September 27, 2007The Wall Steet Journal (USA)
"...potential donors have a responsibility to their funders to know what is really going on..."If the United Nations Development Program in Cambodia wants to clear its name, it sure has a funny way of showing it. On the day this page detailed allegations of widespread hiring malpractice and kickbacks in UNDP-supervised programs and called for the publication of the findings of an audit, the agency released -- wait for it -- a one-page press release.
For those just joining the tale, a quick review: An audit commissioned by UNDP earlier this year found a range of irregularities in the Cambodian side of the Khmer Rouge tribunal. The main findings included inflated salaries and unjustified additional staff positions to the tune of $357,000. The auditors also alleged a serious conflict of interest in the board overseeing the operations, which is responsible for administering more than $6 million of donor-nation funds. We've seen a copy of the auditors' draft report. The UNDP has not made it or the final report public nor has it shown it to the oversight board.
Tuesday's joint statement, issued by UNDP and other overseers, assures the public that the board has "reviewed steps taken to improve the implementation of recruitment procedures of national staff to ensure greater transparency and effectiveness." Nowhere does it note that the board has not seen the audit, nor does it discuss conflicts of interest. And nowhere does it pledge to reveal the audit to the public, which is footing the bill.
Instead, the board "welcomed the adoption of a personnel manual" and promises that all employees will "sign" and "follow" a code of conduct. This document prohibits staff from "receiving or soliciting payments other than salaries for the performance of official duties." Could this be a tacit admission of kickback problems?
Cambodia isn't an easy place to operate and its legal system is notoriously corrupt. On Monday, the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative -- whose allegations last year sparked the UNDP audit -- issued a report raising concerns about the Cambodian government's influence over the Khmer Rouge tribunal. The same day, another part of the U.N. -- the U.N. Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials -- issued a list of work to be done before the courts can function properly.
The Khmer Rouge tribunal took a decade to organize and represents the only hope for justice for more than a million slaughtered Cambodians. Next month, the U.N. is planning to launch a fund-raising drive in New York to raise tens of millions of dollars to support the court's activities. Before writing a check, potential donors have a responsibility to their funders to know what is really going on.
5 comments:
Kofi Annan years in UN office created corruption and nepotism for UN.
Cambodia is a fertile country for corruption since Sihanouk was in his prime.In fact Sihanouk was the engineer for systemic corruption for Cambodia.
First off, Kofi Annan was long gone. He was never involve in corruption, his son was.
Secondly, the engineer of corruption is Hun Sen, not the old senile Sihanouk.
Bullshit, all the royalists were corrupted. And the worse of all time was LonNol. Hun Sen is not corrupted, at least I have not seen any direct evidence of it. Just because he's filty rich doesn't mean shit. Being in power, you get plenty of gift from millions of lobbyists. That is all.
On the other hand, there is no way for all people that work for him (HS) to be trustworthy either, but then again, Sam Rainsy and all other parties have the same issue. So what is the point here?
10:58 PM ... Why denied what the CPP has done? SO FUNNY ** Hun Sen is not corrupted **
This doesn't mean that in sankum reast niyum that they don't have bribery and corruption.
At least, cambodian is not so poor like today. And why HUN SEN need to lie to our most ignorant cambodians? For example, He forbid in 2005 to export rice, and then in the 2006, he claims that cambodia export same amount of rice like in the sangkum reast niyum. It's just mean that cambodian produce a lots lesser rices than in 1960s. As We know the population growth, we need more rices, and not less.
** When Hun Sen get plenty of gift from millions of lobbyists **. Which mean bribery ! That's what we don't want to see! In Fun (a lots of royalists), of course, they have bribery. God know that Ranariddh receive a lots. And most members of Fun are poors because of Ranariddh and some royal's members.. and people like Nhiek Bun Chhay. They don't govern by thinking PEOPLE COME FIRST!
10:58PM You can't conclude that all others people and parties have the same issue. All we see is CPP. Why accuse someone who did not have a chance to act yet? Beside we see all bad stuffs from the CPP, (like hun sen, chea sim, heng samrin, men sam orn, Uk Rabun, etc. all those peole who had killed cambodians).
11:38, I didn't denied anything. What I said was I haven't seen any evidence of Hun Sen being corrupted. I have examined many reports and allegations, but the dots doesn't connect.
As for government lying, they all do that, my friend. Don't tell me you don't know anything about that.
And if you say Lobbying is corrupting, then the entire planet is corrupted. So why are you picking on a small country like our. Go an pick on China, US, Russia, ... , will ya?
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