Haven't heard anything about Kosovo. Quiet as a church house rat.....
Like this?
At 62, I doubt I'll be around when the final report comes in!
Gosh....they are really tough on their staff ( I just wish that once I could get suspended with pay.....really be hard to take. Kind of like vacation.)
Will the history textbooks explain that the "opposition" to the war was bought and paid for?
Work for them, don't smoke, and show a disdain for the US.
You would be "in like flint"!
TRANSLATION:...get those stupid moth'r *^$# who would speak to investigators out of town
Doogle
ethics training
---
lol, how can you train in ethics?
simple enough - it starts with a mother with a hard backhand and a father with a wide belt, simple clear household rules, and clear predefined uniform enforcement of penalties for defined breaches in behavior.
'course, wayyyyy too late for these UNions to get anything but freakfetish titillation from such methods
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