How Annan's Friend Made Big Money Helping a Dictator
BY BENNY AVNI - Special to the Sun
March 14, 2005

UNITED NATIONS - A Manhattan-based public-relations firm, whose founder is described as a close friend of Secretary-General Annan, received approximately $100,000 for work it did for the Nigerian government when the African country was ruled by a brutal dictator, Sani Abacha.
The firm, Ruder Finn, registered as a lobbyist for Nigeria in March 1998, three months before Abacha died. An executive of the firm, Emmanuel Tchvidjian, told The New York Sun, however, that after conducting a survey for the Nigerian regime, it dropped the account.
We don't do business with dictators, Mr. Tchvidjian, a senior vice president of Ruder Finn, said.
Ruder Finn, which was founded by Annan associate David Finn, was approached to improve the Abacha government's image by Ibrahim Gambari, who served at the time as Nigeria's U.N. ambassador. Mr. Gambari is now a U.N. undersecretary-general, reporting directly to Mr. Annan as his top adviser on African issues.
Mr. Gambari did not return repeated phone calls by the Sun to his office last week.
Mr. Tchvidjian said Ruder Finn's work for Nigeria was confined to the survey of the Nigerian government's image in America - which the survey concluded was dismal. He confirmed that the firm was paid about $100,000 for its work for the African country, but he insisted that Ruder Finn never represented Abacha.
Abacha seized power after annulling a 1993 election won by the opposition leader Moshood Abiola. A general, Abacha was widely condemned for ransacking his country's wealth and murdering political opponents, including most famously the human-rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight colleagues in 1995. Abacha died six-and-a-half years ago after a heart attack - suffered when, according to press reports, he was in the arms of three prostitutes and had consumed large quantities of Viagra.
The idea that Mr. Finn's firm, which has done work on a pro-bono basis to improve the image of the United Nations, also represented such a notorious dictator struck some U.N. officials as jarring. To me it is inconceivable that Kofi Annan offered Sani Abacha any kind of public relations advice, the undersecretary general for public information, Shashi Tharoor, told the Sun.
If Ruder Finn's past work for Nigeria might harm the United Nations' image, its continuing work in connection with the Global Compact also is a potential source of concern. Envisioned as a drive to coax corporations to employ ethical standards in business, the Global Compact is joined by any firm that vows to keep the environment clean, avoid exploitation in employment, and maintain similar clean business practices. Some critics have noted that there is no U.N. verification mechanism of the standards listed in the Global Compact, turning it into no more than a U.N. stamp of approval for large firms.
Ruder Finn highlights the U.N. Global Compact on its Web site and boasts that many of its clients, such as Citibank, the Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis, Norsk-Hydro, and drug manufacturer Pfizer, are members who adhere to its standards. At the same time, the Web site states, Ruder Finn serves as an adviser for the United Nations on Global Compact.
Ruder Finn is working in an advisory capacity for the Global Compact, the Web site says. This includes helping develop presentations and strategies for approaching corporations in the United States to join the Global Compact, as well as organizing meetings with compact participants.
The Sun reported Wednesday that a nephew of Mr. Annan's, Kobina Annan, was employed by Ruder Finn, at the same time that the United Nations Development Program paid two top image-makers at the firm, including Mr. Finn's daughter, to revamp its communication department.
The UNDP is still run by Mark Malloch Brown, who since his appointment by Mr. Annan as chief of staff has said his mission is to shake up the organization and effect reforms. Since his appointment, Mr. Malloch Brown has fired, or else forced into retirement, some of Mr. Annan's most trusted top aides and longtime friends, in an attempt to renew the organization's commitment to good practices.
I am looking into why UNDP contracted Mr. Finn's firm, to ensure the right procurement procedures were followed for that, Mr. Malloch Brown said Thursday, because I recognize, as the one who is speaking up for transparency and accountability in the U.N., that the organization I ran and still run meets the lily-white standards that I'm trying to establish.
Mr. Malloch Brown said he asked the United Nations' legal department to look into the propriety of pro-bono work, which has been the basis for most of Ruder Finn's relationship with the U.N. As the Sun has reported, Mr. Finn's list of paying clients includes many large corporations and states that also have economic connections with the United Nations, or whose images might not always adhere to the world body's declared standards.
The Ruder Finn Web site lists the governments of Kazakhstan, Russia, and Israel as among the firm's present or former clients. It also lists as present or former clients Indonesia's state-owned oil company and companies in industries such as air travel and pharmaceuticals, which could be affected by U.N. actions.
The scrutiny of Ruder Finn's ties to Mr. Annan and the United Nations comes at a time when the world body is still reeling from criticism of its oil-for-food program in Iraq and its failure to prevent genocide in Darfur, along with accusations of sex abuse by peacekeepers in Congo.