Transparency International, Government Accountability Project, and the Whistleblowing International Network demand better protection of whistleblowers and diligent investigation of the reports at UNOPS.
Last month, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) released two alarming reports by independent reviewers detailing abuses within the agency. These reviews found systemic issues, including ineffective internal whistleblowing mechanisms.
The revelations began with a March blog by former UN senior staffer Mukesh Kapila, which was then corroborated by independent media. They revealed that UNOPS made questionable investments via its Sustainable Infrastructure Impact Investments (S3i) initiative, putting over US$60 million at risk, and potentially losing $20 million. These findings triggered an internal investigation, and the chief executive of the S3i initiative was immediately put on administrative leave. One month later, the executive director of UNOPS resigned. The UNOPS executive board then recognised the need for a further, external inquiry and employed KMPG to conduct two independent reviews: a review of the effectiveness of the UNOPS oversight mechanisms for S3i and a review of UNOPS internal control systems, risk management and overall governance structure.
At the end of October, KPMG released their preliminary findings – and they are damning. They found that “a combination of deliberate acts, technical, operational, oversight and governance failures,...
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