March 16, 2005 Edition > Section: Foreign
U.N. May Reopen Investigation of OIOS Head
BY BENNY AVNI - Special to the Sun
March 16, 2005

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations chief of staff, Mark Malloch Brown, is expected to reopen an investigation against the head of the in-house investigative arm, Dileep Nair, tomorrow or Friday. Mr. Nair, whom is currently in Malaysia in an official capacity, faces long-standing allegations from U.N. staffers of abuse of power.
U.N. spokespersons yesterday refused to disclose Mr. Malloch Brown's precise course of action before Mr. Nair returns from Asia at the end of this week. Mark Malloch Brown will first inform him of the decision he has taken, and only then make public a decision, spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
The renewed scrutiny of Mr. Nair began with a letter sent last month to the chief of staff by representatives from the staff union. The document contained five specific allegations regarding Mr. Nair's conduct in recruitment and discipline at the Office of Internal Oversight Services. Last year, staffers accused Mr. Malloch Brown's predecessor of whitewashing their concerns regarding previous allegations against Mr. Nair.
The current incident is largely seen as yet another element in Mr. Malloch Brown's much-advertised housecleaning of the U.N. It also comes at the very end of Mr. Nair's career. The Singaporean national's five-year term at the head of OIOS ends on April 20, and he is expected to retire.
Mr. Nair is only the second head of the office, which was established in 1994 after the Republican-led Congress withheld funding for U.N., citing demands for reform and transparency. Mr. Maloch Brown's appointment as chief of staff earlier this year was largely seen as an attempt by Mr. Annan to thwart a renewed congressional assault. The OIOS, once seen as an antidote to a lack of transparency, is now under attack on strikingly similar grounds.
According to recent published reports, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette prevented Mr. Nair from presenting audits of oil-for-food program to the Security Council. U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq denied the reports yesterday, stressing that Mr. Nair's office reports to the General Assembly precisely to avoid pressures from the secretariat. However, it is the secretariat that would launch any action on Mr. Nair, because the complaints came from the staff, Mr. Haq said.
Last Friday, the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations heard closed-door testimony from two U.N. internal auditors regarding the oil-for-food investigation, according to a congressional aide. The committee is headed by Senator Coleman, a Republican of Minnesota who has called on Secretary-General Annan to resign.
The U.N.'s own independent committee on the scandal, headed by a former Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker, is expected to announce today that it will publish its next interim report on March 28. It is expected to address questions regarding Mr. Annan's son, Kojo.
Yesterday the House Committee on International Relations, headed by Henry Hyde, a Republican of Illinois, held a hearing on reforming the U.N. that featured former American U.N. ambassadors Madeleine Albright, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and Richard C. Holbrooke. Mr. Annan is expected to soon present his own extensive ideas on reform.