UNDP Officials Said To Hamper Probe Into Counterfeit Cash
By BENNY AVNI
New York Sun
June 7, 2007
UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Development Program employees say the agency's higher-ups used intimidation tactics to prevent them from talking to American authorities investigating potentially criminal activities in North Korea, where counterfeit American currency was used to pay foreigners.
Investigators for the U.S. attorney for New York's Southern District have sought to interview at least 22 UNDP officials with possible information about 35 counterfeit $100 bills that had been held in the agency's Pyongyang office for over a decade without informing American authorities.
An associate administrator for the UNDP, Ad Melkert, said yesterday that he has encouraged his employees to "tell what they know." But his legal department has advised the UNDP employees not to cooperate with American authorities unless supervised by U.N. lawyers who might then disclose the testimony to their superiors.
"We have encouraged everyone to cooperate fully and just to tell what they knew — internally in the organization, and externally to those that were inquiring," Mr. Melkert told The New York Sun yesterday during a press conference meant to highlight the new transparency and ethical measures being implemented by the agency.
But a senior legal advisor at the UNDP, Peri Lynne Johnson, had written a letter telling prospective witnesses in the fake currency case to "make yourself available for an interview with the United States authorities within the parameters that we have established with them." Those parameters, she wrote, were "that the interviews will take place in UNDP offices, with a representative from the UNDP legal office and the U.N. legal office present."
A source familiar with the investigation provided one of the letters to the Sun and said U.N. lawyers were obliged to disclose privileged information to the organization. The UNDP's conditions, therefore, meant information that might implicate senior UNDP officials could get back to them and lead to retaliation, which could include employment termination.
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Senator Tom Coburn
Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2254 Fax: 202-228-3796
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