* U.N. report says agency retaliated against whistleblower
* Victim blames official now running UNDP Haiti programme
* UNDP denies corruption in Somalia, backs Haiti official
* Security Council report says much Somali food aid diverted
(Adds details of UN report on corrupt diversion of aid)

By Mark Trevelyan

LONDON, March 13, 2010 – The United Nations Ethics Committee has upheld complaints by a former employee of the U.N. Development Programme who said he suffered retaliation from the UNDP for alleging that its Somalia programme was corrupt.

The man, Ismail Ahmed, was transferred to another office without proper visa support, and the UNDP Somalia office later told a potential employer not to hire him because of his "silly non-proven accusations", Ethics Committee Chairman Robert Benson found in a report seen by Reuters.

A new UN Security Council report says that as much as half the food aid sent to Somalia is diverted to a network of corrupt contractors, radical Islamist militants and local UN staff members, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The report outlines such serious problems that it recommends Secretary General Ban Ki-moon open an independent investigation into the World Food Programme's operations in Somalia, the paper said, noting diplomats had shown it the as yet unpublished document.

Ahmed has identified one of the main authors of the retaliation as Eric Overvest, a Dutch national who is now in charge of the UNDP office in earthquake-stricken Haiti.

Ahmed's case has been supported by the U.S.-based Government Accountability Project (GAP), a non-profit organisation which backs whistleblowers in exposing corruption.

"A retaliator in Dr. Ahmed's case was promoted and transferred to Haiti, where he was the Country Director for UNDP at the time of the devastating earthquake there," GAP said in a statement issued to Reuters.

"The move is a cause for concern as the ability of UNDP to monitor the disbursement of aid in Haiti has been severely compromised by the chaotic aftermath of the disaster."

UNDP spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that following the Ethics Committee ruling, "the matter of individual accountability" for the retaliation against Ahmed had been referred to the UNDP's Office of Audit and Investigations.

"As that aspect is currently pending, UNDP is not in a position to comment further," he said.

He described Overvest as talented, dedicated and skilled in dealing with countries in crisis.

"We are extremely pleased with his critical work in Haiti, where he has been UNDP's Country Director since 2009. Our investigation found no involvement on his part in any of the alleged corrupt activities," Dujarric said.

Overvest did not respond to emailed questions from Reuters on Tuesday. Dujarric said he would not be available for comment.

"SILLY ACCUSATIONS"

Ahmed says it was Overvest, then a deputy country director in the UNDP Somalia programme, who flew to Dubai in November 2007 and told the Somali Money Transmitters Association not to take him on as a consultant.

The U.N. Ethics Committee chairman's report did not mention Overvest by name, but upheld Ahmed's complaint of damage to his professional reputation.

"It is therefore concluded that the UNDP Somalia Country Office as a retaliatory act communicated quite openly in relation to the consultancy contract that 'UNDP cannot accept Ahmed, who is making all these silly non-proven accusations, to work on a project UNDP was funding'," it said.

Ahmed, a British national, worked for the UNDP from 2005-7 on a programme to prevent Somalia's money transfer system from being abused for money laundering and terrorist finance.

The Ethics Committee report upheld three of his complaints of retaliation but rejected four others, including allegations relating to the withholding of payments and non-renewal of his contract. Ahmed was awarded undisclosed compensation last month.

In his whistleblowing dossiers, first reported in May 2008 by Reuters, he alleged the existence of fraudulent payments and bogus contracts in the UNDP Somalia programme and said it had supported a company with suspected links to Islamist militants.

The company, Dalsan, collapsed in May 2006 and depositors lost more than $30 million, a blow to the Somali economy which depends heavily on remittances from nationals living abroad. The country faces an Islamist insurgency and has become a haven for pirates who extort huge ransoms by hijacking ships.

UNDP spokesman Dujarric said the agency had given "due consideration" to the corruption allegations and engaged an independent international forensic company to investigate them.

"The results of the investigation were that no corruption had occurred," Dujarric said, declining to name the investigating company or release the report.

Ahmed described the finding as "incredible", adding: "The fact they have refused to share any information clearly shows they have something to hide."

GAP International Program Officer Shelley Walden said it was unclear how widely or narrowly the UNDP was defining corruption.

"To a certain extent, this is a semantic trick bag as, strictly speaking, no U.N. agency finds that corruption has occurred. U.N. investigators are not agents of law enforcement ... Legally, UNDP neither clears nor arraigns anyone," she said. GAP urged the UNDP to make its report public.

"In the absence of the investigative report, GAP cannot determine if there was a good faith effort to investigate Mr. Ahmed's disclosures," Walden told Reuters. "Indeed, a failure to disclose it suggests that UNDP is trying to hide something or inappropriately protect a malefactor."

