UN's
Ban Goes Easy
on Yoon, Orr,
Kim &
Petrova,
Stonewalls for
Doss &
Strong, Speaks
on Cronyism
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 13 --
"Firm measures
against
corruption and
cronyism," UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon called
for on March
12, during the
Security
Council debate
on the Arab
Spring.
But
inside the UN,
Ban has
favored those
he is closest
to with the
easiest
application
of his "five
year rule" of
mobility. Ban
spoke of the
unfairness of
some UN
official
staying in New
York for
years, while
others suffer
in the field.
But
his senior
adviser Kim
Won-soo, for
example, has
only been
moved from
deputy
chief of staff
to "Change
Management."
His scheduler
Yeocheol Yoon,
a friendly man
also from
South Korea
who once told
Inner City
Press "I only
deal with his
calendar," has
been
promoted to
dealing with
the world's
calendar, as
the UN Chief
of
Protocol.
Even
Kim Won-soo's
associate
Simona Petrova
of Bulgaria,
insiders
complain, is
quietly
being moved
laterally, to
staff the
Chief
Executive
Board.
Robert
Orr, with well
over five
years, has
been put into
a public -
private
partnership
job, while
insiders
kvetch that
his South
Korean spouse
is big in the
corporate
world. The
complaint is,
THIS is
mobility?
THIS is
leading by
example? Or is
it cronyism?
Then
there is
corruption,
and the lack
of "firm
measures"
against it.
Maurice Strong
left the UN
during the Oil
for Food
scandal,
having
written a
nearly $1
million check
to himself,
and secretly
hired his
step-daughter
in violation
of UN rules.
But now
quietly he is
back,
as a "Senior
Adviser" on
Rio + 20.
Likewise
Alan
Doss, who left
in the midst
of a nepotism
scandal having
asked or
told UNDP to
break its
rules and give
a job to his
daughter, is
back,
traveling with
new UN envoy
Kofi Annan to
Syria. But
despite three
requests now,
Ban's
spokesman
refuses to
confirm who
went to Syria
with Annan,
who got paid,
and whom they
met with,
telling Inner
City
Press "this is
not the
focus."
Inner City
Press asked
again on March
12,
"is
it possible to
get a list of
the people
that
accompanied
Kofi Annan
on his mission
to Syria?
Also, there
was a
reference to
him meeting
businessmen
and
businesswomen,
is there a way
to get who
went and who
they met
with?"
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
said, "I can
certainly try,
Matthew." But
23 hours
later, no
information at
all had been
provided.
What was that
again, about
"firm measures
against
corruption and
cronyism"?
Watch
this site.
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