Mr. Sha Zukang - how much eternity cost in DESA?

We hoped that the reforms promised by Ban Ki-moon would have had an effect and change the existing view that the UN is one of the MOST CORRUPT organization in the world.

But unfortunately, DESA still seems to act within its old framework of using an antiquated system of nepotism, personal ties, preservation of self-interest. This is the DESA system. What's important is fostering your connections and not improving productivity or performance. Who your connections are is the most important qualification than abilities and skill in judging who stays or who goes. 

For example, a director who has retired a long time ago is kept on DESA payroll as a consultant and as head of a project just because of his connections. This despite the fact that the partners of the project don't like him at all. He has antagonized the project's partners and has been a major headache to the technical staff who are fostering these ties to ensure that they get more project funding. 

The irony is that the same technical staff gets screwed over by their boss since once the money comes in, TCMS will use that money to get this 65 years old man a longer consultancy contract, and screw the staff who actually do the work and who are extended from month-to-month. He even has the brashness to inform them that they may not be renewed any longer because the project is running out of money. Meanwhile he is cooking up a scheme to get himself a one year contract that will give him all the benefits that he used to enjoy as Director. But who will do the work? That's a good question. Why not hire interns from Columbia or NYU or any willing victim to do the work that the technical staff and hope that they give him the same results. But the partners of the project are threatening to pull out when this happens. Does he care? No, because he already has allotted himself a year's worth of pay plus benefits, for not mentioning DSAs for travels and millions of free air-miles that he might not be able to use for the rest of his life even if he flies every week.

Why do you keep these kind of people in DESA Mr. Sha Zukang?!

Another thing, the continuous post thing should work both ways. Who evaluates the supervisors that evaluates the administrative staff? Who polices their activities certainly not their immediate superiors not with the system that is existing now. Where one's boss used to be a colleague that got promoted through one's influence or assistance or in some case the one who's director now used to be working under this supervisor before he relinquished his post. So what do you do - turn a blind eye and walk on. This continuous post thing will not work unless specific guidelines and policies are laid down and enforced. Only in the UN will you see administrative staff who don't know how to use basic word processing or spreadsheet work. If that happened in realms outside UN you either get trained, leave or laid off.

Does reform fall solely in Ban-Ki Moon's shoulders? Don't think so. You Mr. Sha Zukang have accepted this job to make reality Ban Ki-moon's promises for reform inside UN/DESA. It is your job to ensure that such reforms happen. Stop sleeping Mr. Sha and wake up both of your ASGs who have accumulated more air-miles than a full time transatlantic pilot. Start reforming DESA now and where is needed - shake up the system and re-appoint people who are under performing or are not doing anything at all. 

You promised us in the town hall that we would see some kind of improvement. The fact is that we are not. If you think that your achievement was just to get the USG Tag in your chest, than you got it already two years ago, if you cant do the job move along and let someone else do it. 

We have seen enough of cronyism inside DESA so far.

Claudio Aponte - the career of a Trust Slaughter into a International Public Administration Advisor

well is not fiction -> Is the truth. 

While Haiyan Qian, Guido Bertucci, Marie Oveissi, Furio De Tomassi, Jose Manuel Sucre-Ciffoni - have hired in the past 9 1/2 years this gentleman as a :

1. Representative of Mexican Government at DPADM's CEPA;
2. Representative of Universitad Autonoma de Mexico;
3. Representative of DPADM/DESA in Mexico;

Now the confirmation is here. Mr. Claudio Aponte is not a :

(Click here for DESA/DPADM - CEPA attendee list) 

But Mr. Claudio Aponte is instead the FIDEICOMISO CENTRAL DE ABASTO DE LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO (for those whose spanish is not their mother tongue = CENTRAL TRUST OF SLAUGHTER OF MEXICO CITY)

FIDEICOMISO CENTRAL DE ABASTO DE LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO

CENTRAL TRUST OF SLAUGHTER OF MEXICO CITY

You can see better what Mr Claudio Aponte's role in this prestigious agency is. 

So the questions for Mr. Sha Zukang and its ignorant, incompetent and totally corrupt staff are:

1. How can a Director of Finance of a Slaughter Center of Mexico City qualifies for the most prestigious body of the United Nations on Public administration?

2. How can a man who's career is Slaughter Center, provide top-class advice to Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers and law-makers around the world on public administration?

3. How much money did Guido Bertucci, Jose Manuel Sucre-Ciffoni, Marie Oveissi and Furio De Tomassi throw to this FAKE Public Administration Advisor? 

WHAT DOES THE WORD ENOUGH MEANS TO YOU Mr. SHA ZUKANG ? 

足够的 / 足够 / 

SCANDAL: - Claudio Aponte returns to CEPA 2009 as University Observer

OIOS investigated DESA and found that Mr. Claudio Aponte was hired from Guido Bertucci and TCMS illegally against all established rules and regulations. Moreover, MR. Aponte had not produced nor filed any end-of-mission reports for his alleged work, despite hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to him on fees and expensive transatlantic travel costs.

