Internal watchdog clears UN anti-drug office of corruption allegations

The United Nations internal watchdog announced today that it has cleared the Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) of allegations of corruption and mismanagement raised last month by one of its advisers.

A probe by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) found that the allegations made by Samuel González-Ruiz, an inter-regional adviser with UNODC, when he resigned, could not be substantiated.

Mr. González-Ruiz, whose allegations were backed by another employee whose contract expires at the end of this month, accused the UNODC of mismanagement and corruption, and said there were irregularities in the issuing of contracts and retaliatory actions against whistle-blowers.

Yet the report by OIOS cleared the UNODC of wrongdoing, concluding there was no abuse of travel privileges by a UNODC staff member, no retaliation against complainants, and no evidence of a conflict of interest in the awarding of a contract last year to a staff member’s next-of-kin.

But the probe did find there was a conflict of interest on the part of the same staff member in the awarding of contracts between 1995 and 2001. It recommended that “appropriate action be instituted” over that matter.

In a statement issued today in Vienna, UNODC’s Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa welcomed the results of the probe.

“The enormous efforts we have made over the past two years to refocus, restructure and reorganize UNODC have paid off and our credibility is unblemished…The Office’s integrity was wrongly put in doubt and the OIOS independent investigation has put the record straight,” he said.

Mr. Costa said there “should be no complacency…I am determined to enforce a zero-tolerance policy as regards any form of conflict of interest, mismanagement and corruption.”