20 March 2007

Getting out whilst the going is good

The top American at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has turned in his resignation just before an audit report into his organisation that showed that he violated UNESCO rules by giving several contracts to an American consulting company without competitive bidding procedure. He claimed that his resignation was due to "a threat against my life, the inadequate support and follow-up to that threat, and a negative climate in the workplace". Right.

The official, a Peter Smith also used to be a Republican Congressman from New York. The fruit doesn't fall very far from the tree does it?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A Republican congressman from Vermont. And the no-bid contracts for a total of $2.1 were executed by a female consultant "with whom he had a very close relationship" (Le Point, French weekly). Always cheaper to put one's shagging on someone else's payroll!
But still, this is a moral tale, as there were, in the end, consequences.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, $2.1 million.