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UNITED NATIONS
NATIONS UNIES
This report is protected under the provisions of
ST/SGB/273, paragraph 18, of 7 September 1994"
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
OFFICE OF INTERNAL OVERSIGHT SERVICES
INVESTIGATIONS DIVISION
REDACTED
REPORT OF INVESTIGATION
ID CASE NOs. 0593/03
23 August 2004
R
EPORT INTO DIVULGING OFFICIAL INFORMATION TO PERSONS EXTERNAL TO THE
ORGANIZATION WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION
ID
C
ASE
N
O
.
0593/03
T
ABLE OF
C
ONTENTS
___________________________________________________________________________
PAGE NO.
I.
I
NTRODUCTION
ÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈ
3
II.
A
PPLICABLE
L
AW
ÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈ 3
III.
M
ETHODOLOGY
ÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈ 3
IV.
B
ACKGROUND
I
NFORMATION
ÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈ
4
V.
I
NVESTIGATIVE
D
ETAILS
ÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈ
4
a.
Unauthorized Submission of the Minutes of the Senior
Management Team (SMT) by the staff member to the
concerned individual 4
b.
Email sent to British Prime Minister with an
attachment on allegations of Sexual Harassment
forwarded by the staff member to the concerned individual 5
c.
Email sent to President Bush on 26 January 2003
forwarded by the staff member to the concerned individual
on 27 January 2003 6
d.
Email sent to a ÐMr. James BruceÑ by the staff member
On 20 January 2003 7
e.
Email with an attached ÐLetter to Nelson Mandela,
Kofi Annan and Meles ZenawiÑ sent to the concerned
individual by the staff member on 1 August 2003 7
f.
ÐECA TodayÑ Î A document dated 3 September 2003 and
presented by the concerned individual to
representatives of African Governments in Addis Ababa 8
g. Responses by the concerned individual when interviewed
by OIOS 9
by OIOS 9
VI.
E
VIDENCE
,
F
INDINGS OF
F
ACT
ÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈ
10
VII.
C
ONCLUSION
ÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈ
11
VIII.
R
ECOMMENDATIONS
ÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈÈ 12
2
h. Responses made by the staff member when interviewed
I. INTRODUCTION
1.
The Investigations Division of the Office of Internal
Oversight Services (OIOS) received a number of emails that were
sent to persons external to the Organization. The emails
alleged that there were malpractices that were committed at the
Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) but no action was taken.
One of the alleged authors of the said emails works at the
Sustainable Development Division, ECA.
2.
Consequently, an investigation was conducted that indicated
that contrary to UN Rules and Regulations, a staff member
communicated official UN matters without authorization to a
concerned individual and other persons outside the Organization.
II. APPLICABLE LAW
3.
In accordance with Regulation 1.2 (i)
of the Staff
Regulations, ÐStaff members shall exercise the utmost discretion
with regard to all matters of official business. They shall not
communicate to any Government, entity, person or any other
source any information known to them by reason of their official
position that they know or ought to have known has not been made
public, except as appropriate in the normal course of their
duties or by authorization of the Secretary-General. These
obligations do not cease upon separation from serviceÑ.
4.
Regulation 1.2 (e) of the Staff Regulations provides that
ÐBy accepting appointment, staff members pledge themselves to
discharge their functions and regulate their conduct with the
interests of the Organization only in view. Loyalty to the
aims, principles and purposes of the United Nations, as set
forth in its Charter, is a fundamental obligation of all staff
members by virtue of their status as international civil
servants.Ñ
III.
METHODOLOGY
5.
OIOS investigation of this matter entailed obtaining and
analyzing relevant documents and interviewing staff members
3
including the concerned staff member. A telephone interview was
also conducted with the concerned individual.
IV.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
6.
The staff member started working for ECA in October 1992
and is currently a Team Leader at the Sustainable Development
Division. He is at the P5 level.
7.
The concerned individual was an ECA staff member and her
services with the Organization were terminated on 12 March 2002.
She was at the P3 level.
V.
INVESTIGATIVE DETAILS
a. Unauthorized Submission of the Minutes of the Senior
Management Team (SMT) by the staff member to the concerned
individual
8.
On 5 August 2003, the staff member was a participant at the
Senior Management Team Meeting (SMT) that was held at the
Operations Room, ECA. Subsequently, on 13 August 2003, along
with the other participants, he received via email the draft
minutes of the meeting for his comments from Mr. Ali Todaro,
Special Assistant to the Executive Secretary. In the same
email, Mr. Todaro also sent to the staff member the final
version of the minutes of the SMT that was convened on 29 July
2003.
9.
The two SMT minutes contained matters of official UN
business such as status of programmes implementation, budget,
management and corporate responsibility/accountability issues,
recruitment, trade, debt and food sustainability issues in
Africa.
10.
On 16 August 2003, through a hotmail email address, the
staff member without the authorization of ECA management sent
the said SMT minutes to the concerned individual. As indicated
above, the concerned individual was not a staff member at the
time of submission of the SMT minutes by the staff member as she
had ceased working for the UN on 12 March 2002.
11.
During interviews with OIOS, Mr. Todaro confirmed that he
had sent through email the minutes in question to the staff
4
member. He also stated that the staff member was one of the
participants in the SMT meeting held on 5 August 2003.
12.
When he was interviewed by OIOS, the staff member was shown
an email dated 16 August 2003 that he had sent to the concerned
individual. He was also shown an email dated 13 August 2003
that had been sent to him and other participants by Mr. Todaro
forwarding minutes of the SMT meetings that were held on 29 July
and 5 August 2003. When he was asked by OIOS why he sent the
minutes to the concerned individual, a person external to the
Organization, his response was that he merely had sent the
minutes to the concerned individual for her information. The
concerned individual was asked to confirm whether she had
received the said minutes but declined to answer the question.
b. Email sent to British Prime Minister with an attachment on
allegations of Sexual Harassment forwarded by the staff member
to the concerned individual
13.
On 19 February 2003, an anonymous email was sent to the
British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair by Ðhiwot abebeÑ. The
subject of the email was ÐUnited Nations or United Devils????Ñ.
The email was copied to the staff member and several other ECA
and UN Headquarters officials. One of the recipients was the
Executive Secretary of ECA. Attached to the email was also a
document titled ÐSexual HarassmentÑ.
14.
The contents of the email that was addressed to Mr. Blair
alleged that the Executive Secretary and his management team
were involved in illegal activities at ECA. The letter alleged
that the Rules and Regulations of the Organization had been
violated in areas such as recruitment and that theft was rampant
in ECA. The author, therefore, appealed to Mr. Blair to contact
the British Permanent Representative to the UN and the Prime
Minister of Ethiopia to intervene on behalf of the aggrieved
victims. The letter was purported to have been written by
ÐWomen from ECAÑ.
15.
The attached document sent to Mr. Blair alleged that there
were criminal activities perpetrated at ECA including acts of
sexual harassment but no action was taken by the management.
For instance, it was alleged that Mr. Todaro sexually abused
women staff members of ECA when they approached him for
assistance.
5
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