| Corruption of Guterres At ESCWA Seen
by UN Whistleblowers to Banned Inner City
Press
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- CJR -
PFT
UN GATE, Aug 29 –
The Office for South-South
Cooperation (OSSC) is well
known for being the most
corrupt office in UNDP, with
its notorious history spanning
nearly two decades. In 2015, a
colossal bribery scandal led
the FBI to the arrest and
subsequent prosecution of
Chinese billionaire Ng Lap
Seng and former President of
the UN General Assembly John
Ashe.
Since then
Patrick Ho's CEFC China Energy
replaced Ng, with a direct
connection to Secretary
General Antonio Guterres who
had the Press roughed up and
banned to try to hide it.
Now Inner City
Press publishes another
exclusive, with audio, below.
And in
response, from UN staff, this
sample response indicative of
how corrupt the UN has become
under Antonio Guterres: "Hi I
followed your attempts to
expose corruption of the UN,
as intrinsic as it is, the
south- south cooperation
office will have a new
director soon, it will be the
scapegoat for the other many
malfunctioning departments and
agencies. UNESCWA is the
South Africa prior Mandela.
Open racism apartheid regime
protected by executives and UN
accountability system. Friend
promoting friends until they
control top seniors posts for
years and years in the place
of their choice not selected
to conflict zones, but stay
comfortable in this station.
Centre for women led by not
qualified director well
connected to corrupt ES,
Hiring three friends who never
worked in gender or women
issues as experts, hiring
regional advisor with no
competence of language
speaking to the region they
serve. In one year hiring 22
country mate unqualified
consultants, until the ES was
forced to issue a memo saying
seniors can not hire their
county people. One senior post
advertised and cancelled five
time because the top candidate
is African There is a
lot of food that can turn
heads corruption, power and
untouchable gang members."
That's Guterres' UN.
In a recent staff
meeting, the disgraced OSSC
Director Jorge Chediek
announced his imminent
departure from OSSC. This
comes after he bragged about
being cleared of all
wrongdoing following a
two-year investigation for
fraud, waste, mismanagement,
abuse and harassment
undertaken by the UNDP Office
for Audit and Investigation
(OAI) between 2018 and 2020.
True to form, Mr. Chediek
condemned whistleblowers for
reporting wrongdoing to UNDP
authorities, “the office
has been under a cloud,
particularly because some of
the disloyal colleagues that
we have leaked information in
a very biased way with false
documentation”.
It’s worth noting that Mr.
Chediek’s departure should not
be attributed to any robust
internal oversight mechanisms.
On the contrary, UNDP
management has time and again
demonstrated its tendency to
side with crooked (white)
officials.
In fact, it is
only thanks to Inner City
Press' continuous exposés of
the scandalous abuse of
taxpayers’ money by UNDP
officials that forced the hand
of top brass. Over the past
few years, Inner City Press
has exposed several
substantiated cases of waste,
abuse and harassment committed
by Mr. Chediek and his
office.
In 2018,
when OAI launched the
large-scale investigation into
OSSC, Mr. Chediek blamed the
ICP exposé of his fraudulent
acts for triggering the
investigation: “There are some
publications that have been
made in some media, most of
the information that were
published there are non-issues
because they are official
activities like my travels”,
“there are other things that
are published that are wrong,
so that’s what triggered this
investigation.” Audio
1 here
Mr. Chediek
continues to deny culpability,
but his claims of innocence
are preposterous in the face
of overwhelming evidence. His
dismissal and deflection of
legitimate concerns about
waste, abuse of authority,
fraud, and harassment as
“non-issues” is par for the
course in the UN system. A
quick perusal of his social
media shows a manager whose
entire tenure at OSSC has been
characterized by
self-promoting acts like
shaking hands with VIPs and
photo ops. Beyond that, he is
well known for his lack of
substance and has little to
show for the relatively
obscene budget OSSC has been
enjoying thus far. Mr. Chediek
has allegedly been given a
“gentleman’s deal”, which
means he is being forced out
quietly while he gets to keep
his pension, thereby ensuring
that UNDP does not have to
come clean on another scandal
involving OSSC, merely two
years after the Macau Ng Lap
Seng fiasco.
Corruption often goes hand in
hand with the abusive
treatment of staff, especially
when they are not in agreement
with the unethical actions of
the directorate and its
minions. At OSSC, staff are
regularly subjected to verbal
abuse, harassment,
intimidation, and threats,
comprising an excessively
toxic environment. Mr. Chediek
and his compatriot Ines
Tofalo, are widely known for
their infractions, running a
tight ship marked by
aggressive blackmailing and
intimidation of staff into
submission. ICP is in
possession of very concerning
evidence obtained during the
two-year OAI investigation
into OSSC from 2018 to 2020,
in which Mr. Chediek was
making blatant threats to
intimidate and silence
whistleblowers.
