Sg official abused in UN--again
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Sg official in UN was abused again!!
1.Letter from the official
Start of quote
24/01/2006 Pub: Strait Times Page: H6
Headline: S'porean UN official puzzled by probe
Page Heading: Forum
Type: Letter
I REFER to the article, 'UN suspends high-ranking S'porean
official in probe' (The Sunday Times, Jan 22). I would like
to place the matter in its proper context.
Four members of my office (the Office of Central
Support Services or OCSS), including myself as head,
and four staff members from the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) were placed on
special leave with pay from Jan
16. This followed the restricted release of a draft
report by the Office of Internal Oversight Services
(OIOS) entitled 'Comprehensive review of DPKO
peacekeeping procurement' dated Dec 30, 2005.
It was stated by United Nations management that
placement on special leave with pay is not a disciplinary
action and was taken 'in the best interest of
the organisation' to permit further investigations.
Although administrative action was taken on the
basis of the draft report,the staff of my office and
I have not been provided with a copy of the document
to this day. Furthermore, I was not interviewed by
OIOS in the preparation of
its report. I was, however, permitted to read
the report after its limited
release last week and to take notes.
The report contained a litany of observations
involving wrongdoings, including fraud in procurement
activities in various peacekeeping missions and
the requisitioning of items not required in field operations.
Peacekeeping operations and all associated staff
are under the exclusive management responsibility
of the Assistant Secretary-General and the
Under-Secretary-General of the DPKO. My office does
not determine what is needed or not needed in
field operations or for the management of their staff
or their inventory.
Furthermore, since the mid-1990s (prior to my
arrival at the United Nations in New York), DPKO
had been given delegated authority to conduct procurement
activities in the field up to a pre-determined dollar
value. Requisitions for materials beyond the threshold
are authorised and certified by DPKO management
in UN Headquarters as bona fide mission requirements
before they are submitted
to UNPS for international competitive bidding.
Therefore, the question my colleagues in OCSS and
I have been asking so far
without any response from our management is why
we were singled out to account
for activities beyond our management purview.
What is more disturbing is the fact that no senior
managers in DPKO were
held accountable for the activities of their personnel
and the missions they directly supervise, as observed
in the OIOS draft report. The highest-ranking
DPKO official placed on special leave was a chief
administrative officer of a field mission.
As Assistant Secretary-General, I am therefore the
highest-ranking official subjected to this administrative
action, although I have no control whatsoever
over the staff and activities of peacekeeping missions.
It also remains a mystery as to how the removal of my
colleagues and I in OCSS from duties for the duration
of further investigations into peacekeeping-mission
activities, while leaving the senior managers in DPKO to
continue their direct management of these missions,
is construed to be 'in the best interest of the organisation'.
Surely, any attempts to foil investigations will be
carried out by those involved rather than those
who are not. Whether nationality plays a part
in this crude discriminatory practice as
reported in some quarters is a matter of speculation
at this stage although this sort of treatment of
Singaporeans in the UN is not without precedence.
Having served the UN faithfully and honestly for over
25 years with a number of unique achievements on
record, it pains me to wash our proverbial dirty
linen in public.
But given the blatant discriminatory nature of
the event, and as the first career person from Singapore
to have reached this level of seniority in the UN,
I have every intention to continue to fight for the
truth to prevail and to restore the good name of
Singapore and Singaporeans.
Many fellow citizens and my colleagues have called
me to render moral support for which I am grateful
and I shall not fail them.
Andrew Toh
Assistant Secretary-General
Office for Central Support Services
United Nations, New York---end of quote
2.Resume of Andrew Toh
3.
Already hinted in Dec 2005Needed within a corporate entity were a culture of ethics “from the top”, internal and external audit, training and up-to-date systems.
4.This is Second Sg official abused in UN.Is an official in OIOS
(Sg's CPID)was accused recently?
Pl share here.Pl read next post.
5.Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was unaware his son received $30,000 a year for over five years from a Swiss-based company under investigation in connection with suspected corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq.--Nov. 30, 2004The United Nations previously said Kojo Annan stopped receiving monthly payments from Cotecna at the end of 1999. But Eckhard said Friday he continued to be paid because he had an open-ended no-compete contract.
