‘Quid Pro Kofi’ In U.N. Furor 
OK’d 500G Pal for Top Enviro Post 

By Niles Lathem
May 2, 2006
The New York Post
Original Source: http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/67852.htm



May 2, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - Kofi Annan came under fire yesterday for his role in giving a prestigious post to a man who had sat on a panel that awarded the U.N. secretary-general a prize worth $500,000. 
Members of Congress and other critics pushing to clean up the United Nations have raised sharp questions over the still-murky circumstances that led to the appointment of Achim Steiner of Germany to head the U.N. Environmental Program. 
Steiner, a well-known international activist who headed the World Conservation Union, was a judge on a panel that awarded Annan the $500,000 Zayed Prize for Global Environmental Leadership, sponsored by the United Arab Emirates. 
The prize was awarded last December. 
Less than a month later, Steiner's name was included on a short list of candidates for the U.N. environmental job, and his appointment was made official on March 15. 
At a contentious briefing at U.N. Headquarters yesterday, spokesman Stephane Dujarric insisted that there was no quid pro quo and added that Steiner was chosen because he was considered the strongest candidate. 
Dujarric said Steiner's name was added to a list of other candidates who had been put forward by various governments. 
But Dujarric said Steiner's name was not put forward by a government. He refused to say who nominated him to the U.N. environmental panel, saying only that a committee that included other U.N. officials debated the nomination and Annan made the final decision. 
Questions over the Steiner nomination, first reported in the Financial Times, have arisen as Annan continues to struggle to regain the United Nations' credibility in the wake of the giant Iraq oil-for-food scandal and the criminal investigation of U.N. procurement that has resulted in suspensions of eight top officials. 
This is serious and smacks of cronyism, U.N. critic Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation said of the Steiner appointment. 
This should be of huge concern for those who are pushing for real reform at the United Nations, and it should be subjected to a full inquiry in the interests of accountability and transparency, added Gardiner, who has testified at numerous congressional hearings on U.N. corruption. 
A congressional investigator on a committee pushing for U.N. reform said his panel plans to look into the issue. 
The faster Kofi Annan donates the money to a charity of his choice, the better it will look. Otherwise, it will smell of something else much worse, said a House GOP aide. 
Dujarric said yesterday that Annan plans to give his prize money to a foundation that promotes women's education in Africa. 
The Steiner appointment came despite the fact that his predecessor, Klaus Toepfer, was also German. Normally, the U.N. rotates top appointments to different countries. 
Toepfer also sat on the same panel that awarded the $500,000 prize to Annan.