CORIMEC: Did Krishan Batra approve the contract without ACP consent?

Kemal Dervis left until the end of his press conference yesterday any comment on the documentary proof that UNDP continued issuing contracts to Corimec, which was barred from business with the UN Secretariat due to bribery.

"It was a judgment call," Dervis said. "My judgment call would probably have been different," he said, adding that he could see both side.

BUT THE TRUTH IS DIFFERENT

According to UNDP WATCH eyewitnesses at 17th floor - yesterday morning the Nr.#2 of Bureau of Management, Ali Alzatari was quite early in his office placing calls all over the BOM demanding that all documentation regarding CORIMEC be brought to his office by 10:15 am.

Ali almost got a heart-attack when he saw that the truth he was about to tell to 21st floor, was quite different to what BOM has kept telling Kemal Dervis in the past days. The documentation lying in front of his table, suggested without doubt that ACP decision was not a "JUDGEMENT CALL" as described from Kemal Dervis, but rather a deliberate "REJECTION OF THE CASE".

Yes the ACP in New York had REJECTED the case on the grounds that CORIMEC was no longer on the good-standing list of United Nations Vendors and that the company was "blacklisted" from UNPS. Since in this case the supplier was involved in bribing and that was a very serious matter, the ACP members unanimously did not support this contract.

But Krishan Batra decided to over-pass the authority of the ACP, and since the Highest Procurement Body of UNDP had never kept signed minutes of its meeting-decisions (since Krishan took over), he decided to re-write history and approve the contract on an "exceptional basis".


-----ORIGINAL EMAIL----------

From: Krishan Batra [mailto:krishan.batra@undp.org]
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 5:38 PM
To: 'Christine Tonkin'; 'Akiko Yuge'; 'Thomas Eriksson'
Subject: RE: ACP/07/0196 - Additional Flat Pack House for Earth Affected Area in Pakistan
Importance: High

Dear Akiko:

The above case was withheld on following grounds.

1) The proposed supplier has been blacklisted by UN/Procurement Section on account of giving bribe to UN procurement staff. As Christine has mentioned we don’t restrict the use of suppliers blacklisted by other UN agencies but we expect due diligence to be undertaken to check the ground of blacklisting. Since in this case the supplier was involved in bribing and that is very serious matter, the ACP members did not support this.
2) IAPSO is piggybacking on UN/PS Long Term Arrangement and that presently does not exist because they have blacklisted the supplier.
3) Since many other agencies have been involved in supplying pre-fabricated housing from different suppliers, the ACP was not convinced that standardization is not a credible reason.
4) However based on message from the client i.e. Pakistan they are very happy with the previous consignment. The consignment from UNOPS had technical problems. Since the price is reasonable, I will take up the matter with ACP members to clear the case on an exceptional basis. The contract amount is nearly $2 millions

Thanks and regards.
Krishan

-------end of email-------

UNDP Watch discussed the matter with various members of the ACP and all of them declared that Krishan Batra never came back to ACP to demand their re-evaluation and possible acceptance on "exceptional basis".

One member of ACP, (Who's identity is kept from fear of retaliation), said for UNDP WATCH microphones that:-" We never approved this contract. Krishan brought it only once for our discussion and we rejected it. Krishan always plays with our words in our back - because ACP never keep records of our deliberations. Is Krishan himself who after each meeting seats in his office and fill out ATLAS forms for cases, and he writes whatever he wants, and send them directly to Akiko Yuge for her approval. He should be held accountable for his deliberate corrupt behaviour."

A Second Member of ACP, said for UNDP Watch that: "Krishan Batra doesn't want any minutes on the ACP, because if we would have had minutes, out of 1.7 billion approved list of procurement maybe half of them were really approved from ACP members. The rest are either direct review, or a manipulation of Krishan with Akiko and their connections with the RCPOs or Resident Representatives. Krishan Batra is custodian to millions of dollars re-direcxted, manipulate from many high-level officials. Krishan knows and holds secreets for almost everyone in UNDP management. That's why they will never remove someone like Krishan."

A third member of ACP, said: "it is ridiculous to see the level of capacity of those represented in ACP. Before Krishan Batra, ACP was made of the top representatives from each Regional Bureau. Everytime there was some important submission, if the CO wasn't able to come to NY we would have the Desk-Officer for that Country in NY represent the submission. Krishan Batra has deliberately lowered the capacity of ACP to the level of assistants and SSAs, in order to rule and swing ACP whichever way he or his supervisors wanted to. In my opinion ACP should return to its previous composition, where Programme Managers take the leadership and where Procurement Unit plays only advisory role. Under Krishan we are currently in a major conflict of interest."

The UNDP Watch questions are:

1. Did Krishan approve this out of his own will, an therefore for a price (bribe) from CORIMEC; or
2. Did Krishan approve this out of fear and direct orders from someone higher-up in UNDP who had direct connections with CORIMEC and had received the bribe;

Well these questions should now be answered from a direct investigation to the case.

Will see UNDP Watch will follow this case closely.