Friday, June 24, 2005 8:38 a.m. EDT 
Annan Staffer Defends Soros Role in U.N. Housing Fuss 
Embattled U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan finds himself embroiled in yet a new controversy.
Annan's chief of staff Mark Malloch Brown, who assumed the post in January, found himself under a press microscope when it became known he had been renting a suburban New York City mansion from financier George Soros. 
The U.N., which is supposed to remain apolitical in its member nations' internal affairs, found itself a target when it became known that one of its highest ranking officers had established a close personal and financial relationship with an individual who had publicly proclaimed that he would use all his resources to defeat the Bush administration. 
Not only had Malloch Brown been renting a 4-bedroom mansion in Katonah, NY from Soros, but the U.N. Development Program, which he also headed until this week, had been the recipient of millions of dollars of grants form Soros' Open Society Institute. 
The story of the Soros-Malloch Brown relationship first surfaced in a front-page story in The NY Sun newspaper last Friday. 
An examination by NewsMax was able to determine that a substantial portion of Malloch Brown's monthly $10,000 rent was paid for by various cost-of-living stipends he receives under U.N. appropriations. 
Malloch Brown is reported to be making only $125,000 a year. 
I have no financial involvement with George Soros, of any kind, Mr. Brown said at Monday's daily press briefing in New York. I pay a full commercial rent for the one property of his I live in. 
The rising tensions between the Annan deputy and the U.N. press corps became evident last Monday when the chef de cabinet confronted one of his accusers in a daily noon briefing. 
Responding to a probe by James Bone of The Times of London Malloch Brown blasted the latest inquiry: 
Who gave you this story? What was their motive? What is it that now gives free rein to any amount of bile, unproven but still publishable, with no questioning of the motives of those who provided it? 
Several minutes of continued sparring between Malloch Brown and The Times correspondent eventually ended when the Annan aide stormed out of the press briefing. 
Malloch Brown, once known for his smoothness in public relations, has repeatedly stumbled since he joined Annan's personal staff in January. 
In April, after U.N. chief Oil for Food investigator Paul Volcker reported that his investigators could not find any criminal actions by Kofi Annan, Malloch Brown hastily convened a press conference to declare that the U.N. secretary-general had been exonerated and the press should now concentrate on better things. 
One witness to the Malloch Brown briefing, was Mark Pieth. 
Pieth, a noted Swiss scholar and member of the Volcker panel, quickly challenged the Malloch Brown declaration, telling this reporter that Volcker exonerated nobody. 
He insisted that the panel could not find any criminal action by Annan ... yet. He added that the Volcker findings were only preliminary and that the final report would not be released till later this summer. 
Despite, the Pieth comments, Malloch Brown continued his vain efforts at spin control repeatedly challenging statements in the press that Kofi Annan was not exonerated. 
Eventually, Volcker himself was forced to call an ad-hoc press conference to publicly declare that the investigation of Annan was still ongoing. 
At that point, Annan and his chief of staff, retracted their statements, claiming that they were misreported by the press. 
The problem with the approach was that Pieth was not responding to press reports but to actual statements he witnessed made by Malloch Brown himself. 
While the Malloch Brown investigation gains steam, Annan himself may have some of his explaining of his own to do. 
Like many others in the U.N. civil service system, Annan receives a cost of living salary adjustment In his case, it comes to approximately $125,000 yearly, tax-free. 
Not only are all the secretary-general's living expenses paid for (clothes not included), but he continues to draw a rent from an apartment he owns and leases on Manhattan's Roosevelt Island. 
Some at the U.N. call the Kofi action a double dip. 
He gets living expenses he does not incur reimbursed and not only keeps the U.N. stipend to maintain his apartment, but retains the rent as well. 
All coming at a time when the world body continues to downsize and layoff staffers. 
While Annan insists he will remain at the captain's wheel until his term expires on January 1, 2007, others aren't so sure. 
Ironically, a former Annan patron, who has publicly (though not officially) proclaimed interest in the job is none other than Bill Clinton. 
Contrary to public belief, no U.N. rule prohbits a permanent member (U.S., UK, France, Russia and China) from rising to the top spot. 
Clinton recently took up an office across the street from U.N. headquarters where he coordinates tsunami relief efforts for Annan. 
Once considered a long-shot, Clinton is being given a second look. 
You know, he may not be so bad after all. He may be just what we need to regain some respect, confessed a veteran U.N. staffer.