History of DPRK Saga

1) January 2007: - United States accused UNDP of irregularities in its Programme in DPRK;

• a) UNDP: rebuff and denies all wrong doings;
• b) UNDP: promises a swift and fast investigation within 90 days (end of March 07);
• c) UN-SG: appoints ACABQ (Internal Board of Auditors) to investigate allegations;
• d) UNDP: says "its ResRep in DPRK is on its way to NY with all boxes of files" (Which very stragely never make it to NY until 12 months later - December 2007)
• e) US Secreet Service and NY Southern District Attorney: initiate an investigation on Counterfeit;
• f) UNDP: opposes to lifting of UN immunities for its DPRK staffers and do not participate and boycot investigation on (Immunity grounds);

2) May 2007: - 150 days after the UN-SG promises for a swift investigation, ACABQ deliberates its findings:

• a) Presence of Counterfeit;
• b) Presence of Hard Currency Payments in CASH;
• c) Presence of irregular HR practices in retaining services of DPRK staffers;
• d) Lack of cooperation from UNDP in providing proper access to files in HQs;
• e) Lack of cooperation from UNDP in providing access to any/all DPRK files;

3) June 2007: UNDP Staff Union presents the case of retaliation of UNDP towards its former OM in DPRK to the UN’s Ethics Office:

• a) 05 June 07: Ethics Officer accepts the case and initiates investigation;
  
• b) June 07: UNDP and UN Spokespersons call for media to be patient and allow UN Ethics Officer to finish his investigation;
  
• c) Aug 07: 80 days later - Ethics Officer deliberates that it found prima face evidence of retaliation from UNDP towards its OM in DPRK, and because of lack of cooperation from UNDP and access to UNDP files requests that he be allowed "for the sake of UN" to finish his investigation;
  
• d) Aug 07: UNDP rejects the findings and opt out of UN system of justice, and despite having no Ethics Office structure nor any whistleblower protection and regulation inside its own institution decides to appoint its own “external investigative body” to investigate what happened;
  
• e) Sep 07: UNDP appoints its own panel of investigation and promises a swift investigation of only 3 months. In his speech in front of cameras Kemal Dervis said: “this Panel will finalize its work by end of December 2007 and you all will see that they will find that the Whistleblower cannot be reinstated for reasons that this panel will be able to establish”.
  
• f) 30 May 07: 270 days (9 months) later UNDP’s own Panel of Investigation confirms findings of allegations on UNDP operations in DPRK, but also allows UNDP to use its report as defamation, character assassination and further retaliation platform against the Whistleblower, for what "...dared to do to UNDP".

As of today 1st of June 2008, 26 months later, UNDP has failed to name or held any one accountable for miss-managing its offices which resulted in a shut down of North Korea presence on grounds of improper operations modalities. IMPUNITYYYYYYY CONTINUE!!!!!!!

Would all the above have ever happen if this Whistleblower have decided not to talk and not rock-the-boat?

Will UNDP prevail ? Let's see what our bosses will decide in New York, but seems that this is a saga far from over. Our contacts in New York will be sending us more on what is happening out there. Please continue to watch this site for more...