[A2k] FT: Probe says head of Wipo misled officials

[Teresa Hackett (eIFL)]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e5f8ec86-c218-11db-ae23-000b5df10621.html

Probe says head of Wipo misled officials

By Frances Williams in Geneva

Published: February 22 2007 02:00 | Last updated: February 22 2007 02:00

The head of the World Intellectual Property Organisation could face
calls for his resignation after an independent investigation found he
consistently misled the organisation about his age.

A confidential report by Wipo's internal auditor, seen by the Financial
Times, said Kamil Idris, director-general, misstated his age in applying
for his first job at the UN agency in 1982, claiming he was born in 1945
rather than, as he now says, 1954.

If he had given his true age of 28, he probably would not have secured
the post against an older and more experienced short-listed candidate,
the report said.

Nor, "most likely", would he have continued his rapid rise to the top
job in Wipo in 1997 if it had been known he was nine years younger than
stated.

Mr Idris continued to sign official documents giving 1945 as his birth
year until last year, when he took steps to correct the date. This
prompted the Joint Inspection Unit, the UN's management watchdog, to
commission an investigation.

Mr Idris, who is Sudanese, claims he signed the documents "for
consistency" and that the original mistake was a "typo".

While admitting "negligence", he denies wrongdoing.

But the report said Mr Idris broke UN financial and integrity rules by
allowing the "alleged error" to go uncorrected.

"The fact that Mr Idris knew, since joining Wipo in early 1983, that his
birth date as recorded at Wipo was not correct, and nevertheless
continued using the wrong date, could be seen as contravening [the
principles of conduct]," the report said.

The report argued that, contrary to Mr Idris's claim that the change of
birth year would cause him loss by reducing his pension entitlement, he
could stand to gain.

It noted that Mr Idris, whose second six-year term ends in 2009, would
be entitled to a substantial indemnity payment on termination if he left
Wipo's service.

Mr Idris has repeatedly said he does not intend to stand for a third
term. Wipo yesterday refused all comment.

Diplomats in Geneva also declined to comment before seeing the
investigation report, completed last November and now in the hands of
the Joint Inspection Unit and the Swiss Federal Audit Office, which acts
as Wipo's external auditor.

However, they said they expected the report to go to Wipo's newly
established audit committee and the agency's governing board for action,
if any.

Under pressure from the US and others, Wipo recently tightened financial
and administrative controls following earlier allegations of staff
misconduct.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007