As we already provided proof of the miss-representation of Claudio Aponte of both DESA and Mexico Government, the miss-management in DPADM seem to have no limits. 

Haiyan Qian, who owns her job to Guido Bertucci, is now paying Claudio Aponte's travel and DSA to allow him to attend CEPA 2009 (click here for list of observers) - but this time as Observer of the Autonomous University of Mexico......UAUUUUUUUUUUUUU

But wasn't last year that Mr. Aponte represented Mexico Government at CEPA, and the year before(08)....and the year before(07)?? 

Wasn't Aponte Un-DESA Representative in Mexico ? 

So please Ms QIAN -

 TELL US WHO REALLY IS CLAUDIO APONTE ? 

CAIMED - Millions of dollars sinked into the sea of Naples on fake project/activities

the name is Center for Administrative Innovation in the Euro-Mediterranean Region, location is Naples or Napoli the "garbage" and "gomorra" capital of Italy.

It's aim was noble to create: 

An open space for the exchange of information and knowledge on innovation in public administration in the Euro-Mediterranean Region. Jointly managed by UNDESA (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and Formez (Training and Study Centre), Caimed is an On-Line Regional Centre of the United Nations Global Network on Public Administration (UNPAN)

but so far except a couple of failed regional meetings and round tables, the multi-million Euro project ended without any tangible results.

Instead the only substantive result was to spend 87% of its budgets into fake Project Officers , Support Administrative Staff and Consultants - whom actually never worked a single day at the Naples Center. The Chief Technical Advisor of the Project instead of being located in Naples/Italy as per the agreed MoU with Italian Government ended up seating next door to Guido Bertucci in New York, thousands of miles away and managed to visit the project only twice during its 5 years life span. 

Most importantly in a latest review has become clear that Bertucci, De-Tomassi and Oveissi awarded the MoU to Formez (the Italian Counterpart NGO) without any international bid nor competitive process. 

Millions of dollars were let go without any final evaluation nor a final-exit report. Hundreds of thousand of dollars spent in Project Assets were "disposed" without any care resulting in almost a quarter of million dollars in "write-off". 

WEBSITE OF THE CENTER

CENTER'S STAFF 

(Including a totally illegal and non-existent Catherine Gazzoli,) 

What nationality is Adriana Alberti's husband?

We have spoken before about Adriana Alberti's attempts to change her real nationality (American born) to Italian in order to profit the UN International Benefits while in New York. 

But the case of Alberti is becoming couriouser and couriouser by the day. People close to Furio De Tomassi's told us a very interesting story:

1. Dec 2002: 

Adriana Alberti flies to Morocco to attend the 4th Global Forum as Governance Expert;

- During the trip she get's married to a Moroccan 7 years younger than her;

2. Jan 2003: 

- This Moroccan fellow is hired from UN-DESA's TCMS (Marie Oveissi / Furio De Tomassi) without any competitive selection process as a Support Staff at the Statistics Office of  UN-DESA;

- At the time eventhough there was a freeze and was not allowed to hire foreign staff at "G" level positions, he comes in as 

 - Position: G3 - temporary 

-  Nationality: Moroccan

3. Jan 2005

this Moroccan goes out of the blue from Moroccan Nationality to United States Citizen and magically he ends up with:

- Position: G4 - fix term

- Nationality: USA

4. Jan 2008

this Moroccan goes even farther. He undertakes the US National Competitive Exam and ends up....guess what?

- Position: P3 - Permanent contract

- Nationality: USA

While many would question the above fast-track career of this Moroccan born, Italian acquired and sworned in US Citizen, we don't have any problem with it, and wish him good luck. 

The question though is raised that how come that Alberti's husband claims to be US Citizen (by marriage with Adriana Alberti) and is registered as US Nationality in the system - - -  while Ms. Alberti denies her legal US Citizenship and register herself as Italian Nationality in the UN  System? 

I bet she had to sworn in and file for her husband at US Immigration and Naturalization Service in order for him to acquire US Citizenship. I bet that, like everyone else, "Mr. Alberti" had to wait for at least 5 long years to get his passport in the mail.

So Adriana Alberti claim her American Nationality only for her husband to get an American Passport to travel around the globe, but when it come to honoring America and the serving America at the United Nations she willingly throws her american Nationality in the garbage for her acquired Italian one - -  just to profit more.

Its ludicrous to have the husband US Citizen ( Moroccan born) and the wife Italian Citizen (US born).

We call Ms. Ahlenius of OIOS to investigate immediately UN-DESA's Human Resources and TCMS before Furio De Tomassi and Marie Oveissi destroy Adriana Alberti's file for ever.

Did Elia Yi Armstrong misrepresented her credential at UN-DESA ?

The former Ethics Senior Advisor at UN-DESA / DPADM, and current Director of Ethics Office at UNDP, is the real thing (or not?).


