U.N. Chief To Open Financial Records
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post
January 6, 2007
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 5 -- U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon announced Friday that he will release his personal financial records, making him the first U.N. leader to subject his financial dealings to public scrutiny.
Ban also appointed Tanzania's female foreign minister, Asha-Rose Migiro, as the United Nations' second-ranking official, fulfilling a campaign pledge to pick a woman from the Third World as his deputy.
The moves came as Ban faced a week of tough questioning from reporters over his decision to select two U.N. insiders to run his office and to oversee the institution's management. Those appointments raised questions about Ban's commitment to reinvigorate the world body's tarnished administrative culture.
The former South Korean foreign minister's action on his financial records was partly symbolic, because Ban had already been required to file disclosure statements when he served in the South Korean government. It was calculated to prod other senior U.N. officials to voluntarily make their own financial statements public.
Still, his announcement represented a break from his predecessor, Kofi Annan, who declined news media appeals to release his personal financial records and grudgingly agreed to disclose them to the newly established U.N. ethics office only during his final months in office.
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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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