“Some serious things happened,
and the investigation […],
many people say I’m not doing
the right things, that's not
fair and they’re lies”, “I
received feedback from
delegation about the situation
in the office, and if it
happens again that the
delegation comes and
complains, I’m putting clear
rules, they are very clear and
very nice rules because I
don’t want [..] lawyers. As a
colleague, as a friend,
somebody who has a successful
career in the UN, my advice to
you, I feel that there’s
something that you might
rethink again. If you don’t do
that, I terminate your
contract, if you don’t fulfill
this condition of being
collegial. So that is the
situation, which is normal
rules, not something
extraordinary.” Audio
2 here
“I really
regret that you feel the need
to go […], but my instruction,
mashallah, align and recognize
my need for the medium term,
my instruction is be collegial
about it. If it’s not
proceeding that way, I’ll keep
an eye on it. That’s my
instruction, I cannot repair
it forever. We are discussing
it as we are talking about
abstract things. It’s your
work, it’s your life, don’t
lose sight of that. It’s not a
choice, so please work in that
direction and supporting each
other, not bitching each other
or criticizing each other.” Audio
3 here
Mr. Chediek’s
attempts to downplay and
deflect blame is further
testament to his constant
disregard for the very UN
principles he pontificates
about. Behind closed doors he
claimed that whistleblower
intimidation is just “abstract
talk” and “normal rule”. How
did Mr. Chediek learn about
the identities of the
whistleblowers? As the head of
OAI, the office in charge of
ensuring accountability,
enforcing justice, and
protecting those who come
forward in good faith to
report wrongdoing, Mr.
Osttveiten compromised his own
office and violated basic
principles of an investigatory
due process, and served the
whistleblowers to Mr. Chediek
on a silver
platter.
After Inner City Press' latest
July 15 article
on the UNDP cover-up of the
Macau related-audit into OSSC
and the recent UNDP’s staged
exoneration of Mr. Chediek and
Ms. Tofalo following the
two-year investigation, ICP
has received a wave of
information from numerous
sources, expressing their
outrage over the gross
injustice and complete failure
of UNDP’s internal
accountability
mechanisms.
Among other “non
issues'' is the OSSC
decade-long bribery of the
G77, which was initially
discovered in the 2016 audit.
Not only was it not rectified
after the audit, Mr. Chediek
further institutionalized this
corruption. This cynical
relationship between the G77
and OSSC, motivated by Mr.
Chediek’s political agenda of
acquiring the UN ASG position,
saw UNDP via OSSC channeling
large sums of money to the
G77, which were earmarked by
Member States for activities
that would promote sustainable
development in developing
countries. Unbeknownst to the
UNDP donors themselves, Mr.
Chediek has diverted this
money to create a faux
“development project”, which
since 2017 to date functioned
with the sole purpose of
paying the excessive $500,000
tax-exempt annual salary of
one person - the G77 Executive
Secretary Mourad Ahmia. Mr.
Chediek also created fake UNDP
positions and awarded
contracts to pay salaries of
individuals working at the
Permanent Missions of Ecuador
and Egypt, when these
countries served as Chair of
the G77. For example, the
secretary of the Permanent
Representative of the Mission
of Egypt and Chair of the G77
was also a UNDP employee
thanks to OSSC’s Mr. Chediek.
Mr. Chediek further colluded
with Mourad Wahba, UNDP
Associate Administrator and an
Egyptian national, to accept a
$100,000 contribution from Mr.
Wahba’s office to OSSC, after
which Mr. Chediek purchased
numerous pieces of office
equipment and delivered them
to the Permanent Mission of
Egypt in
2018. The
2016 audit found “weaknesses
within travel management” and
made recommendations on
financial management of
resources at OSSC. The audit
stated “the deficiencies and
weaknesses identified could
lead to financial losses for
OSSC and exposure to
reputational risks.” After the
audit, this wasteful practice
persisted and worsened, as Mr.
Chediek turned OSSC into a
social club and used UNDP
allocated resources as
personal funds to finance his
travels and exchange favors
with his friends, including
paying business-class air
tickets for an middle level
Indian government official, in
violation of UNDP policy, or
covering personal travel of
fellow Argentinians in the
Office.