But let's examine her real CV (see herein attached from UNPAN)

Experience	Education
1984-1987 English Instructor Yonsei/Jilin Universities, Changchun, China	1985 - Associate (Piano pedagogy) Royal Conservatory of Music, University of Toronto, Canada
1989-1990 Legislative Aide, State Senator William Maravitz's Office, Chicago, USA	1989 - Master of Science (social policy and planning in developing countries), London School of economics, UK

This woman seem to have been at the same time in two different places almost 8000 Miles distant. 

Furio De Tomassi illegally shortlisted and selected Adriana Alberti as Italian Associate Expert

Adriana Alberti, a New Jersey born, was illegally selected and hired as Italian Associate Expert from Furio De Tomassi. 

Is outrageous to even think that a person with such a controversial CV (click here for our story) that has paid no taxes in Italy during her entire life be selected and deprive a real italian from being selected for this job. But it seem that for Mr. De Tomassi and Catherine Pelluso rules do not apply. This fake italian made it to New York, as an "Italian Associate Expert".

Only to find out that 18 months later she had to resign and be expelled from the DESA's Associate Experts Programme for not declaring and paying US Taxes. The scandal at that time was again kept under the radar of everyone, thanks to Catherine Pelluso and Marie Oveisi who bent over to Bertucci and De Tomassi and arranged with the UN Tax Unit that Alberti pay all accumulated taxes. Today all the above has been doctored from the file of Alberti at Oveissi's office.

But Alberti was made to work for her uncle, and therefore only few months passed from the above scandal until her return - this time from the "window" when De Tomassi again, hired her as a Consultant under a Regional Italian Project at DPADM/DESA. She would never undergo any selection or proper HR scrutiny.

Today Alberti is a "respected" Senior Advisor in DESA's Governance Division. There is a problem though. This fake ITALIAN continue to be in the system as ITALIAN. She declares and receives International benefits, even-though she is a US citizen and finally pays US taxes (not even a dime in Italian taxes). 

Furio De Tommassi and Catherine Pelluso are the direct responsible for allowing this US citizen to collect $189,000 US Dollars in International Benefits (so far) when she should have been hired as a local consultant and/or expert. 

Mr. Sha Zukang should call the UN Tax Unit and take the files of Alberti of her years as Associate Expert where she was obliged to pay all accumulated taxes and was expelled for lying to UN and not disclosing her being a US citizen.

Mr. Sha Zukang should initiate an investigation into the hiring and retaining of the services of Adriana Alberti and other so-called Italian Associate Experts who currently work for DESA/DPADM and the way they made it thru the system.

Mr. Sha Zukang should make public the finding of his investigation and held responsible those managers who acted against the rules and regulations of the UN system.

The staff of UNDESA deserve to know what is going on. 

Bernard Kliksberg's Beautiful Life !

Today we will discuss the story of another corrupt case in DESA (Department Economic and Social Affairs) of the United Nations. 

His name is Bernard Kligsberg. A so-called leading Argentinean economist, who has made his career in "advising" multiple International institutions at same time. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as you do it in the private sector. But if you work for the UN and you sign the contracts - you have to bide by them and dedicate full time to your work for the respective UN unit who hires you. 

His career at UN-DESA and his personal relation to Guido Bertucci is extremely important because while employed for years as indefinite CONSULTANT at DPADM located at DC-2 - 17 floor, this gentleman was also employed as full time personal advisor to Rebeca Grynspan, Assistant Secretary General of United Nations for Latin America Bureau of UNDP - DC-1, making an astonishing US$429,341 Thousand Dollars a year, respectively from:

1. Full Time Employee of UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA/DPADM);
2. Full Time Employee of UN Development Programme (UNDP/RBLAC);
3. Full Time Employee of InterAmerican Development Bank in Washington DC (BID);
4. Consultant of UN Development Programme Office in Argentina;

All the above is TAX-FREE, and since this well-known economist is in US with a G4 Visa - thanks to Bertucci and Furio De Tomassi, why not make some extra money aside working for various private and/or semi-private banks in Washington DC. 

Here are all the payment Mr. Kilksberg made at UNDP - at the same very period he was under contract and being paid from Bertucci/De Tomassi with full support of Catherine Pelluso and under "extremely vigilant eyes" of Marie Oveissi.

Another important element of Mr. Kliksberg's career is that while he was employed as CONSULTANT of DPADM/DESA he was also for the past 7 years member of the Committee of Experts in Public Administration, the body who was supposed to exercise oversight functions over DPADM/Bertucci. 

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL for Mr. Kliksberg - isn't it?

Payments from UNDP Office in ARGENTINA

Payments made by UNDP HQs - Latin America Bureau (RBLAC)


Payments made by UNDP for Travel - While DESA paid for his travel as well

We really wonder at this point if Mr. Sha Zukang or anyother manager of UN-DESA would take any actions to really remove once and for all the corruption which eating-up DESA/DPADM and TCMS like a cancer.

Mismanagement and Waste Erode UN-DESA's best intentions

While the UN-DESA was trying to implement its core mandates and assist members tates in many development areas, millions vanished from its headquarters in New York and/or peripheral project centers . The CASH was diverted in form of illegal hiring of shadow consultants and institutions.