Any punishment for this Secretaay General's son?
Under that contract, Kojo Annan was paid $2,500 a month — $30,000 a year — in return for which he agreed not to work for a competitor, Wolfe said.
6.UN will be in top ten survey of corruption if it is included. -
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The first Sg official abused---Dileep Nair,former Managing Director of the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS)??
1.Biography of
Under-Secretary-General Dileep Nair,Singapore
2.
The first allegation was cleared.Report finds no violations, recommends no further action---16/11/2004
3. Second allegation
31/03/2005 Pub: Strait Times Page: 15
Headline: Dileep Nair mired in another UN controversy
By: Betsy Pisik, Straits Times US Bureau In New York
Page Heading: World
Picture Caption:
UNDER A CLOUD : Mr Nair says the new criticisms are unfair.
Related Stories:
Why the fuss?
He is criticised for using oil-for-food programme funds to hire assistant
MR DILEEP Nair, the Singaporean inspector-general for the United Nations who is
being investigated again over allegations of improper hiring practices and
sexual harassment, is mired in yet another controversy.
A panel investigating the UN's oil-for-food programme for Iraq has
criticised him for hiring an all-round special assistant - also a Singaporean -
using money earmarked for the humanitarian programme.
He is accused of hiring Mr Tan Tay Keong for various duties around his
Office of Internal Oversight Services, few of which explicitly dealt with the
programme.
The charges against Mr Nair are detailed in a report released on Tuesday by
the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) into the management of the programme.
Mr Tan, then a public policy professor at the National University of
Singapore, was hired in May 2001 to develop risk-assessment and anti-corruption
initiatives for Mr Nair's office.
But several people said that he spent little time on oil-for-food work. Mr
Tan himself told investigators that the programme accounted for only 5 per cent
to 10 per cent of his time.
The IIC noted that hiring a special assistant with US$260,000 of
oil-for-food money but not having him focus on that programme was a 'misuse' of
funds that 'violates' staff regulations.
'Given Mr Nair's oversight responsibilities within the organisation, he must
be held to the highest standards of conduct,' it noted.
Mr Nair said the criticism was 'nitpicking' and unfair.
He said Mr Tan was not hired exclusively for the oil-for-food programme and
he had made this clear in his communications with UN Human Resources and the UN
Financial Controller.
'This is certainly not misconduct,' he told The Straits Times late Tuesday.
'I did what I told the controller I was going to do. The elements are there.
I didn't misrepresent anything.'
In fact, Mr Tan was hired to create an overdue risk-assessment strategy and
similar management programmes, which would be introduced in the Iraq
humanitarian effort and then applied to other departments as well, he said.
Mr Nair, former managing director of the Development Bank of Singapore,
agreed that Mr Tan spent little time on Iraq-specific tasks and said his
responsibilities were, in fact, connected but much larger.
The systems developed for the oil-for-food programme would be used on other
high-risk efforts, he said, noting that nothing like that existed in the UN.
Mr Tan, now head of the Singapore International Foundation, was not
available for comment yesterday.
The IIC's criticisms pale beside its other findings, such as the attempts by
Mr Kojo Annan, the son of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to use his influence
to steer a lucrative contract to his employer.
But it is clear that senior UN management has run out of patience with Mr
Nair, whose non-renewable five-year term ends on April 20.
'The question is whether there will be disciplinary action against Mr Nair,'
said Mr Mark Malloch Brown, the UN Secretary-General's chief of staff. 'The
answer is: inevitably.'
To Mr Nair, who watched Mr Malloch Brown's press conference on television in
his office, such an unexpected and public reproach is 'a violation of my due
process, and just wrong'.----end of quote
4.
Positions on 17.06.2005--BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC,
ASSOCIATE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORKINVESTIGATION TO PROCEED IN DILEEP NAIRÂ’S CASE
5.Response from Sg MFA
* In response to questions asked in recent days about former Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services Dileep Nair, the Spokesman said that, following a review by a third party of the allegations regarding OIOS management, the Secretary-General has decided to proceed with an investigation.
