U.N. chief says criticisms of his leadership are 'unfair'

The Washington Post

By Colum Lynch

Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon mounted a highly emotional defense of his embattled tenure Monday, telling reporters at a news conference that allegations that he sought to undercut the independence of the United Nations' main anti-corruption agency were "unfair."

Just weeks ago, Ban came under attack from his outgoing oversight chief, Inga-Britt Ahlenius, who said that Ban, among other things, had undermined her authority to make her own selection for the top investigations job. At the time, Ban argued that Ahlenius had the power to propose a shortlist of three candidates, including one woman, but that he had the power to select the winner from the list.

"I have given 100 percent independence" to the United Nations' internal oversight body, Ban said. "I'm a very reasonable, very practical man of common sense. I do not take extreme, unreasonable policies. I always do the right things, proper things."

"If anybody or if any member states with the U.N. system, or any colleague of mine within the U.N. Secretariat, accuses me on the issue of accountability or ethics, then that's something I regard as unfair," he said.

But Ban seemed to acknowledge Monday that he is considering a South African auditor for the investigations position, a move that would effectively undercut the authority of the incoming U.N oversight chief to propose candidates for one of the organization's most important anti-corruption posts. Carman Lapointe-Young, a Canadian auditor who will replace Ahlenius starting next month, has not even begun recruiting a deputy. According to Ban's view, Lapointe-Young has the authority to select at least three candidates for the investigations post.

The selection of Lapointe-Young has fueled resentment among Third World governments, which believed that the post should have gone to a candidate from a developing country.

Asked if he had already promised the investigations job as a consolation to a South African auditor who had lost out to Lapointe-Young, Ban said: "No, I don't think he has been properly cleared through the process."

But Ban's advisers later said that the secretary general had been confused by the question and that no South Africans were being considered for the job.