UNOPS CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION REPORT

FINAL REPORT ON A CONCERNED

UNITED NATIONS STAFF MEMBER

AND UNOPS PROCUREMENT

Report no. PTF-R012/07

Case no. PTF/048/06

STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

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1. This Report resulted from an investigation conducted between December 2006

and June 2007 by the Procurement Task Force (“the Task Force”) of the Office of

Internal Oversight Services (“OIOS”). The Task Force was created on 12 January 2006

to address all procurement matters referred to the Office of Internal Oversight Services.

The creation of the Task Force was the result of perceived problems in procurement

initially identified by the Independent Inquiry Committee into the Oil-for-Food

Programme.

2. Under its Terms of Reference, the Task Force operates as part of OIOS, and

reports directly to the Under-Secretary General for OIOS.1 The remit of the Task Force

is to investigate all procurement cases, including all matters involving procurement

bidding exercises, procurement staff, and vendors doing business with the United Nations

(“the United Nations” or “the Organisation”).2

3. This investigation of the Task Force focuses on Subject 1, an Operations Assistant

at the United Nations Office for Project Services (“UNOPS”). Subject 1 was a

supervisory procurement official handling contract selection exercises for UNOPS’

Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office in Nairobi (“ESARO”). The investigation

has identified that Subject 1, together with her husband, Subject 2, and certain UNOPS

vendors, participated in a scheme to steer contracts to companies connected to Subject 1.

This was done through the submission of fictitious bids from companies that were,

purportedly, but not truly independent in the process and were, in fact, associated with

Subject 2. Subject 1 was instrumental to this scheme, as she steered UNOPS contracts to

companies with ties to her husband, as well as improperly shared confidential United

Nations information with these companies to facilitate the alteration of bid documents by

her husband and his associates.

4. On 6 June 2007, the Task Force issued its Interim Report on Subject 1 and

UNOPS procurement operations (“the Interim Report”).3 The Interim Report focused on

allegations that Subject 1 had been systematically corrupting the procurement process in

the ESARO office. After conducting a thorough and independent review of Subject 1’s

activities while employed at UNOPS, the Task Force found that Subject 1, together with

her husband, participated in a scheme to steer contracts to Depasse Logistics, owned and

managed by Subject 2.4 As a result of this scheme, Subject 1 and Subject 2 improperly

benefited at the expense of the Organisation.