Local Editor
United Nations agencies operating in Yemen have been rocked by a corruption scandal as more than a dozen aid workers deployed to deal with the humanitarian crisis caused by a five-year civil war have been accused of embezzlement and malpractice.
The Associated Press obtained internal investigative documents revealing allegations that unqualified people were placed in high-paying jobs, hundreds of thousands of dollars were deposited in staffers' personal bank accounts, dozens of suspicious contracts were approved without the proper paperwork, and tons of donated medicine and fuel went missing.
Internal auditors from the World Health Organization (WHO) are investigating the allegations.
A second probe by another UN agency, UNICEF, focuses on a staffer who allowed a Houthi rebel leader to travel in agency vehicles, shielding him from potential airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition.
The individuals who spoke to the AP about the investigations did so on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals.
The main focus of WHO's investigation into its Yemen operations is Nevio Zagaria, an Italian doctor, who was chief of the agency's Sanaa office from 2016 until September 2018, according to three individuals with direct knowledge of the investigation.
The only public announcement of the probe came in a sentence buried in the 37 pages of the internal auditor's 2018 annual report of activities worldwide. The report did not mention Zagaria by name.
The report, released 1 May found that financial and administrative controls in the Yemen office were "unsatisfactory" - its lowest rating - and noted hiring irregularities, no-competition contracts and lack of monitoring over procurement.
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic confirmed to the AP that the investigation is underway. He said Zagaria retired in September 2018, but he would not confirm or deny that Zagaria specifically was under investigation.
"The Office of Internal Oversight Services is currently investigating all concerns raised," he said. "We must respect the confidentiality of this process and are unable go into details on specific concerns."
Four current and former workers said the WHO's Yemen office under Zagaria was riddled with corruption and nepotism.
Zagaria brought in junior staffers who worked with him in the Philippines and promoted them to high-salary posts though they were unqualified, three individuals said.
Two of them - a Filipino university student and a former intern - were given senior posts, but their only role was to take care of Zagaria's dog, two of the officials said.
"Incompetent staff with heavy salaries" undermined the quality of work and monitoring of projects and created "many loopholes for corruption", a former aid official said.
Zagaria also allegedly approved suspicious contracts signed by staffers with no competitive bidding or documentation for the spending.
According to internal documents, local firms contracted to provide services at WHO's Aden office were later found to have hired the staffers' friends and family and overcharged for services.
The owner of one firm was seen handing cash to one staffer, the documents show - an apparent kickback.
Under Zagaria, aid funds meant to be spent during emergencies were also used with little accountability or monitoring, according to internal documents.
Under WHO rules, aid money can be transferred directly into the accounts of staffers, a measure meant to speed up the purchasing of goods and services in a crisis.
The WHO says the arrangement is needed to keep operations going in remote areas because Yemen's banking sector is not fully functioning.
Because they are supposed to be restricted to emergencies, there is no requirement that spending of these direct transfers be itemized. Zagaria approved direct transfer of cash worth a total of $1 million for certain staffers, according to internal documents. But in many cases it was unclear how they spent the money.
UNICEF, another UN agency operating in Yemen, is also looking into allegations of wrongdoing by its staffers in the country.
"This is scandalous to any agency and ruins the impartiality of UN," the aid official said.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
