UNITED NATIONS: A task force investigating U.N. purchasing operations reported five significant fraud or corruption schemes in contracts with a total value of more than US$20 million and said more than 50 other cases should be investigated.
In the report to the General Assembly, the U.N. Procurement Task Force said its investigators identified "improprieties, corruption and malfeasance" in a review of the U.N. pay and benefits system at U.N. headquarters in New York, in the U.N. peacekeeping operation in the Congo, and at U.N. offices in Kenya, Greece and at an undisclosed location.
It also said "significant cases ... are currently ongoing" at the UNOPS office in Afghanistan, which provides technical and administrative support to other U.N. programs, and at the Economic Commission for Africa.
U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said the report, issued earlier this month, will be discussed Thursday by the General Assembly's budget committee. It covers the period from July 1, 2007 to July 31, 2008 and was first reported by the Washington Post.
The report said that "during the reporting period, the task force has reported on five significant fraud or corruption schemes in cases with an aggregate contract value in excess of $20 million."
The task force, part of the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), was established in January 2006 in response to the serious flaws in U.N. purchasing operations exposed in the probe into the US$64 billion oil-for-food program in Iraq.
Because of its investigative work, 22 U.N. vendors have faced administrative sanctions.
"Since its formation, the task force has identified more than 20 significant fraud and corruption schemes in cases with an aggregate contract value in excess of US$630 million," the report said.
The task force is only funded through Dec. 31 and cannot complete its caseload and ongoing investigations by that date, it said.
"More than 150 cases will remain, including more than 50 cases in which there are allegations of some form of fraud or corruption," the report said.
The OIOS plans to transfer the task force's caseload into its investigations division, the report said.
The task force said it has recommended that a number of cases be referred to national authorities for criminal prosecution or legal action, and that in some cases the U.N. should seek monetary damages.
Even though the task force did not identify any monetary losses for the United Nations from the five cases in the report, Montas said Wednesday that the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs has been instructed to recover losses in other recent cases.
As an example, she said, "they have successfully obtained awards and restitution amounting to over $932,000 in one case and $515,000 in another case." She did not provide any details.
In a report circulated Wednesday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that he will make the final determination on whether any rules have been breached.
"That being the case, the secretary-general reiterates that the findings of the task force should be regarded as those of the task force, and not a final determination by the organization," he said.
The report said a task force investigation uncovered a scheme to defraud UNOPS and the U.N. that was "aimed at achieving contracts with an aggregate value exceeding $350,000 and lasted for over one year and involved the staff member, the spouse and companies associated with the spouse." The report did not disclose the location.
Two staff members were dismissed and 12 companies participating in the scheme were barred from doing business with the U.N., it said.
The task force cited its March 11 report on two unidentified U.N. staff members who steered valuable contracts related to the U.N. pay and benefits system to private entities they were associated with, both during and after their U.N. employment — and then used the U.N. project to gain business from another international institution.
A May 13 task force report addressed "misuse and deficiencies" in the hiring of consultants for the U.N. Thessaloniki Center for Public Service Professionalism by staff members of the U.N. Department of Social and Economic Affairs.
A June 6 report on two U.N. staff members and the U.N. mission in Congo focused on a scheme to steer valuable contracts for aircraft to a preferred vendor. "Although the task force did not find that the organization suffered any monetary loss as a result of this scheme, it suffered damages as a result of the intentional effort to corrupt the procurement process...," the report said.
The task force also investigated electrical maintenance and travel contracts at the U.N. office in Nairobi and recommended a review of the role of the officials responsible, it said.
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