U.N. corruption probe 'at full throttle'

U.N. corruption probe 'at full throttle'
Senior official indicted on bribery charges – 'The dominoes are beginning to fall'

A day after a senior U.N. official was indicted on bribery charges, the United Nations management chief said Thursday an investigation into corruption was "at full throttle" and he urged anyone with relevant information to cooperate.

"The dominoes are beginning to fall," undersecretary-general for management Christopher Burnham told the Associated Press. "Anyone with information about corruption anywhere in the U.N. needs to come forward now before the dominoes reach them," he added.

Burnham, who has been instrumental in pressing investigations into corruption especially in U.N. procurement activities, said the corruption probe goes beyond the procurement department.

"This investigation is as serious as a heart attack and is at full throttle," he said.

The warning from Burnham followed Wednesday's indictment and arrest of former U.N. procurement official Sanjaya Bahel.

In an indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court, Bahel of Manhattan was accused of using his influence to steer contracts worth more than $50 million to a man who rewarded him with valuable real estate. The man, Nishan Kohli, was arrested Wednesday in Miami.

Bahel, 55, pleaded not guilty Thursday and was freed on $900,000 bail. Defense lawyer Raymond A. Levites said Bahel, an Indian diplomat and the former head of the U.N. commodity procurement section, "looks forward to the trial and being acquitted and then getting some apologies."

Bahel was one of eight staff members put on paid leave by the U.N. in January while a new Procurement Task Force pursued allegations of fraud and mismanagement in purchasing for U.N. peacekeeping operations.

In 2005, the U.N. Procurement Department handled almost $2 billion in purchasing for the Department of Peacekeeping, almost double the amount in 2003, U.N. officials said.

On Aug. 31, the U.N. charged Bahel with misconduct and suspended him without pay after an investigation concluded that Bahel used his relationship with a wealthy Indian businessman and his son to steer deals to the company they represented.

The U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services, the U.N.'s internal watchdog, provided its final report to U.S. and Indian authorities and the U.S. Attorney's office in the Southern District launched its own investigation, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Dujarric was grilled by reporters Thursday on why Bahel was initially cleared by the U.N. watchdog, and why anyone should have faith in the supposedly independent body to rout out criminal activity.

"There may have been issues with previous audits that were not followed through on, that were not acted upon," Dujarric said.

But he pointed to the reforms instituted after a sweeping year-long probe led by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker concluded last year that the United Nations allowed "illicit, unethical, and corrupt behavior" to overwhelm the $64 billion oil-for-food program in Iraq.

"One of the great lessons learned from the Volcker report is the fact that we do need to tighten up our procedures, in terms of audits that have taken place, audits that have to be followed up on," Dujarric said.

After the Volcker report and the guilty plea in August 2005 by U.N. procurement officer Alexander Yakovlev to wire fraud and money laundering, Secretary-General Kofi Annan transferred authority for procurement from Assistant Secretary-General Andrew Toh to the U.N. controller.

Dujarric said two of the eight people suspended in January are still under investigation.

U.N. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing probe, said one of them is Toh.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton on Thursday praised Burnham, an American, for being the driving force in the creation of the Procurement Task Force which assisted in the case against Bahel and is playing an important role in uncovering U.N. fraud.