AP Exclusive: Author of U.N. whistleblower policy says U.N. ex-employee in NKorea should get whistleblower protection 

The Associated Press 
July 9, 2007 
International Herald Tribune
Original Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/10/news/UN-GEN-UN-NKorea.php

UNITED NATIONS: The former operations officer for the U.N. anti-poverty agency in North Korea is a whistleblower who should be protected from retaliation, the author of the U.N. whistleblower protection policy said.
Christopher Burnham, an American financial expert who served as the U.N.'s undersecretary-general for management from June 2005 through November 2006, confirmed Monday that he had written to the head of the U.N. Ethics Office last month to support Artjon Shkurtaj's request for whistleblower protection.
I wrote the whistleblower law, I know the whistleblower law, and Artjon Shkurtaj is a whistleblower, Burnham told The Associated Press.
Shkurtaj said in an interview with AP on Friday that he is seeking whistleblower protection because he lost his job with the U.N. Development Program for raising serious allegations about its financial transactions in the reclusive communist nation.
Shkurtaj said he never got a response when he asked his bosses what to do with counterfeit U.S. dollars he found in the office safe and reported on his first day in Pyongyang on Nov. 4, 2004. He said he was told not to rock the boat when he complained that paying all North Korean salaries and program expenses in hard currency, namely euros, instead of local currency was against U.N. rules.
Shkurtaj, an Albanian, said he went to Burnham and the U.S. government after his bosses at the U.N. Development Fund, known as UNDP, failed to act on his allegations.
Burnham said in a June 28 e-mail to the new director of the Ethics Office, Robert Benson, which was obtained by AP, that he was aware of Shkurtaj's complaint concerning the retaliation he has received from UNDP senior management.
I can confirm to you, Burnham wrote, that Mr. Shkurtaj approached my office beginning in May 2006 to bring to my attention major deficiencies concerning U.N. operations in North Korea.
Mr. Shkurtaj was very helpful in explaining the nature of the practices to me, but also by providing evidence that he had sought to communicate these concerns to UNDP senior management, beginning in early 2005, wrote Burnham, now a vice chairman and managing director of Deutsche Asset Management, part of Deutsche Bank.
U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said the Ethics Office was considering a request by a former UNDP employee seeking whistleblower protection, whom she did not identify.
UNDP on Friday disputed Shkurtaj's allegations that he was subject to retaliation because he raised concerns about the agency's operations in North Korea.
UNDP has looked into this claim and based on available information found it to be without basis, UNDP spokesman David Morrison said. UNDP has invited the individual to submit all relevant information to the UNDP office charged with undertaking internal inquiries, but he has so far declined to do so.
Morrison claimed he worked on short-term contracts and was not a 13-year veteran of UNDP — a claim Shkurtaj vehemently denied, noting that he receives U.N. health benefits and is eligible for a U.N. pension.
Burnham told the Ethics Office chief that he was available to assist in the investigation of Shkurtaj.
I believe Mr. Shkurtaj meets the definitions of a whistleblower — a new definition and policy that I authored — and urge you to expeditiously examine this case, Burnham said.
Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan signed the U.N.'s first whistleblower protection policy on Dec. 20, 2005. It states that all U.N. employees are required to report any breach of the organization's rules and regulations and explicitly protects them from retaliation.
Two U.S. Republican lawmakers — Sen. Norm Coleman and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen — have sent letters to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him to intervene and ensure that Shkurtaj is not punished for raising serious concerns about U.N. operations in North Korea.
Shkurtaj's request for whistleblower protection comes on the heels of U.S. allegations in January that UNDP funneled millions of dollars in hard currency to North Korea with little assurance that Kim Jong Il used the money to help his people instead of diverting it to illicit purposes, including developing nuclear weapons.
In late March, UNDP announced that U.N. and U.S. authorities were investigating how US$3,500 in suspected counterfeit US$100 bills ended up sitting in a safe in the UNDP office in North Korea for 12 years.
An initial U.N. audit ordered by the secretary-general in response to the U.S. allegations reported in June that U.N. agencies paid North Korean staff and suppliers in euros without approval and hired only government-approved staff in violation of U.N. procedures.
Ban has asked U.N. budget officials to approve a further probe by the auditors, who were unable to visit Pyongyang.