*
The initial review was carried out by Jerome Ackerman, a former President of the UN Administrative Tribunal.
*
The Secretary-General has asked Ackerman to conduct the investigation with haste, and to complete it within 30-45 days.
*
Asked what Ackerman is to investigate, the Spokesman said that he would look into the hiring of people in NairÂ’s office, as well as general management issues within OIOS.
*
The Spokesman added that the Secretary-General had earlier this year received more information about those issues by the Staff Union, and he decided to turn to a third party to see if there was enough information to proceed with an investigation.
*
Asked what would be the consequences of this investigation, given that Nair has retired from the United Nations, Dujarric said that it would give Nair a chance to clear his name, and would give the staff members closure. For the United Nations, it would provide lessons in how to improve management within OIOS.
*
Asked whether NairÂ’s pension could be affected, the Spokesman said that pensions as a matter of policy belong to the staff members.
ON 30.03.2005MFA Spokesman's Comments - Reference to Dileep Nair by the Independent Inquiry Committee led by Paul Volcker
6.I remember that Sg has said she will not send official to UN .
MFA SPOKESMAN'S COMMENTS
REFERENCE TO DILEEP NAIR BY THE
INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE LED BY PAUL VOLCKER
In response to media queries, the MFA Spokesman said:
"It is difficult to understand what the fuss is about.
The Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) claims that Mr Dileep Nair had misrepresented the duties to be performed by his former Special Assistant, Mr Tan Tay Keong, to obtain funding for the post from the Oil for Food Programme (OFFP). But Mr Nair's point that Mr Tan's work "did benefit the [OFFP] Programme" is not disputed by the IIC. And Mr Nair's 30 July 2001 note to the UN's Financial Controller made it clear that Mr Tan would be performing many duties, including but not limited to OFFP work. The decision to fund Mr Tan's post from the OFFP was not made by Mr Nair but by UN's Financial Controller with full knowledge of the facts.
The IIC was set up to look into allegations that billions of dollars had been mismanaged or siphoned off from OFFP. It is baffling that the IIC has chosen to nit pick on a trivial difference of interpretation of one official's job scope, something for which Mr Nair was not responsible."
Pl share the latest info here. -
Classic case of racism at play
It is typical Caucasian condescending attitude of intolerance towards those - who are better than them - seen to be from an inferior ethnic background.
We should have more Bruce Lee "Enter the Dragon" Movie and Jackie Chan 'wallop' the Caucasian bully movies to remind them that we are not simple 'push overs'
One can only wonder what our Government a.k.a the Ruling Party is doing - behind the scene or otherwise - in defending our Citizen caught in such a high profile discriminatory situation ? -
jia you!dun let us down.
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Nothing new. This is not first time we hear Singapore officials being abused in UN. I have no idea why, probably it's because we are Asian origin.
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HEADLINES
Sg Special Anti-Corruption Squad Storms UN HQ building n guns down KOFFI ANNAN's son. Proving that discrimination has to stop, they stormed the council meeting room n gunned down everyone and walked out with no casualties on thier side. -
let's not jump into the conclusion that the chap is not guilty just because he's Singaporean shall we ..... haven't we learn anything from our dear friend Durai ? .....
the UN doesn't not exactly have a very nice reputation at trouble spots around the globe, if you talk to some who have worked at some NGO at trouble spots ... remember all the news about how aid money were used to hire US$500000 "consultants", how certain eastern european countries sent immates from their lunatic asylums as soldiers to UN peace-keeping missions to earn hard foreign currency ? ...
I shall suspend my judgement these chaps mentioned here before they are proven guilty or otherwise .... but presuming them innocent like this, crying foul and racism and discrimination, is embaressing .... -
this is what happens when novice corrupts(sg officials) go against veteran corrupts(un officials).
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Annan son offers to pay duties on UN mystery car (bought in Annan's name )
Wednesday January 25, 2:43 AM--2006
2.This was a pure cheat to save tax The money should be returned to Mercedec without told to do so,Mr Senior and Junior Annan!!
