Indian UN official accused of procurement fraud

WASHINGTON: A UN official from India allegedly steered millions of dollars in contract to a company owned by the Indian government in exchange for favours that included low-rent apartments in New York.

American media reports citing a confidential report on an internal UN investigation alleged that Sanjaya Bahel used his relationship with an Indian businessman and his son to steer deals to the Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL) with which they were associated.

TCIL is purported to have received more than $100 million in UN contracts between 1999 and 2004, during the time when Bahel was the chief of commodity procurement at the UN.

Both Bahel and TCIL have strongly refuted the charges. Bahel has gone on record saying that he has good reasoning and valid reasoning to counter them.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Friday declined to confirm that Bahel was the staff member who had been charged with serious misconduct.

"I know the name of the gentleman has been published in the media," Dujarric said. "Due to our efforts to respect due process and the internal justice system, I cannot confirm that name and would refer you to my statement."

According to the statement the Procurement Task Force, created under the aegis of the Office for Internal Oversight Services, has completed five fact-finding investigations into allegations of procurement irregularities.

UN placed eight staff on special leave with full pay as of Jan 16, 2006. Of the five cases now completed, two staff have been exonerated of any alleged irregularities and are back at work. Another two are also back at work but have been asked to respond to allegations of mismanagement.

The fifth staff member has been charged with misconduct and has been suspended from duty without pay due to the serious nature of the charges. He is now being given an opportunity to respond, an essential element in the UN's system of internal justice.

Evidence in this case has also been shared with the prosecutorial authorities of the host country.

Three other staff members remain on special leave with pay pending completion of the ongoing investigations and decisions on appropriate action, Dujarric stated.

US media reports said Bahel had a long-time relationship with the businessman and his son. Bahel rented two side-by-side apartments in New York from them at rates well below the market price and that he later bought the apartments at a favourable price.

Bahel also ignored evidence that TCIL wrongly withheld money from employees sent to UN peacekeeping missions in places such as Liberia, Congo and Kosovo to do communications work.

While the workers claimed they were only getting a pittance, sometimes as little as $5 for daily expenses, the money enriched another company associated with the Indian businessman and his son.

Details of the investigation were first reported in on the Friday editions of the Italian business daily 'Il Sole 24 Ore'.

They are the latest in a string of claims of fraud in the procurement department, which is responsible for awarding millions of dollars in contracts to do business with the UN worldwide.

It would also raise questions about a programme known as secondment, under which someone like Bahel, while still formally a government official takes a job at the UN. One of the staff rules that the report accuses Bahel of violating prohibits staff members from accepting any instructions from any government.