The cases of Catherine Gazzoli, Adriana Alberti, Barbara Ubaldi, Elia Armstrong, Jose Manuel Sucre, Claudio Aponte or Bernard Kligsberg or even the mismanagement of Associate Experts Programmes - epitomizes only few of the uncomfortable truths about the Guido Bertucci's and Furio De Tomassi's operations inside DESA. 

The system of awarding contracts in DESA, including the role of Catherine Peluso and Patrizio Civili - a blatant lapse in office rules and regulations - reflected the mismanagement and waste that are all too typical of the sprawling collection of regional offices, councils and projects that UN-DESA has become.

If you ask around in DESA, many staffers and officials serving here would describe, with exasperation, anger and regret, a department grown rife with what a longtime DPADM staffer called "appalling inefficiencies and backbiting and corruption" - tenacious cancers that have debilitated DESA as well as entire UN, demoralized its own staff and severely undercut its support in the member states. 

DESA of today, and specially DPADM lavished money on conferences and round-tables that produce little but talk, or justified for managers to find a short-way visiting their home countries paid by UN. Millions of words are printed in turgid reports. The defense of the status quo perpetuates unneeded projects, while fraud has tarnished the luster of even some of the more successful projects/products. 

As a member state's representative of fifth committee said: " this bureaucracy was designed in hell - and Ban Ki-moon and Sha Zukang better change it now".

Change is always a problem in UN and specifically inside DESA - were many managers don't want changes because many of them have vested interests in the existing system.

Latest OIOS reports have shown that the failings of the UN-DESA, which have undermined its credibility with both government and private citizens, can be traced in part to micromanagement by member states and their puppets inside DESA.

One thing we have learned so far on Bertucci operation is that they used hiring of consultants and contractors to derail funds. Among the many tricks used is the hiring also of so called "retirees" - who preferred to be hired as consultants in additions to obtaining their normal pensions and serve in CORE functions such are: - human resources or finance. 

Critics of DESA's operations contend that true reforms should include pruning DESA of its obsolete appendages. Technical Cooperation Management Support Unit, for example is a shameful duplication of resources and roles with those already embedded inside DM/Secretariat. TCMS also has played the role of fire-wall towards any internal audits or investigations. 

An Italian with illegal UN ID hanging around without contract

Her name is Barabara Ubaldi. She worked as Outreach, Organization, Follow-up Coordination of Events in the Knowledge Management Branch of DPADM/DESA. Her contract expired on September 2008. 

We would really like to know how can Ms. Ubaldi :

1. Held a valid UN ID when her contract has already expired?

2. Occupy an office with a cost of $893 a month, not including telephone and internet usage, which run approximately an additional $203 a month, without having a contract?

3. Continue to use UN.ORG email account and use FAX and official communication lines of the UN with the outworld?

4. Reimburse UN/DESA for personal calls and use of technology when she is no longer on payroll?

We call on Mr. Sha Zukang and other USGs to immediately investigate the status of the contract of Ms. Ubaldi and take necessary appropriate actions to protect the name and legal status of the United Nations and our Department. 

COMMENT: Sha Zukang's October Surprise

If indeed it is true that Mr. Sha is embarking on early retirement of a large number of Senior but incompetent staff, then this is a clear sign that he has made up his mind to tackle the most difficult of all tasks - cleaning of DESA of human garbage, the main impediment to change! 

It is well known within DESA that many of the non-performing but self-seeking staff who other than promoting their own personal agenda have had little or no intetrest in advancing the cause of DESA, have been at the centre of the mess that the organization has currently plunged itself into. 

Mr. Sha ought to be congratulated for this bold step. At the same time, I only hope that he and his colleagues who have embarked on this most difficult challenges of all do it astutely and strategically and most importantly, take the member states into confidence, especially the group of 77. In the past, unbeknown to the Group of the real reasons, many non-performing and scheming staff of DESA when faced with job threats or other initiatives that appear to risk curtailing their personal agenda, made it a habit of manupulating G77either to protect them from an impending job loss or curtailment of an activity that mey affect their personal interest. Therefore, it is absolutely key that Mr. Sha and his advisers brief fully the member states before the axe starts to fall.

Mr. Sha also needs to be equally astute in filling up the forthcoming vacant posts with the very best - here also he needs the blessings of the member states, especially those of the developed countries. In the past in more than one occassions, lobbying from developed countries seemed to have caused distortions to quality recruitment in DESA.

Furthermore, filling up of vacant posts will have to go hand in hand and be relevant to what DESA will ultimately be reformed into, as a substantive organization. It is the new subtantive portfolio of DESA that should determine who its staff would be.

In the area of technical cooperation, an important DESA activity, not only that the content of technical cooperation products will need to be redefined, preferably through a survey of developing countries (presently, technical cooperation in DESA has become by and large a condiut for holding, with some exceptions, useless meetings and workshops, thus providing free tickets for DESA staff to travel and opportunities of patronage distribution through recruitment of friends as consultants), but also its method of delivery.

