Barrage of Fraud Allegations Dog United Nations Pension Fund

Over the last six months, Pension360 has covered the grumbles of controversy around the United Nations’ pension fund – from missing money to governance concerns.

But those grumbles have now turned into shouts: at a fund meeting last week, staff members and union officials laid out a list of the UN pension fund’s alleged “dirty laundry”.

The “allegations of fraud” include, according to Inner City Press:

* Attempts by the fund CEO, Sergio Arvizú, to recruit a new CFO, subsequent found to be unsuitable for the post.

* A consultancy services contract worth $520,000, divided into two, so as to avoid scrutiny by the Headquarters Committee on Contracts, a committee that only reviews procurement requests above $500,000.

* Attempts by the CEO to approve return air tickets from Mexico to New York for four individuals with no relationship, contractual or otherwise, to the fund.

* Irregular modification of a vacancy announcement in order to favor a particular candidate to the post of D-1 Chief of Legal Services.

* Attempts by the CEO to give a short-term contract to a 90 year-old referee on his CV.

More from ai-cio.com:

The pension’s executive office brought the allegations to the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services on March 13, according to Faye, a former journalist and project manager with Senegal’s Ministry of Finance and Economy. Faye and his associates met with the oversight division’s audit director the day before the meeting.

[…]

[Pension fund] CEO Arvizú called the accusations “a malicious campaign” in a March 30 letter to participants. “I want to assure you that all accusations floating [around] are unfounded and that the fund continues to be in a very sound financial position.”

The UN Joint Staff Pension Fund manages $54 billion in assets.

Read more about concerns over the fund’s governance here.

Read more coverage of the recent allegations here and here.