UN Corruption Detailed to
UNOPS Board in Letter Leaked to
Banned Inner City Press
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
UN
GATE, Jan 23
–
How corrupt is today's UN
under Antonio Guterres? Well,
even those few UN officials
bounced for corruption are
simply re-hired, and no one
answers why.
Inner City Press
today publishes this, from
UNOPS whistleblowers:
Dear Matthew
Russell Lee and Inner City
Press Editorial Team,
We are a group of
employees at the United
Nations Office for Project
Services (UNOPS). In the
absence of secure reporting
channels within the
organisation, we feel
compelled to anonymously
expose the widespread
corruption, mismanagement, and
misconduct that are
undermining its integrity and
stability.
In your
capacity as a key media
outlet, and given the crucial
role Inner City Press has
previously played in exposing
corruption within the UN, we
trust that you will contribute
to holding UNOPS accountable
ahead of the UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS
Executive Board session.
Please find attached a copy of
the letter in PDF format.
[Intro here]
Letter to the President,
Secretary, and Members of the
Executive Board of UNOPS to
Report Corruption and
Systematic Abuse at the United
Nations Office for Project
Services (UNOPS):
The S3i Scandal
is Not Over 22 January
2025 Dear President,
Secretary, and Distinguished
Members of the Executive
Board, We are a group of
employees at the United
Nations Office for Project
Services (UNOPS). In the
absence of secure reporting
channels within the
organisation, we feel
compelled to anonymously
expose the widespread
corruption, mismanagement, and
misconduct that are
undermining its integrity and
stability. The scandal
surrounding the S3i initiative
in 2022, which revealed the
diversion of funds, is merely
the tip of the iceberg in a
much broader pattern of
irregularities that persist to
this day.
These
unethical practices have
triggered significant
financial and moral crises,
the most recent of which is
the last minute announcement
of personnel layoffs in 2025.
The executive leadership, led
by Executive Director Jorge
Moreira da Silva, is
attempting to downplay the
severity of these layoffs by
framing them as a one-off
adjustment, while concealing
their true scale.
During the most
recent global townhall, staff
members accused UNOPS
leadership of lacking
transparency in their
communication regarding
restructurings. We
urgently appeal to the Board
ahead of the upcoming First
Regular Session 2025 (27–31
January) to seek your support
in holding UNOPS accountable
Full letter on
Inner City Press'
DocumentCloud here
No
explanation, from Guterres,
Courtenay Rattray, nor Melissa
Fleming, neither of whom have
answered letters from pro bono
law firms about applying free
press principles (including
Article 19) to the UN, and
readmitting Inner City Press.
We'll have more on this.
***
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