Shostack + Friends Blog Archive

 

Those Exemplars of Ethics at the UN

Read this transcript about former UN Oil-for-Food program lead, Benon Sevan. Apparently the UN is paying his legal fees.

Question: The other question was a follow-up to a story in the New York Sun today. The United Nations has been paying Benon Sevan’s legal fees. Is this appropriate? Is this normal practice? And why did the United Nations not announce this?

Spokesman: Indeed — well, first of all, we haven’t paid for anything yet. But it is true that the Secretary-General decided, in principle, to reimburse Mr. Sevan for what we called “reasonable legal fees” as determined by the United Nations for services in connection with his appearance before the Volcker Commission. The payment of these fees was to be made on a strictly exceptional basis, for the purposes of facilitating the work of the Commission.