Moscow UNDP staff stole $1.2 million

August 31, 2005
Science Daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050831-06094300-bc-un-russiafraud.xml
MOSCOW, Aug. 31, 2005 (UPI) -- Fraud in the Moscow office of the United Nations Development Program may have cost the organization $1.2 million, The Moscow Times reported Wednesday.
UNDP auditors believe a group of four staff members stole funds by forging contracts, tender documents, invoices and payment orders over a four-year period, the UNDP said Tuesday.
The culprits are believed to be a group of staff members who worked in the office's operations division. All the suspects were local staff who left UNDP before the theft was discovered, a spokesman for the agency said.
Stefan Vassilev, the Bulgarian-born head of the UNDP's Russia office since 2003, has been suspended from his duties until the probe is complete.
This appears to be a sophisticated operation that has been difficult to detect, said William Orme, UNDP spokesman in New York. Unfortunately, we detected it only this year.
Since opening in 1997, the office has channeled more than $56 million into projects promoting democracy, poverty reduction and economic development in Russia.
The problem of missing cash plagues the United Nations. More than $300 million in U.N. funds has been wasted or stolen in the past 10 years, according to the United Nations' internal watchdog.
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