Annan son offers to pay duties on UN mystery car
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Kojo Annan, the son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will pay back import duties improperly waived by Ghana for the purchase of a luxury car in his father's name, Kojo Annan's lawyer said on Tuesday.
By using his father's name in buying the Mercedes Benz car and importing it to Ghana in 1998, Kojo received a $6,541 discount from Mercedes and saved $14,103 in import duties, a U.N.-appointed commission reported last September.
Both price breaks were granted on grounds the car was said to be intended for an international diplomat's personal use.
Investigators from the panel, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, stumbling on the transaction, initially suspected the car may have been a payoff to Kofi Annan by Swiss firm Cotecna S.A. -- which had employed Kojo -- for granting a multimillion-dollar U.N. contract under the oil-for-food program for Iraq.
But they dropped the matter after finding no evidence of any improper benefit to Kofi Annan, who assured them he had no idea his son had bought the car in his name.
Following their report, the United Nations clamped a lid of secrecy on the details of the transaction, refusing to say where it had ended up or who actually owned it, prompting weeks of bitter exchanges between journalists and U.N. spokesmen at the world body's daily media briefings.
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The dispute peaked last month when the secretary-general lost his diplomatic cool at his annual year-end news conference, calling a reporter who raised a question about the lingering mystery an "overgrown schoolboy" and "an embarrassment ... to your profession."
U.N. officials continued turning away questions on the subject for another month.
Then on Tuesday, Kojo Annan's attorney, William Taylor, released a letter to the Ghanaian Customs authorities stating that he wanted to pay back the waived import duties.
"The automobile was not for the secretary-general's personal use and therefore the exemption was not justified," Taylor wrote.
Kojo paid $39,056 for the car in Geneva in November 1998, according to Volcker's report. It was then shipped to Ghana, Kofi and Kojo Annan's birthplace.
Taylor told Reuters the green station wagon had effectively been owned by Kojo Annan all along and had been kept at his home in Lagos, Nigeria. He said he believed the car was no longer in use after being involved recently in a bad accident.
But Kojo Annan's reimbursement offer did not extend to the diplomatic discount granted due to his father's U.N. position, Taylor said. "Mercedes doesn't need the money," he said.
The Secretary General shall reprimand his son publicly and
make a apology to the world.
What would happen to Sg official if they committed this crime.
Sure he would be fired by UN and pension forfeited.
But the law do not apply to the INSIDERS,especially the Secretary
General ......and his son. -
Originally posted by vito_corleone:this is what happens when novice corrupts(sg officials) go against veteran corrupts(un officials).
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wasn't his son farked up already? anyways i think now gahmen wun dare to say anything even if this is proven to be true.. but if back in lky era sure scold one, especially doc m if this is malaysia.
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Originally posted by lionnoisy:
The UN is verty corrupt.
[b]Annan son offers to pay duties on UN mystery car (bought in Annan's name )
2.This was a pure cheat to save tax The money should be returned to Mercedec without told to do so,Mr Senior and Junior Annan!!
The Secretary General shall reprimand his son publicly and
make a apology to the world.
What would happen to Sg official if they committed this crime.
Sure he would be fired by UN and pension forfeited.
But the law do not apply to the INSIDERS,especially the Secretary
General ......and his son.
[/b]
Even serious human rights violators like Syria and Indonesia can sit on the UNHRC committee.
Its time to either junk or reform the UN. -
junk the UN and a new war might start as there is nobody to regulate the countries...its better to reform
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if a country's invaded ... other countries would only come to her aid only if it's in their interest to do so ...Originally posted by abao:junk the UN and a new war might start as there is nobody to regulate the countries...its better to reform
if Kuwait exported only dates and pearls instead of oil ... you think other countries would give a flying f.uck when Saddam rolled his tanks across the border ? ... which country would send their sons and soldiers to die for another country, if there's nothing in it for them ? ...
UN or no UN ... it'll still be the same ... we all got to depend on ourselves alone ... don't count on other countries coming to your aid ... or being nice to you all the time ...
errrr ... sorry folks ... just realised that I posted this reply thinking it was another thread .....
this one should go here: timor's horrors
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Thats right, you can't expect UN to solve your problems.
