U.N. Needs Overhaul In Procurement, U.N. Watchdog Says 
June 8, 2007
New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-un-crime.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The head of a U.N. inspection office said the world body needed a major overhaul of how it procures $1.9 billion in goods annually and called for less secrecy about probes of staff and companies involved.
Commenting on the conviction of a former U.N. purchasing official on Thursday, Undersecretary-General Inga-Britt Ahlenius said a Procurement Task Force that reports to her was reviewing contracts worth $1 billion for waste and fraud and had opened 140 cases.
It is difficult to rely on the system when it comes to procurement, Ahlenius, head of the Office of Internal Oversight, told a news conference. In my view, there is a need for a major overhaul of the procurement system in the organization.
With evidence collected by the Task Force, the procurement official, Sanjaya Bahel, 57, was convicted in Manhattan federal court on charges of bribery and fraud. He was accused of steering millions of dollars in U.N. contracts to Indian companies in exchange for cash and discounts on two luxury apartments. He faces up to 35 years in prison.
Amid the scandal in the $64 billion U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq, Ahlenius, who had held a similar job in her native Sweden, was appointed to the post in April 2005.
U.S. federal prosecutors have indicted 12 people in relation to the oil-for-food program, including oil traders and four U.N. staff members.
The Bahel case had been investigated by Ahlenius' predecessor, who had himself been under investigation, but was dropped for lack of evidence in 2004.
Ahlenius said she asked a http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/european_union/index.html?inline=nyt-org \o More articles about the European Union. European Union office, known as OLAF, to review the case because the initial investigation wasn't thorough enough. The Task Force, created a year ago, held its own probe and handed files to U.S. prosecutors.
But Ahlenius avoided questions on investigations now underway, some already reported in the press, as well new completed reports, saying she was forbidden to do so by the U.N. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/g/general_assembly/index.html?inline=nyt-org \o More articles about General Assembly General Assembly. The 192 member-assembly also has delayed new procurement regulations for the past two years.
I think the secretiveness that is held by this organization serves us poorly, Ahlenius said, urging patience because change will come.
She said the United Nations, which hands out lucrative contracts, was not protected enough from corrupt vendors and was a victim of unscrupulous companies and vendors.
Robert Appleton, head of the task force, said that not all his cases involved bribes but companies making false representations or operating through intermediaries.
Among the 140 cases under review by his task force, Appleton said 20 to 25 were large cases.