A Dark World Of United Nations Fraud And Waste
Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 02:37PM 
A report obtained by USA TODAY under the Freedom of Information Act from the Inspector General of USAID highlights the murky culture of corruption in the U.N.
Between 2003 and 2006, the U.N. ran a "quick impact" infrastructure program for Afghanistan with a $25 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) . Unfortunately, after tens of millions of dollars were spent, shoddy work , fraud, waste and a lack of financial transparency became the definition of quick impact.
The program resulted in the construction of an airstrip that can not accommodate military planes, a bridge so badly built it was on the verge of collapse, and a central bank without electricity and plumbing that easily floods and has destroyed stacks of local currency.
However, as bad as these shoddy construction projects are, they are not even the worse part of this dubious story. According to the report, the U.N. diverted millions off dollars of money to other countries, took 6.7 million dollars from a U.S. line of credit without permission after the project ended and has stonewalled U.S. efforts to figure out what happened even to this day.
So, what can be done about this fraud and waste at the U.N? Sadly, not too much since Federal prosecutors in New York City were forced to drop all criminal and civil cases in the matter because U.N. officials are protected with immunity. A collection agency has been hired to try and collect millions in missing funds that may have been used in projects in Sri Lanka, Sudan, Haiti and Dubai.
Apparently, the UN Office of Project Services (UNOPS) was responsible for the work. UNOPS operates in the shadows with no real scrutiny or oversight and has been the subject of project mismanagement before.
Certainly, it was ironic that the lights on the top floors of the United Nations went out as the questions swirled around its latest U.N. procurement scandal. The evasive answers from the United Nations on the subject of the scandal like the failed lighting in the building were designed to keep everyone in the dark.
The truth is that the United Nations building continues to experience power blackouts and problems with procurement and contracts again is the apparent cause. It is has been alleged that the UN's electrical maintenance contractor does not adequately provide building maintenance and then charges overtime rates to fix what has not been properly maintained. Still, the United Nations continues to stand behind its electrical contractor, Petrocelli Electric.
The U.N. support comes despite the fact that the electric companies founder Santo Petrocelli was indicted for bribery on April 3 and is reputed by law enforcement sources to have been involved with the Genovese crime family since 1988.
It should not be forgotten that the decision to give the U.N. contract to Petrocelli Electric was initially sponsored by U.N. procurement official Walter Cabrera. The now disgraced procurement official was found (based on testimony in the federal court of Nishan Kohli) to have accepted the services of prostitutes in exchange for contracts with a telecommunications entrepreneur.
Shoddy work, missing money, waste, and bribes enabled by a lack of oversight, and immunity from law enforcement . Its a dark world of U.N. fraud and waste in a murky culture of corruption. Don't expect it to change anytime soon.
Reader Comments