Update on allegations against UN Pension Fund, 5 April 2015
Further to our post of last week concerning allegations by some staff union representatives about the Pension Fund, AFICS/NY would like to provide the following additional information. Last week we posted the reply of the CEO of the Pension Fund. As you know, one of the New York Staff Union presidents, Barbara Tavora-Jainchill, has alleged fraud about certain administrative decisions taken by the Pension Fund, and another New York Staff Union President, Stephen Kisambira, has disputed the allegations and the way in which they were put forward. Since there is no officially recognized Staff Union President from New York, we are providing a link (see below) to the webcast where you can access the webcast of the meeting organized by Barbara Tavora-Jainchill on 31 March 2015 and are also attaching the statement of Stephen Kisambira dated 30 March 2015.
AFICS/NY would like to assure all retirees that we are acutely aware of the situation. Our aim is to assist in resolving it, not exacerbating it, which is why over the past couple of weeks we have been attempting to find out if there is merit to the fraud allegations. We have been in regular contact with OHRM, the Legal Office, the Pension Fund and OIOS on the matter. On 2 April 2015, the President of AFICS/NY and the Chair of the AFICS/NY Pension Committee met with the USG and ASG for internal Oversight Services. We were told that a preliminary review had begun and OIOS would endeavour to provide further information on the fraud allegations before the June meeting of the Pension Board’s Audit Committee. They suggested, however, that some of these administrative matters might have been more properly and expediently addressed by other mechanisms, such as the Administration of Justice machinery.
Because there was no Q&A at the 31 March 2015 meeting, AFICS/NY considers that staff and retirees need also to hear the views of the administration on the allegations being made. Therefore, AFICS/NY has written to the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management to request that she organize a joint Town Hall meeting as soon as possible with members of the Pension Fund including the CEO and the RSG of the Fund, and that representatives of the Legal Office, OIOS, and the Pension Board members present in NY be invited. AFICS/NY considers that this would help to restore balance and alleviate fears about the safety of our pensions.
On the matter of the MoU, we would like to provide the following clarifications. The MoU is not a new operating/procedural instrument; the Pension Fund Secretariat has long operated on the basis of a MoU between the Fund and OHRM. Its objective is to provide flexibilities not covered by the staff rules, flexibilities also meant to promote, not restrict, career development in the Fund. The MoU does not give authority to the CEO of the Pension Fund to bypass UN financial rules or to be exempt from oversight. It is the Pension Board that has been asking the Fund to update the existing MoU for a number of years now and in its 2014 report stated that it expected it to be signed by October 2014. It was not concluded in October because two of the parties to the agreement, the Representative of the Secretary-General for the Investments of the Fund and the Assistant Secretary-General for OHRM had just been appointed and needed time to review it. Discussion in the Fifth Committee late last year reflected the expectation that the MoU would be concluded prior to the meeting of the Pension Board in July 2015.
This is where the matter now stands. It is regrettable that some retirees have come to believe that their pensions are endangered. AFICS/NY would like to assure them that if this were indeed the case, it would be the first to raise its voice in strong protest. We will continue to monitor the matter update you.
Link to webcast of meeting organized by Barbara Tavora-Jainchill on 31 March 2015: http://webtv.un.org/internal-communication/watch/un-staff-meeting/4145699617001