The Security Council report suggests the food distribution system in Somalia needs completely rebuilding to break a corrupt cartel of Somali distributors, the New York Times said.

The report also says regional Somali authorities are collaborating with pirates, and Somali government ministers have auctioned off diplomatic visas for trips to Europe to the highest bidders, possibly including pirates and insurgents. (Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; editing by Tim Pearce).

Source: Reuters, Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Whistleblower Who Exposed Wrongdoing in UNDP Somalia Projects Vindicated  

Whistleblower Who Exposed Wrongdoing in UNDP Somalia Projects Vindicated Retaliator was Country Director of Haiti During Aftermath of Earthquake

Washington, D.C. – The Government Accountability Project (GAP) applauds United Nations Ethics Committee Chairman Robert Benson and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark for protecting a UNDP whistleblower from retaliation.

In February, UNDP agreed to enforce a decision issued by the United Nations Ethics Committee on December 11, 2009. The decision stated that GAP client Ismail Ahmed, a former UNDP financial services program officer, suffered retaliation for making protected whistleblowing disclosures regarding wrongdoing in the UNDP Somalia Country Office. Dr. Ahmed alleged that fraud and corruption in the UNDP Somalia Remittances Programme threatened to jeopardize the ability of remittance companies to comply with international regulations addressing money laundering and terrorist financing. He also disclosed detailed information about corruption in the procurement process and support provided to a company suspected of links with terrorist organizations.

“This decision shows that there can be light at the end of a very long tunnel for UNDP whistleblowers who have overwhelming evidence of retaliation,” said GAP International Program Officer Shelley Walden.

Background

The UN Ethics Committee found that because of these disclosures, Dr. Ahmed suffered retaliation, his professional reputation was damaged, and he was transferred without appropriate support. In addition, according to the decision, in 2007 UNDP Somalia Office personnel tried to thwart attempts by the Somali remittance industry to hire Dr. Ahmed, who has twenty years of experience in this area, and a PhD in Economics. The blacklisting was “communicated quite openly” in relation to a consultancy contract that UNDP funded.

Overall, the Ethics Committee recommended that UNDP take comprehensive steps to correct the effects of the retaliation directed at Dr. Ahmed as a result of his disclosures.

Both the UNDP’s investigative body – the Office of Audit and Investigations (OAI) – and Ethics Office undermined Dr. Ahmed’s due process rights by failing to disclose retaliatory statements made in his case, and claiming that there was no retaliation against him, despite strong evidence to the contrary. In addition, UNDP has yet to inform Dr. Ahmed, three years after he made his first disclosures of corruption, whether corrective action was taken to remedy the concerns he raised. Dr. Ahmed has not been given a copy of OAI’s investigative report, despite a recent United Nations Dispute Tribunal decision that strongly encourages UN funds and programs to release such reports. Moreover, the retaliators in Dr. Ahmed’s case have apparently not been disciplined.

Haiti

Instead, news reports show, a retaliator in Dr. Ahmed’s case was promoted and transferred to Haiti, where he was the Country Director for UNDP at the time of the devastating earthquake there. The move is a cause for concern as the ability of UNDP to monitor the disbursement of aid in Haiti has been severely compromised by the chaotic aftermath of the disaster.

Other Notes

Other troubling actions in the handling of the case include:

The failure of OAI to interview a key witness to the retaliatory actions. Several other witnesses were afraid to speak with investigators, as UNDP’s whistleblower protections do not cover certain employees – such as service contract holders and independent contractors – or provide protection from retaliation for making protected disclosures or cooperating with an investigation.

The inappropriate participation of a UNDP management representative in an investigative interview. During the interview, she was allowed to ask questions, take notes and draft the final report and recommendations. As a direct or indirect management representative, this person was a party to the conflict, and her presence had a chilling effect on both the investigator and the whistleblower.

The conflict of interest involving OAI. Dr. Ahmed’s disclosures included allegations of irregularities and corrupt practices related to contracts issued to KPMG East Africa. KPMG previously conducted several internal audits for OAI, including in the UNDP Somalia office in which Dr. Ahmed worked.

At UNDP, Dr. Ahmed was responsible for providing guidance and support in the development of a self-regulation system and the implementation of a compliance mechanism designed to enable remittance companies to prevent the use of their networks by terrorist groups. Corruption in the procurement process, however, resulted in UNDP’s failure to implement an effective money transfer and compliance platform, jeopardizing the ability of Somali remittance companies to comply with international regulations countering money laundering and terrorist financing.

In December 2008, the UN arms monitoring group confirmed that funds to terrorist insurgency groups in Somalia were still being channeled through Somali money transfer companies. The U.S. government has also raised concerns recently about resources being diverted to terrorist groups in Somalia in contravention of U.S. law

Source: Government Accountability Project, Tuesday, March 09, 2010

The Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, GAP’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, GAP is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

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