Posted on 10/04/2005 4:49:52 PM PDT by proud_yank
UNITED NATIONS; United Nations investigators scrambling to discover the extent of a bribery scandal spreading out from the organization's procurement department may soon be looking toward the building's 38th floor & the U.N's executive offices.
Bubbling up from the procurement scandal is yet another apparent conflict of interest, this one linked to the inner circle of the secretary-general by way of veteran U.N. diplomat Giandomenico Picco (search). An Italian, Picco has served as one of the United Nations' most trusted envoys, specializing in navigating hotspots such as Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.
Now, confidential corporate documents obtained by FOX News show that while serving as a U.N. under-secretary general and personal representative of Kofi Annan, Picco was also for part of that time chairman of the board of a mysterious and controversial company, IHC Services (search).
During Picco's tenure as board chairman, IHC did big business with the United Nations, some of it via a U.N. procurement staffer with whom IHC had especially close ties, Alexander Yakovlev (search). Yakovlev this summer was convicted of federal charges involving bribe-taking and money-laundering.
In an e-mail response to written questions from FOX News, Picco has denied that he himself had any part in any wrongdoing, "or any interaction with the U.N. procurement office on behalf of IHC or any other company." He also asserted that he never held the two roles of U.N. representative and IHC chairman at the same time.
(Story continues below)
Based in New York with offices in Milan, IHC until recently was a registered vendor to the U.N. procurement department, acting both as a contractor selling goods directly to the world body and as a go-between, or "vendor intermediary," for a number of other suppliers.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I know it is a stupid question, but why is Fox the only one covering this?
Why doesn't Kofi just hire Darleen Druyan when she gets out of the slammer?
Surprise, Surprise. /Gomer Pyle Voice....
It really is. . .but worth repeating. (Sad also; that one has to ask. . .)
This reform stuff is crap.
Literally.
Reforming a turd just gives you a differently shaped turd.
July 20, 2005
Yakovlev was the U.N. officer in charge of awarding both the Saybolt and Cotecna contracts
Yakovlev, a Russian native, abruptly resigned from the United Nations late last month, after a FOX News investigation revealed that he was involved in an apparent conflict of interest with a regular U.N. supplier, IHC Services Inc., which had hired Yakovlev’s son Dmitry between 2000 and 2003, according to Dmitry’s own resume.
Yakovlev left the United Nations the day after the world body announced its own inquiry into his activities
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