Vladimir Kuznetsov, formerly the highest-ranking Russian diplomat at the United Nations, has been jailed by a US federal court on money-laundering charges for his part in an illegal scheme to help companies win lucrative UN contracts.
The 51-month sentence imposed on the ex-chairman of the UN's influential financial advisory committee was handed down on Friday, as UN member states studied a new internal report that highlights "multiple instances of fraud, corruption, waste and mismanagement" at the UN's New York headquarters and peacekeeping missions worldwide.
But the report noted that with more than 200 inquiries still under way, the UN's own task force of 16 specialist investigators had no budget to continue its work beyond the end of the year.
The jailing of Mr Kuznetsov, who used an offshore bank account in Antigua to launder $300,000 (€212,000, £147,000) in profits from the illegal scheme, marked the closure of the latest high-profile case to touch the UN since its mismanagement of the Iraq oil-for-food programme was exposed in 2005.
The Russian official enjoyed diplomatic immunity as head of the UN's Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions but that was waived by Kofi Annan, former UN secretary-general, at the request of US authorities. Although he was not attached to the Russian diplomatic mission in New York, Russia put up his $1.5m bail for almost two years while he awaited trial.
In the report submitted to the UN general assembly last week, Inga-Britt Ahlenius, the UN's head of internal oversight, said that in the 18 months to June this year investigators identified and reported on more than 10 significant fraud and corruption schemes involving $610m in contracts. The proceeds of the graft amounted to more than $25m.
