U.N. to Name Anticorruption Chief

By JOE LAURIA
July 26, 2010
WSJ
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704719104575389411812523100.html

The United Nations General Assembly is expected this week to approve a new director for the U.N.'s internal anticorruption unit following the acrimonious departure of the previous director nearly two weeks ago.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday nominated an as-yet unnamed Canadian woman for the top post at the U.N.'s Office of Internal Oversight Services.

The former director, Inga-Britt Ahlenius, a Swede, said over the weekend that her successor will inherit a unit in disarray, with some senior posts, including that of director of investigations, having been left vacant for several years.

Ms. Ahlenius, whose nonrenewable five-year term as head ended July 14, left the post after delivering a report to Mr. Ban alleging he interfered with the independence of the nominally independent office charged with rooting out U.N. corruption.

Mr. Ban, speaking through his spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said he has "always welcomed constructive criticism. But as public servants, there are rules and procedures. In this case, a trust, a bond, had been broken."

Angela Kane, U.N. under-secretary-general for management, said Ms. Ahlenius's report was full of "inaccuracies and omissions" and "pronounced nuances."

The oversight office was established in 1995 to put a check on corruption that has plagued the U.N., ranging from procurement problems to peacekeepers sexually abusing children among populations they were sent to protect. It was designed to be "operationally independent," including retaining the right to hire its own staff, according to the General Assembly resolution that set it up.

In one example of alleged interference, Ms. Ahlenius accused Mr. Ban of blocking the hiring of Robert Appleton, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Connecticut, as her choice to fill the post of director of investigations. Mr. Appleton led a temporary procurement task force set up for three years in 2006 in the wake of the oil-for-food scandal. The contract-fraud unit found $25 million in waste and fraud and secured convictions of a contractor and a U.N. employee.

As a result of Mr. Ban's interference, Ms. Ahlenius, who was appointed in 2005 by then-secretary-general Kofi Annan, said that important positions like this have been vacant for three years.

Ms. Ahlenius said the office is funded from the U.N.'s regular budget and depends on the secretariat to vet its hires because it lacks its own appointments review board. This has given Mr. Ban more control over the agency than warranted, she said. "He is just stubbornly standing on his position that he should have the authority to appoint," she said.

Catherine Pollard, head of U.N. human resources, said Mr. Appleton's appointment was rejected because Ms. Ahlenius didn't follow U.N. procedures to nominate three candidates, one of whom must be a woman.

"She does the hiring, but she has to follow U.N. procedures," said a senior U.N. official. "There is a hierarchy."

The U.N.'s Independent Audit Advisory Committee, another quasi-independent watchdog, tasked with advising and helping the General Assembly with its oversight responsibilities, sided with Ms. Ahlenius, saying she had the authority to appoint staff to her office.