March 31, 2005
UN Chief Watchdog Accused of Iraq Program Abuse
By REUTERS 


Filed at 4:23 p.m. ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The chief U.N. internal watchdog was himself accused of wrongdoing on Thursday after investigators found that an assistant he hired with money from the Iraq oil-for-food plan did no work for that program.
The charge against Dileep Nair, who heads the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services, was the latest in a steady drum-beat of bad news for the United Nations.
The organization has struggled to regain its footing following a wave of top staff changes, wrongdoing charges against several officials and findings of impropriety and mismanagement in the oil-for-food program.
U.N. refugee chief Ruud Lubbers resigned in February amid sexual harassment allegations, and word leaked out this week that Carina Perelli, the highly regarded head of the U.N. elections unit, was accused in a confidential U.N.-commissioned report of making unwanted sexual advances toward a male employee and creating a sexually charged work environment.
The Nair allegations surfaced just weeks before the end of his five-year term in office.
U.N. chief spokesman Fred Eckhard read a list of the top contenders to succeed him seconds after announcing that he had been charged with violations of U.N. staff regulations.
In a second matter targeting Nair, Eckhard said the United Nations would commission an outside review to help decide whether to reopen an inquiry into charges of sexual harassment and hiring favoritism on the basis of nationality.
Those allegations, leveled against Nair by the U.N. Staff Committee on the basis of an anonymous letter, had been dismissed last year. But the staff committee has been pressing for further action after presenting more detailed evidence.
Nair had no immediate comment on the two actions but in the past has vigorously denied any wrongdoing.
In the case involving the oil-for-food program, the Independent Inquiry Committee led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker reported on Tuesday that Nair had used money from the $67-billion humanitarian plan to hire fellow Singaporean Tay Keong Tan as his personal assistant.
While Nair said Tan, an assistant professor of public policy at the National University of Singapore, would be heavily involved in the program, Tan told the committee that Nair had never mentioned this to him, according to its report.
Tan ``performed virtually no program-related work during the two years that he was funded by the program,'' the committee report said, accusing him of a ``misuse of program funds'' in violation of U.N. staff regulations.
Nair has a week to answer the charge, Eckhard said.
In the second matter, if the outside review recommends a reopening of the investigation, ``then we will go ahead with it, whether Mr. Nair is here or not,'' Eckhard said.
On the short list for Nair's job were auditors Claus Andreasen of Denmark, Franz-Hermann Bruener of Germany, Spain's Rafael Munoz and Sweden's Inga-Britt Ahlenius, Eckhard said.