At UN,
Leaked Memo
Complains of
Cover Up of
Probe of
UMOJA, Kane
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 11 –
Alongside
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's $100
million budget
cut, of which
he says 70%
should be from
personnel
costs or
workers'
salaries,
questions are
mounting about
cost overruns,
waste and
fraud in the
UN's systems
upgrade or
“UMOJA”
project.
On
December 14,
2012 Inner
City Press
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
three top
spokespeople
to “please
confirm or
deny that the
director of
OIOS stopped
an
investigation
of UMOJA,
including of
the role of
the former
Under
Secretary
General for
Management,
and on what
basis.”
In two
months, the UN
has not
answered this
or another
related
question.
Meanwhile, the
Office of the
Spokesperson
of the
Secretary
General has
told Inner
City Press it will not
confirm or
deny documents
Inner City
Press obtains
from
whistleblowers
or, as OSSG
calls them,
“leaks.”
Inner
City Press has
obtained
a memo that
was sent to
Ban Ki-moon
alleging a
cover up in
the
investigation
of UMOJA and
of “former
Under
Secretary
General for
Management”
(now USG for
Disarmament)
Angela Kane.
The memo, which we are
putting online
here,
recounts that
the head of
the Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services
Carman
Lapointe at a
meeting of
Senior
Management let
it be known
that she
viewed the
UMOJA case,
0303/11, as a
“witch hunt”
which should
be closed.
On
September 17,
2012,
according to
the memo,
Angela Kane
was told she
was an
“implicated
staff member”
and would be
afforded due
process --
ironic, since
as Inner City
Press has
found and reported,
journalists
are afforded
no due process
by the UN
when stealth complaints
like those of
Voice of
America
and Reuters
are filed
against them,
and are
processed by
the UN.
But
two days after
notice to
Angela Kane,
the memo to
Ban states,
OIOS' director
Michael
Stefanovic
closed the
investigation.
Then OIOS
Assistant
Secretary
General David
Kanja upheld
this after a
mere two day
review of a
detailed
complaint.
The
head of the
UN's “Ethics
Office” Joan
Dubinsky was
informed,
according to
the memo,
which was also
cc-ed to
Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson and
Ban's chief of
staff (and
personal envoy
on the Eastern
Congo) Susana
Malcorra.
But what has
been done? How
much money is
wasted and
lost, as Ban
proceeds with
$100 million
in budget
cuts? Where is
the claimed
accountability
framework --
just another
buzzword?
Also
on December
14, 2012,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's three
top
spokespeople
another UMOJA
question,
about
procurement:
“What is the
contractual
status of Joan
McDonald,
retiree now
acting as
procurement
official for
UMOJA? How was
she recruited,
and how does
this comport
with the
Secretary
General's
stated reforms
on
recruitment?”
This is
another
question that
has not been
answered in
two months.
Ban's
UN appears shot-thought
with
favoritism, as
we reported
last week as
well, and
also based on
an answer that
WAS provided,
albeit on New
Years Eve. The
UN should
improve, and
these are test
cases. Watch
this site.
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