More U.N. Corruption

November 3, 2006
The Wall Street Journal
Original Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116251869589312134.html
Kofi Annan has famously described the United Nations as an institution of unique legitimacy. But when he turns over the Secretary Generalship to South Korean Ban Ki Moon two months from now, he will be leaving behind an organization whose reputation for integrity and competence has never been lower.
The latest scandal is the arrest and indictment this week of U.N. procurement official Sanjaya Bahel on bribery charges. He's accused by federal prosecutors of steering more than $50 million worth of contracts to bidders in exchange for such considerations as a cheap Manhattan apartment. And his alleged misdeeds may have compromised U.N. peacekeeping missions in places like Liberia, Congo and Kosovo, where a U.N. internal investigation says favored contractors were allowed to skimp on employee salaries and pocket the money for themselves.
Last year, Russian Alexander Yakovlev pled guilty in a case involving $1 million in bribes on $79 million in contracts. And earlier this year a U.N. internal probe concluded that more than $300 million worth of contracts may have been improperly handled, either through mismanagement or outright criminality. One person who had a cozy relationship with the U.N. procurement office, by the way, was none other than Mr. Annan's son Kojo, whose role in a firm that benefited from Iraqi Oil for Food contracts has never been fully clarified.
Which reminds us that Mr. Annan's promise of U.N. reform has also gone nowhere. Christopher Burnham, the talented American brought to the U.N. Secretariat to promote reform, is quietly returning to private life. His attempts were mostly stymied by the U.N. bureaucracy and General Assembly, not that Mr. Annan tried all that hard to move its members.
It would be nice to think we can expect better from Mr. Ban. But it is telling that the South Korean Foreign Minister helped secure his new post with blandishments and pledges of aid to some of the Security Council countries that voted on him. Judging from the record of U.N. scandal, he's right to conclude that what really talks at Turtle Bay is money.