Mr. Chediek is noted to be one
of the most traveled UN
officials whose excessive and
wasteful travels are evident
through his habit of repeating
the same activity multiple
times . He once travelled to
Bangkok to join the government
of Thailand in a photo op to
launch Thailand South-South in
Action report. However, this
same report had already been
launched twice on two previous
occasions in New York and
Geneva. During this trip, he
instructed staff to rent
limousine cars for him to do
sightseeing and visit the
Grand Palace. This entire trip
was essentially for tourism
purposes but its costs were
charged to the
office. Mr.
Chediek continuously pays for
activities that have nothing
to do with the core mandate of
the office, instead turning
OSSC into a channel for
funneling money to buy
political favors. After
receiving UNDP allocated
resources, OSSC has become the
donor to other institutions
with which Mr. Chediek had
close ties to. Among various
dealings, UNDP resources have
been grossly mismanaged
through dubious partnerships
such as:
-
$278,000 to pay for numerous
government officials to take
training courses at the UN
System Staff College.
-
$100,000 to Unitaid for a
“joint publication on
South-South Cooperation” and
“events”, which turned out to
pay over $80,000 for salary
and travelling costs.
-
$30,000 to Brazil Africa
Institute for organizing the
Brazil Africa Forum, which
bought Mr. Chediek a panelist
place on the podium. Unitaid
was the co-sponsor of this
forum, which in fact was
financed through the (above)
$100,000 contribution from
OSSC. Therefore, OSSC
essentially made duplicate
contributions to this
forum.
-
$50,000 to the Research and
Information System for
Developing Countries, a New
Delhi-based research institute
fully financed by the
government of India and whose
Director is the Indian
government official, for whom
Mr. Chediek paid the
business-class
airfare. The
2016 audit also identified
“weaknesses in recruitment”
and “inadequate organizational
structure and personnel
arrangements” related to
staffing, contractual
arrangement, and distribution
of functions at OSSC. In
particular, OSSC operates
under UNDP regulations, rules
and procedures, however, there
has been a complete lack of
oversight and scrutiny from
UNDP over OSSC operations.
After the audit, Ms. Tofalo,
upon her promotion to the
Chief of the newly created
Programme Support Unit,
continued to carry out a
string of corrupt activities,
including countless
recruitment and procurement
fraud, falsifying documents
and awarding contracts to
those with a close
relationship or bringing
mutual benefit for Mr. Chediek
and herself. It was all
carefully orchestrated with
the backstopping of an admin
staff with no expertise in HR
or procurement but who was
solely responsible for
administering all recruitment
and procurement at OSSC under
Ms. Tofalo’s supervision. ICP
has evidence of how
recruitment and procurement
have been consistently and
systematically manipulated at
OSSC by Ms. Tofalo and the
admin staff, where the outcome
was always determined before
the process began, including
the fraudulent promotion of
Ms. Tofalo
herself.
Aside from overseeing
recruitment and procurement,
as well as managing finances
and programmatic resources at
OSSC, Ms. Tofalo also assumes
the management of three trust
funds – the PGTF established
by the G77, the India Brazil
South Africa Fund, and the
Indian-UN Development
Partnership Fund. Due to
India’s ostensibly large
donations to OSSC, Mr. Chediek
and Ms. Tofalo have pushed for
the hiring of numerous
individuals of Indian
national/descent, with one
shocking example of 6 Indians
hired in a short span of 5
months, all through fraudulent
and bogus processes in
violation of UNDP policy. But
of course, this was a
“non-issue” as long as it
helped Mr. Chediek show
goodwill to the government of
India, while these
individuals’ salaries were
actually financed by UNDP
allocated resources. This
essentially means Member
States have been subsidizing
the foreign policy of one
country and the political
agenda of one person, Mr.
Chediek. As
it turns out, these funds do
not have an efficient
cost-recovery mechanism due to
the below-standard management
fee, which Mr. Chediek used
his position to negotiate for
India and against UNDP.
Despite having operated at a
loss for years, Mr. Chediek
publicly expressed his
willingness to lower this
management fee even more. And
there’s not a stronger and
louder voice advocating for
Mr. Chediek’s political agenda
than that of Ms. Tofalo:
“Preferential GMS rate for
south-south cooperation in
some ways cripples us in some
way makes us look sexy, I
discussed this with India,
they are aware and they want
this, for us to charge just
1%, they’re tough negotiator,
they got a good deal. For us
to have the pass-through
functionalities would be an
internal battle, for our funds
it would be enormously
enabling. I will still push
for it until I get it. I want
this fund to have pass-through
capacity but at this point
pass-through is monopolized by
MPTF [UNDP Multi-Partner Trust
Fund Office], they say it’s
kind of a conflict of
interest. That’s a discussion
that Jorge needs to have, I
think he’s waiting for the
right political moment. Jorge
even plays with this thing, if
he calls Achim Steiner, you
have it in one day, so does
Indian want to do it, or they
don’t care enough they prefer
not to look cheap.” Audio
4 here
It seems
that when Mr. Chediek
whistles, UNDP Administrator
Achim Steiner comes running,
which explains why UNDP
Associate Administrator Mr.