I wish Mr. Sha and his reforming colleagues of DESA the very best in their reforming endeavour and look forward to seeing DESA emerge as a world class organization devoted to providing, through their normative, analytical and technical cooperation works, helpful guidance in tackling the most difficult of challenges - economic, social and governance related- that the world is facing these days, both in developing as well as in developed countries. After all, DESA is the only apex organization in UN that has the mandate to do so. Given the right people and structure, I have no doubt that DESA will rise and prove its worth.

Staff Reaction: Real face of Technical Cooperation and Management Support (TCMS)

In support of qualification of deficits of TCMS, the following may also be added:

1. Ms. Marie Oveissi, the OIC of TCMS is a book keeper by training. She has neither the educational qualifications nor the country experience (the latter is crucial to successful delivery of technical cooperation products at the country level)to deserve this post. Her promotion to this post is a direct outcome of machinations of axis of DESA patronage distribution.
   
2. Her management style is authoritative, secretive and abusive.
   
3. Although, TCMS has been established to function as a support services organization to the substantive divisions of DESA (the designated implementors of DESA Technical Cooperation projects)for the effecient delivery of technical cooperation products, Ms. Oveissi through clever manipulations has taken over execution responsibilities within her own fold - this is totally contrary to the mandate of the TCMS, a service organization cannot become an implementing agency. But that is exactly what TCMS has increasingly bcome over the years. It is also a highly staff heavy organization, but on casual scruntiny this is not easily detectable - many of its staff are hideen under the cover various bogus posts.
   

These anomalies of TCMS and machinations perpetuated by Ms. Oveissi and De Tomassi were brought to the attention of the previous USGs on numerous occassions. In case of Mr. Sha, all it can be said that clever manupulations by Ms. Oveissi and her group and other colleagues of the Executive Office have kept him away from knowing the real truth. Hopefully, submissions made through Reform UNDESA blog will draw his attention and bring to bear some serious and all encompassing reform. However, truth of the matter is that very little can be done and will be done as long as those who contribute to malfuncting of DESA continue to remain in their current position.

If any one can change DESA, it is Mr. Sha who can do it. Of all the previous DESA USGs he is the only one without any specialised interest ( for example, Desai's interst was environment and thus he spent most of his time pursuing his personal substantive intereset at the neglect of DESA organizational matters; same with Ocampo - true to his substantive interest he spent all his time on global fiscal issues and left the business of organization and management of DESA to Executive Office and TCMS head - result is today's accumulated mess)

Board of Auditors and ACABQ slam DESA for hiring hundreds of non-compliant consultants with BA and/or less education

During the biennium 2006-2007, The office of Technical Cooperation of UN-DESA, caired by Marie Oveissi and Furio De Tomassi, hired the following consultants:

2006: (Education/Nr#)

PhD / 86 consultants

MA / 94 consultants

BA / 42 consultants

Less BA / 124 consultants

Total of Consultants hired in 2006:  403 (out of which 48% with less than required education)

2007: (Education/Nr#)

PhD / 155 consultants

MA / 164 consultants

BA / 103 consultants

Less BA / 108 consultants

Total of Consultants hired in 2007: 530 (out of which 49.1% with less than required education)

This is a direct result of management failure, when allowing individuals at DESA/Technical Cooperation (TCMS) work as specialized HR officers. None of those employed at TCMS have any qualification or appropriate degrees in Human Resource Management.

DESA Staff call upon USG - Mr. Sha Zukang to immediately impose a freeze in hiring further useless  consultants and initiate a radical and substantial change of TCMS and ensure that those involved in Human Resource policy and implementation have appropriate education and training.

Even left-wing and pro-UN media couldn't pass on damning report that mentions DESA corruption

Report Details Corruption Cases Involving U.N. Purchasing

By NEIL MACFARQUHAR

UNITED NATIONS — A task force established to ferret out corruption in United Nations purchasing practices will report the details of five new cases involving some $20 million in contracts to the General Assembly on Thursday, as well as preliminary details of eight other inquiries.

The report, covering July 2007 to July 2008, includes several allegations of United Nations employees’ steering contracts to close relatives or to vendors involved in kickback schemes.

The report from the Procurement Task Force, leaving out some details of individuals still under investigation, was released several weeks ago, just three months before the group’s mandate from the General Assembly was scheduled to run out at the end of December.

The task force is investigating some 50 cases involving fraud or corruption, which will be transferred to the investigations division in the internal oversight office of the United Nations.

The task force has been viewed with suspicion by some United Nations members since it was formed in January 2006, after the oil-for-food scandal involving kickbacks in the program under which Iraq was allowed to sell oil and to buy humanitarian goods.

The task force report said that 22 vendors had been sanctioned by the United Nations during its years in operation and that it had identified more than 20 fraud and corruption schemes involved in some $630 million in contracts.

But the report and two responses from the United Nations underscore the tension between the Secretariat building and the task force, which is run by Robert Appleton, a former assistant United States attorney in Connecticut, and has 19 investigators of diverse nationalities.