They shld be renamed to UNATO. -
What is UNATO???
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united no action talk only
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Thanks .
UN announces over 200 procurement investigations and puts 8 staff on leave
Christopher Burnham briefs the press.23 January 2006 .The UN is also fully cooperating with the United States law enforcement authorities. “The United Nations is being proactive,” Mr. Burnham declared, noting that OIOS turned over evidence it had gathered on procurement to the US Attorney for the Southern District which ultimately issued an indictment and obtained a guilty plea. Former procurement officer Alexander Yakovlev was arrested last August after Secretary-General Kofi Annan waived his immunity.
2.This include Sg official.
3.
The secretary General explained this was not his fault.--7 September 2005But Mr. Annan accepted personal criticism, also expressed in preliminary IIC reports, of his reaction when he was first informed of the reports about Kojo Annan. “I accepted then, and still accept, the conclusion that I was not diligent or effective enough in pursuing an investigation after the fact, when I learned that the company which employed my son had won the humanitarian inspection contract,” he said. “I deeply regret that.”
4.
But, he added, the findings about the general management of the Programme, characterized by weak administrative practices, and inadequate control and auditing, reflect on the system of decision-making, accountability and management throughout the Organization.
“Here too, as chief administrative officer, I have to take responsibility for the failings revealed, both in the implementation of the Programme and, more generally, in the functioning of the Secretariat,” he said.
The report finds that many of these problems were rooted in an unclear demarcation of roles and responsibilities between the Council, the 661 Committee (overseeing the programme) and the Secretariat – in particular by this Council's decision to retain substantial elements of operational control within the 661 committee, composed of national diplomats working under highly politicized instructions from their home governments, yet willing to take decisions only when there was unanimous consent among all the 15 members.
Son not co-operated with inquiry.I am deeply saddened by the evidence to the contrary that has emerged and particularly by the fact that my son had failed to cooperate full with the inquiry. I have urged him to cooperate and I urge him to reconsider his position and cooperate."
----Secretary-General Kofi Annan.29 March 2005.
5.
In the coming days, we hope that more answers will be coming from Cotecna, Kofi Annan, former OIP boss Benon Sevan (who, according to Iraqi records, was benefiting from illicit oil sales) and everyone else who had a hand in the mess that was the oil-for-food program. --31.01.2005.The Washington Times. -
This Fox News lead to the full report of The 144-page report is the second issued by the team of investigators led by Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman and lead to Spore
DILLEP NAIR and
ANDREW TOH
2.The report said:Report: Cotecna Didn't Have Leg Up On Contracts
This latest report considers the award in 1998 of the humanitarian goods inspection contract to Cotecna and deals only with limited aspects of the Oil-for-Food program.
Kojo Annan (search) worked for Cotecna in West Africa from 1995 to December 1997, and then was a consultant for the firm until the end of 1998 — when it won the Oil-for-Food contract. He remained on the Cotecna payroll until 2004.
"There is no evidence" that the selection of Cotecna for an Oil-for-Food inspection contract "was subject to any affirmative or improper influence of the secretary-general in the bidding or selection process" that took place in 1998, the report said.
But it does blame Annan for not effectively investigating connections between his son, Cotecna and Oil-for-Food after he learned about them in January 1999 news reports.......
The Volcker report accused Kojo Annan and Cotecna of trying to conceal their relationship from both the U.N. secretary-general and the IIC and said the investigation was still probing "significant questions" surrounding Kojo Annan's business dealings with Oil-for-Food. -
next question to ask is which official from which country will benefit and who takeover if andrew toh steps down....dat cld give clues on wad is happening.Originally posted by Atobe:Classic case of racism at play
It is typical Caucasian condescending attitude of intolerance towards those - who are better than them - seen to be from an inferior ethnic background.
We should have more Bruce Lee "Enter the Dragon" Movie and Jackie Chan 'wallop' the Caucasian bully movies to remind them that we are not simple 'push overs'
One can only wonder what our Government a.k.a the Ruling Party is doing - behind the scene or otherwise - in defending our Citizen caught in such a high profile discriminatory situation ?