‘Bribery: Business as usual at the UN?’

Jim Wesberry Contador Benemerito de las Americas – Anti-Corruption/Accountability/Transparency Specialist

We should worry about the UN
"Bribery: Business as usual at the UN?"

“In view of the pervasive pattern of past corruption at the UN, including most notably the oil-for-food scandal, procurement scandals and multiple allegations of sexual exploitation of civilians by UN peacekeepers assigned to protect them, the UN has been knee deep in wrongdoing for years. The current scandal fits the pattern. Indeed, the UN bureaucracy responded to the latest scandal with the same modus operandi it has used previously – first, to sweep it under the rug, then to pretend it is an isolated occurrence not involving the UN system and then belatedly to initiate an internal review…
The UN bureaucracy is continuing to hide behind a veil of secrecy rather than demonstrate the full transparency that it lectures everyone else about. A full-fledged investigation is overdue since Mr. Ng Seng’s company through his foundation has financial ties directly with the UN Secretariat. Mr. Ng Seng may have used Mr. Ashe to facilitate his business interests involving the UN and paid him for his services. But he also put his hooks into the UN Secretariat itself…
The UN’s “partnership strategy” to date has evidently been to take money for its causes from any source, no questions asked. A for-profit Las Vegas hotel-casino company had enough concerns to mount a background check on Mr. Ng Seng before entering into a potential business relationship with him five years ago. The investigation report raised “red flags” and advised “extreme caution.” Yet the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, which operates under the aegis of the Secretary General, blindly accepted contributions from Mr. Ng Seng’s foundation. In doing so, the UN system quite possibly helped him to disguise the source of monies that might have been derived from criminal activity if any, potentially evade taxes on business income and at the same time buy influence at the UN for his personal business benefit.
One of the UN’s targets in meeting its highly publicized Sustainable Development Goals is to “substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms.” Another target is to “develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.” The UN establishment would do well to lead by example. The latest corruption scandal indicates it is woefully unprepared to do so.”