Annan waives immunity of suspended procurement official at US attorney’s request
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has waived the immunity of a United Nations procurement officer who has been the subject of an internal fact-finding investigation into allegations of misconduct conducted by the Organization’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has waived the immunity of a United Nations procurement officer who has been the subject of an internal fact-finding investigation into allegations of misconduct conducted by the Organization’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).
Mr. Annan received a request yesterday from United States authorities to waive Sanjaya Bahel’s immunity from legal process, his office said in a statement.
The UN formally charged Mr. Sanjaya, an Indian national, with misconduct on 31 August and suspended him without pay, providing its final report to US and Indian authorities. The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York began its own investigation and the UN has been cooperating fully with the US authorities in the matter.
In January, UN Under-Secretary-General for Management Christopher Burnham said OIOS was conducting some 200 investigations into its procurement activities, estimating that the funds involved could top the tens of millions of dollars and noting that a recent OIOS report raised “a number of serious allegations and concerns.”