The task force says the United Nations has not done enough to screen vendors and has allowed corrupt individuals to continue getting contracts after changing companies’ names. It also criticizes the organization for not pursuing millions of dollars in lost revenue with any zeal.

“It is a matter of concern that the task force’s recommendations for recovery actions — supported by documentary evidence of fraud, corruption and misappropriation of funds resulting in losses and damages — have not been vigorously pursued,” the report says.

Senior United Nations officials responded that often the task force did not provide the detail needed to pursue the individuals.

In its official response to the report, the Secretariat said the task force overstepped its authority in recommending whom and what to pursue. The response, issued by the office of Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general, said “a recommendation or finding of severe performance failings does not necessarily constitute misconduct or bind the discretion of the secretary general.”

A clash of cultures is also evident, with the task force calling any fraud a poor reflection on the United Nations. But a review by the United Nations Board of Auditors suggested that the damage done was unclear because the task force “was only able to identify clear losses of $25 million.”

The main task force report and the secretary general’s response were first reported in The Washington Post on Tuesday. The reports were released without fanfare more than two weeks ago, quietly placed on public display racks among a blizzard of the organization’s documents.

In one case in Kenya investigated by the task force, an operations assistant involved in buying supplies via the United Nations Office for Project Services steered contracts to various companies, including one called Depasse Logistics, owned by her husband, according to the full investigation report posted on the American Embassy Web site.

The value of the contracts awarded amounted to $800,000. The woman and another employee were dismissed, and 12 companies were banned from doing business with the United Nations.

Comment on REFORM UN-DESA: we're in dire need of reform

First of all I would like to congratulate your initiative to expose and fight internal corruption and miss-management that is eating and consuming UN-DESA alive.

As a staff member of UN-DESA for more than 15 years, I have witness with great concern the increasing attack by critics in the United States and other countries towards our department. The truth at the heart of our department's mounting problems is an almost total lack of accountability, which gives rise to suspicions of wholesale corruption. With the latest publication from your BLOG and reputable MEDIA on Guido Bertucci's, EO's and TCMS's practices, indicates that corruption and mismanagement go beyond the routine fraud, waste, and abuse of resources.

UN-DESA's budgets are shrouded in secrecy, and the actual performance is translucent, if not opaque. There is no reliable way to determine whether the various and often competing Divisions and/or Branches are doing their jobs, and many DESA activities, even if they are of some value, can be carried out better and more efficiently by other groups (NGOs or even UN Funds and Programmes). Other activities should not be undertaken at all.

The latest available evidence from OIOS investigations coupled with DESA's management unwillingness to undergo a thorough audit raise serious questions about our mission and the means used to carry it out. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's rationale that the UN is accountable to all its 185 member-states is meaningless. Such an amorphous standard of accountability is akin to saying no one is responsible.

Today UN-DESA, our/my Department, is in dire need of reform, starting with a comprehensive, independent audit of all our activities and programmes.

Even if a complete audit were performed inside DESA today, however, with the current leadership and management - there is no guarantee anything would be done about the problems identified. And radical change may not be possible, no matter how obvious the need. Given all the earlier, failed attempts to put things right, even on a limited basis, staff optimism about meaningful reform may be an exercise in wishful thinking.

Its 18 months since Mr. Sha Zukang came at DESA, and nothing has changed so far. While I remain skeptical about CHANGE, I hope that your BLOG will open the eyes of the outsiders and media and pressure our managers to do the right thing for once.

Best Regards,

a DESA employee
(name withhold for fear of retaliation)

Staff' Call for United States to withhold contributions to UN until U.N.D.E.S.A. Cleanup

For years the US Congress has called for Turtle Bay to fix itself pronto — or lose a big chunk of the U.S. dollars that fund its operations.

Such threats should come as no surprise to anyone who has been following the United Nations and its Funds and Programmes recently. The world's premier international institution has been wracked by widespread scandal and mismanagement.

The exposure of the corrupt Public Administration Programme (DPADM) and shocking accounts of procurement and contracts by U.N DESA's Executive Office and Technical Cooperation Unit (TCMS) in far too many places would be enough to close down most organizations — but not the United Nations's DESA.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as well as USG Sha Zukang admit there are serious problems — and have promised change. But with the United States taxpayers contributing the lion's share of the U.N.'s bloated budget — $2 billion a year — promises of change aren't good enough.

Time has come to address the U.N.'s legendary bureaucratization, billions of dollars spent on multitudes of programs with meager results, and outright misappropriation and mismanagement of funds.

And there's a stick: If the UN DESA doesn't implement — and certify — the changes stipulated in many OIOS and Procurement Task Force Reports — including budget, human resources overhauling, Executive Office and Technical Cooperation cleanup — the U.S. government should withhold its U.N. dues payment.

UN Staff believes that without applying appropriate "leverage," such as withholding up to half of America's assessed dues or mandating cuts in specific U.N. programs, that reforms "will fail or be incomplete at best." Considering the U.S. pays 22 percent of the U.N. budget, a cut of that magnitude would be a painful dose of "tough love."

The only way to improve UN-DESA's effectiveness and efficiency is to cut its resources and oblige its management to rethink the way it does business, and deal with its growing cancer.