Wahba and OAI Director Mr.
Osttveiten were compelled to
give Mr. Chediek a pass. Mr.
Wahba and Mr. Osttveiten were
active participants and
accomplices in Mr. Chediek’s
ring of corruption. By
exonerating him they were
effectively exonerating
themselves, in blatant
conflict of interest. While
other UNDP officials of
African descent working at
similar levels of Mr. Chediek
are readily suspended or
fired, Mr. Chediek and Ms.
Tofalo have enjoyed freedom
for two years to continue
their corrupt acts while under
investigation, knowing UNDP
management will exonerate them
simply for being
white. ICP
received confirmation from a
UNDP source that Mr. Chediek
was indeed asked to
“voluntarily” leave OSSC in
September, a peace-offering
gesture by UNDP to buy Mr.
Chediek’s silence in exchange
for the cover-up of his
corruption as well as a full
pension package. Moreover,
UNDP will also keep Mr.
Chediek on its payroll beyond
September, allowing him to
accumulate contract time until
it reaches 30 years so that
Mr. Chediek could enjoy the
maximum UN pension
benefits.
UNDP management has also
ordered a new audit by OAI in
July 2020 into OSSC to cleanse
the mess Mr. Chediek left
behind. But what can another
faux audit achieve after five
years of endless audits and
investigations into the
unreformable OSSC that always
yielded the same bogus results
all cooked up by the corrupt
OAI Director Mr. Osttveiten?
With one foot out the door,
Mr. Chediek certainly has some
choice words for his
soon-to-be-former friend Mr.
Osttveiten, “audit is a very
funny exercise because every
once in a while, they say that
they want to make a
constructive exercise to make
positive suggestions on how to
move things, but the real
nature of an audit is to find
problems.” Who else would be
in a better position to
testify to how “funny” an OAI
audit is than Mr. Chediek, a
seasoned expert in
manipulating and falsifying
audit results. Audio
5 here
To be a winner,
Mr. Chediek now has to make
losers out of those he did
“business” with. A liar always
has to find new ways to lie.
And the art of telling lies
has never reached the heights
that we now see at UNDP. To
top it all, ICP has an
explosive voice
audio of Mr. Chediek’s
going into a rant in his
office, taking off his mask
and revealing what he really
thinks about the UN and those
he once called friends. Audio
6 here
“I don’t
maneuver, but people here are
so fucking sick that they
think that everybody is like
that, that I maneuvered. You
know what I say to that ‘fuck
you liar’, I don’t maneuver
with anybody, I don’t maneuver
I don’t play games I don’t do
that shit, and I know
everybody in this rotten city
that have lost sight of what
the UN really is. Think that,
fucking you. That is not the
case, it’s a lie, and if you
think that, you’re fucking
wrong, if you have propagated
lie and if you don’t say ‘no
you are wrong’ you are not
doing the right thing”, “my
job to do good, and I’m very
proud that I put my spirit in
the same way that I always
have”, “I don’t care about the
ASG. That issue poisoned this
office so I don’t want people
to be confused that I’m doing
that for my own personal gain,
understand that. I earned all
my promotions starting from P2
and I got to D2 without a
single gram of support from
anybody in this system. I did
it because I earned this,
total openness. I won’t fill
this job, I already offered to
the Secretary General, to the
Deputy Secretary General, to
the Administrator of UNDP and
to the countries, you give
this post to whomever, I don’t
care and I don’t want the ASG
as I said yesterday because
I’m fucking tired of this, of
people losing sight of what we
are here for, it’s all the
things that you hear and the
shit, they’re not true, and if
you don’t believe me, get out
of here.”
Meanwhile, UNDP continues to
betray the trust of its Member
States and funders. UNDP
management is not only
allowing the corrupt,
incompetent and wasteful Mr.
Chediek to retire without
consequence, but is also
ensuring that Member States
will assume the costs of his
expensive retirement for many
years to come. What will
UNDP’s Member States do to
protect their tax-payers’
money given to UNDP in the
good faith that it will reach
the poor and underprivileged,
and not to finance the lavish
lifestyle and advance the
political ambition of corrupt
officials like Mr.
Chediek?
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Past
& future at UN: Room S-303, UN,
NY 10017 USA
Mail: Box 20047, Dag
Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2020 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
|
,
