U.N. Fraud Probes Cut Amid Growing Corruption

The famously corrupt world body with a multi billion-dollar annual budget largely funded by the U.S. has drastically scaled back on fraud investigations, leaving numerous confirmed cases of theft and waste up in the air and allowing many more to continue unchallenged.

Long known as a severely mismanaged cesspool of malfeasance, the scandal-plagued United Nations created a special task force last year to help its joke of an anti-corruption unit tackle the monumental task of cleaning up widespread fraud, especially within its procurement department. The new permanent and highly touted investigative unit has turned out to be an even bigger joke than the task force, which was created in 2006.  

Although incidents of corruption have increased, the investigation division has dramatically dropped the number of cases opened, pursued or completed, according to a news report published this week. The media probe examined U.N. documents, audits and electronic mail along with dozens of interviews with current and former U.N. diplomats and officials. 

It reveals that, over the past year, not a single significant fraud or corruption case has been completed by the new U.N. unit, compared to an average of 150 cases a year probed by the existing task force. The new unit also practically dismantled its office by eliminating qualified staff and other crucial resources and halting existing investigations in at least five major cases in Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa. 

This clearly indicates that the U.N. wants to continue covering up its crooked way of doing business. In the last few years alone, hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts have been tainted by fraud, corruption and mismanagement at the world body which annually receives billions of U.S. tax dollars. In fact, the U.S. is the co-founder and leading financial supporter of the U.N. 

The American dollars keep pouring in even though high-ranking U.N. officials have been criminally convicted for bribery and fraud and more than a dozen others have been exposed for soliciting bribes and rigging bids in the last few years alone. Among the biggest U.N. scandals is the $64 billion oil-for-food program that allowed Iraq to sell oil through the U.N. so that the proceeds could be used to purchase "humanitarian" goods for the Iraqi people. Instead, thousands of companies paid Saddam Hussein illegal surcharges and kickbacks as U.N. officials stood by. 

Incredibly, U.N. officials have the audacity to claim that the investigations division is “doing a very good job” and is “continuing the good work.” As the detailed news report points out, the U.N.’s track record over the past year alone suggests otherwise.