The UN Staff recognizes that U.N. reforms need to be kick-started. With Ban Ki-moon leaving his post at the end of his term in 24 months, many see him now as a lame duck, and woefully incapable of implementing any meaningful reform agenda.

As it stands now, without serious US congressional pressure and leadership, reforms are likely to languish until a new and more energetic secretary-general is in place — at best. At worst, reform will be frustrated and infinitum by the U.N.'s (DESA) entrenched bureaucracy.

It is outrageous the spending that DESA does on conferences and useless meetings. 70% of DESA's budget goes to meaningless meetings and round tables which produce nothing and does nothing to alleviate poverty and help the poor around the world.

Since the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs can't—or won't — reform, US Congress will have to step in and save the world body from itself.

UN Staff call on all media to turn their attention to UN-DESA and its growing corruption and miss management. We need to scrutinize and held accountable DESA's management while inform the public of what is happening inside this UN institution.

OIOS report on investigation of DESA's Executive Office and TCMS reveals major corruption

Following an investigative story on Washington Times on December 13, 2006 from Betsy Pisik, after almost two years of intensive investigations, today OIOS presented to the 63rd session of General Assembly it's report on Activities of the Office of Internal Oversight Services for the period from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008 (A/63/302 (PART I)).

In this report OIOS reveals how DESA's Executive Office (Catherine Peluso) and DESA's Technical Cooperation Management Services (Marie Oveissi and Furio De Tomassi) abused their power and rewarded contracts to individuals (consultants) without any criteria and/or proper bidding process.

The report shows that in the case of Peluso that she awarded out of 30 sample contracts - 10 contract to the same individual. While in the case of Oveissi and De Tomassi out of 37 sample of contracts, 34 of them were missing and destroyed.

We the DESA staff demand from Mr. Sha Zukang and our management to take immediate action and remove from DESA the above mentioned staff who, with their irresponsible actions, have brought shame and destroyed our reputation.

Here is a part of the OIOS report to General Assembly (ART.35 Page 16)

35. In an audit of the use of consultants and individual contractors by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (AN2007/540/02), OIOS found that the procedure for ensuring competitive selection was not spelled out by the Office of Human Resources Management of the Department of Management with a view to ensuring compliance by departments/offices. In addition, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs had not established internal procedures to ensure uniformly that the selection of consultants was competitive, fully documented, economical and in the best interests of the United Nations. Consequently, contracts were being awarded repeatedly to a limited number of consultants without documentation of a competitive process. For example, OIOS found that, of a sample of 37 contracts administered by the Technical Cooperation Management Services, documentation justifying the selection of candidates was not available in 34 files. In the contracts processed by the Executive Office of the Department, while 27 of 30 contracts sampled did document the names of the candidates who were considered, the same names were repeated in 10 of the contracts. The OIOS recommendations contained in the report are in the process of being implemented.

Alberti abuses dual citizenship to obtain International benefits while in US

In all her documentation Adriana Alberti claims to be Italian. Including in UNPAN, IMIS, and other places. It looks that this girl don't want to admit and seem to be shameful of being an American. But was she always a pure Italian ?

What is Dual Citizenship ? Dual citizenship means that an individual is a citizen of two countries at the same time. It is also possible to be a citizen of three or more countries. However, every country has its own laws regarding dual citizenship. Some countries allow it; others do not, while some have no particular laws regarding dual citizenship. Dual citizenship is not something that can be applied for. It is a process that happens when a person becomes a citizen of another country, in addition to his or her country of birth. Dual citizenship occurs automatically to some individuals, for example: a child is born in the United States to foreign parents. In this example this child has U.S. Dual Citizenship since the child is automatically a citizen of the United States and a citizen of its parent's home country. 

This is typically the case of Adriana Alberti, she was born in New Jersey, to Italian parents, and acquired her Italian citizenship thru them. 

But after reading her controversial CV, and how she describes her past, one can't stop having double thoughts about this fake italian. Have she ever attended any schooling in Italy while claiming and residing in New Jersey? 

Another issue is that how can Furio De Tomassi and Catherine Pelluso admit and accept and award international benefits to a New Jersey born staffer who claims she is Italian, but because of those very claims lost her first assignment of Italian Associate Expert? How can her "home station" in personnel files is Bologna? When was the last time Ms. Alberti resided in Bologna? When was the last time Ms. Alberti paid a single dollar or euro or lira to Italian Taxes Authority?

Sha Zukang admits that DESA miss-managed Greek Trust Fund: - says "Technical Cooperation at crossroad"

Under Secretary General for UN-DESA has openly admitted thru an email to DESA's Directors that DPADM's Technical Cooperation is weak and at a crossroad.

In a document attached to his email he exposes and admits the wrong doings and miss-management of Guido Bertucci, Marie Oveissi and Furio De Tomassi, calling for a total overhaul of the Technical Cooperation.

Sha Zukang seem to be under enormous pressure from many member states who, based on Bertucci/Oveissi/De Tomassi performance, are now questioning if DESA should engage at all in Technical Cooperation.

