A task force investigating U.N. purchasing operations reported five significant fraud or corruption schemes in contracts with a total value of more than US$20 million and says more than 50 other cases should be investigated, the Associated Press reported.
In the report to the General Assembly, the U.N. Procurement Task Force says its investigators identified "improprieties, corruption and malfeasance" in a review of the U.N. pay and benefits system at U.N. headquarters in New York, in the U.N. peacekeeping operation in the Congo and at U.N. offices in Kenya and Greece.
It also says "significant cases ... are currently ongoing" at the UNOPS office in Afghanistan and at the Economic Commission for Africa.
U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas says the report will be discussed Thursday by the General Assembly's budget committee.