SANJAY Bahel, the man convicted on June 7 by a New York federal court of "steering some US$100 million (RM345 million) worth of United Nations peacekeeping support contracts to the well-connected family of a fellow Indian friend" was an Indian civil servant "seconded" to the UN, working in procurement.
He worked under Singaporean assistant secretary-general Andrew Toh, who is on administrative leave with full pay, while his role as head of procurement is being investigated.
Toh feels that he has been singled out for special treatment, and on the face of it, he may well have become a victim of the incompetent and much detested UN system of justice.
Claudia Rosett, journalist-in-residence with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, and George Russell, executive editor of Fox News, have collaborated to produce a brilliant analysis, headed "Will Fraud Conviction Help UN Reform Its Secretive Culture of Impunity?"
They examine in great detail much that has been going wrong at the UN for decades, and the result is a distressingly outrageous litany of massive, systemic frauds that are largely preventable.
The UN has failed to prevent excesses on several critical fronts because there have never been serious enough attempts to tame a system that has apparently been designed to breed governance inefficiencies and abuses.
The problem stems largely from its recruitment and training procedures more suited to the needs of a backward Third World country than those of a complex international civil service. Its internal justice system is so flawed that the vast majority of staff have little or no confidence in its integrity.
Louise Frechette, who stepped down as deputy secretary-general in April 2006, said in her final interview that "the much maligned organisation has proved itself necessary and capable in resolving complex world problems".
That the UN is doing a reasonable job in peacekeeping, and other "humanitarian" work globally has never really been the issue.
The UN, with all its imperfections, will have to do until we can find something better to replace it, but the question really boils down to why we have to put up with an organisation that is patently corrupt, wasteful and inefficient when, with a strong and focused political direction, sweeping reform in key operational areas could help change its culture of impunity.
In other words, while the world needs its urgent attention, the UN headquarters cries out for help. The effectiveness of the UN is in the quality of its leadership, and a troubled, demoralised administration is hardly likely to be a source of inspired leadership.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has his job cut out in ensuring that the billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money, mainly contributed by the US and other G8 nations, is used to create a more dynamic and relevant organisation that previous secretaries-general had neglected to do for one reason or another.
Otherwise, it will turn itself into another Commonwealth secretariat, an irrelevancy that survives for all the wrong reasons, such as imperial nostalgia and misguided sentiments. It would be tragic were the UN to suffer that fate because of incompetent leadership.
Ban can leave a legacy of turning the UN into a fully functioning international secretariat or a high profile and expensive talk shop.
The choice is his, but many, including this writer, fear that he does not have what it takes to make a real difference.
When I agreed to take up the position of special adviser to the UN secretary-general in 2006, I made it clear that I wanted the Ethics Office to become an essential part of the UN reform.
I saw it as representing in a concrete and unequivocal manner the way forward in terms of transparent and accountable governance.
I saw the creation of the Ethics Office as an acknowledgement at long last that the UN did not operate in "splendid isolation", but as a responsible member of a larger global constituency, adopting and complying fully with best international practices and standards in every respect.
I was much encouraged by the fact that ethics had, as the result of the "Oil-for-Food" and other financial scams, become a critical factor in the UN reform process.
The job of the Ethics Office was to assist the secretary-general in ensuring the highest standards of integrity among UN staff members, and reinforcing a culture of ethics within the system.
This was a hugely positive step forward in an organisation, like many the world over, that was brilliant on the rhetoric, but dismally deficient in terms of its performance.
It was my duty to get an important message across, lest they should forget that where in the past they were expected to comply with the rules and regulations governing their service, in today’s United Nations, they were now being encouraged to go beyond compliance, as well as to understand the true nature of public duty in the public interest.
It was a challenge to create some semblance of ethical order out of a long-entrenched impunity syndrome.
It was no easy task to make staff, including many at the under secretary-general level, including those in charge of UN agencies in Europe, Asia and Africa, see that they were in constant danger, quite unwittingly, of getting themselves into conflict of interest situations which would seriously compromise their integrity.
In spite of the size and complexity of the organisation in which they work, it is interesting to note most UN staff members live in a little world of their own in which there is little or no contact with the outside world.
The world of commerce, insurance and industry and real people generally mean little to them.
The protection and security that the favoured many enjoy induce in them a sense of timeless immunity from the vicissitudes that afflict the rest of mankind.
Reared in this environment, it is not at all surprising that they see any pressure for reform as unacceptable interference, and the history of UN reform is replete with stories of one successful rearguard action after another to stop change from ever taking place.
The conviction of Sanjay Bahel, who faces 30 years in prison for corruption, will not be the end of the corruption saga within the UN system. As I write, there are some 140 corruption cases under investigation. Of these, 20 to 25, according to UN sources, are regarded as major cases.
Ban should travel less and spend more time at Turtle Bay and take a personal interest in the less glamorous aspects of his job. He owes it to the world to reshape the UN into something that is relevant in today’s terms.
As we focus on the UN, the World Bank and other international organisations, it is good to reflect on our own national institutions.
We, too, have our work laid out before us. Are we up to the challenge to help realise the prime minister’s dream of a new Malaysia, one that is completive, innovative, and driven by strong ethical values?
The choice is between dream and nightmare, as simple as that.
* The writer is a former member of the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operations and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police and former Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Ethics.