One thing Sha Zukang should do now, he should officially transmit the OIOS report to Greek Government and return the unspent funds to its tax-payers, while pursuing thru JDC Guido Bertucci and insist that he pays back the $35,000 USD he wrongfully and intentionally misappropriated from the project.

Here is the copy of the letter.

CHANGE UN-DESA NOW MR. SHA

Millions of dollars in fraud and embezzlement on a global scale. The UN-DESA's DPADM, formed to “save public administration and good governance around the world,” has instead become more like a movie that is too graphic to show our children.

In the last 5 years, the reputation of the UN-DESA has been shredded by allegations of kickbacks, hundreds of thousand of dollars in graft in the Bertucci scandal, the miss-management and corruption in Associated Expert Programme, and a total lack of accountability.

We hope Mr. Sha that you know that it’s time for serious reform, for serious change.

The OIOS and Procurement Task Force report on Guido Bertucci scandal, which was finally released at the end of June 2008, is still being kept by USG-DESA office without any proper feedback to the Greek Government and OIOS. Criticizing the UN-DESA and specifically DPADM from top to bottom, the language of the report was crystal clear: “The inescapable conclusion from the OIOS’s work” is that the UN-DESA “needs thorough reform—and it needs it urgently.” We will see exactly how serious the lapses in judgment were at every level.

We question ourselves how did things go so terribly askew? What’s wrong with the UN-DESA?

Guido Bertucci Scandal: - As the OIOS investigated Greek Project, it uncovered another, related scandal.

Guido Bertucci, was miss-managing and abusing UN-DESA funds and projects to pay friends and family relatives.

This fourth OIOS report into DESA/DPAM operations, ended up fingerpointing Guido Bertucci, Jose Manuel Sucre and John Mary Kauzya on miss-management, and gross-negligence. The report asked the Secretary General to have Guido Bertucci reimburse at least 35,000 USD from his Pension/Salary to the UN.

But if Guido Bertucci and Jose Manuel Sucre, with the collaboration of Catherine Pelluso and Furio De Tomassi, are responsible for 35,000 USD in one single project, how much would they be responsble towards 281 projects that Guido Bertucci's shop managed during the past years?

Guido Bertucci didn't pay himslef his friends or family relatives. He was better than that. All payments and contracts were generated from the Techincal Cooperation Division headed from Marie Oveissi ( a former G - who became a P and than a D), and all contracts were cleared from Catherine Pelluso (another former G - who became a P and a D) of the Executive Office prior to execution and disbursement.

The biggest problem with this scandal is its scope: The Technical Cooepration department touches every program at the UN-DESA (it is through procurement contracts of services and goods that the UN-DESA spends the billions of dollars its members contribute). These men and woman specifically wielded a lot of influence. Line items in the UN-DESA budget were judged by Patrizio Civili and signed from Catherine Pelluso. Guido Bertucci worked in the UN for over over 30 years and dealt with contractors in Africa, Asia and the Middle East—all over the world.

This report is only the beginning of series of OIOS reviews that have initiated. But what's more important, Member states are now worried of what's really going on inside UN-DESA, and the current management ability to promote substantial and qualitative change.

In the report, which was based on more than 12000 document/emails, the OIOS speak about the UN-DESA’s reputation and the connection with its ability to function effectively: “At stake is the United Nations’ ability to respond promptly and effectively to the responsibilities thrust upon it by the member states. In the last analysis, that ability rests upon the organization’s credibility—on maintaining a widely held perception among member states of its competence, honesty and accountability".

“It is precisely those qualities that too often were absent in the administration of the DPADM and ultimately at the 23rd floor.”

This scandal happened under USG Ocampo’s watch. But most importantly was micromanaged by Patrizio Civili who had a direct interest vetted inside DPADM, and why not he was following the directives from a specific country to undermine another.

The scandals discussed here are the UN-DESA at its worst; but any honest analysis shows that the United Nations's Department of Economic and Social Affairs was a failure even without the “Guido Bertucci” scandal or the Associate Expert scandal from Technical Cooperation Division.

What went wrong ?

Men acted according to their own human nature. Patrizio Civili acted according to his interests; Catherine Pelluso acted according to her interests, Guido Bertucci acted according to his interests, Furio De Tomassi acted according to his interests, Elia Armstrong acted according to her interests; and friends and family members were looking for profit. Rather than following God’s way of love—of out-flowing concern—these men/woman were looking out for number one—themselves!

Jeremiah 17:9 tells us the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Greed affects every level of society. Even when we see an organization that should embody ethics, morality, and the highest standard of human virtue as an example to the entire world, we see instead a perfect depiction of human nature at its worst. Instead of a godly, righteous institution, we see a carnal one.

Rather than effective management at the top, the UN-DESA has had no true leadership (so far). DESA's USG (Desai/Ocampo) have proven both that they were not up to the task and that they were unwilling to step down—or even to replace those beneath them when they fail.

YES the answer is YES, Mr. Sha.......We need change NOW !!!!!