Mukesh Kapila, a former United Nations official and transparency campaigner, is being sued for libel in the U.K. over a series of statements on a blog alleging wrongdoing at a U.N. agency.
Kapila criticized the leadership of the United Nations Office for Project Services, which provides project management and infrastructure services to national governments and other U.N. agencies, over investments in construction projects through an initiative known as Sustainable Investments in Infrastructure and Innovation, or S3i.
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S3i invested heavily in SHS Holdings, a Singapore-based company owned by British businessman David Kendrick. Daisy Kendrick, his daughter, was also provided with UNOPS funding to lead projects. Devex reported last month that UNOPS had loaned out millions of dollars for S3i efforts and that an internal investigation into the funding led to the suspension of S3i Chief Executive Vitaly Vanshelboim. Grete Faremo, who served as UNOPS’ executive director and was due to step down in September, has since resigned with immediate effect.
A U.K. law firm, Carter-Ruck, released a statement saying that the Kendricks had brought libel proceedings against Kapila in the High Court in London. The action seeks “substantial” damages for allegations on his blog about the relationship between SHS Holdings and S3i.
“There is absolutely no truth in any of these allegations regarding our dealings with UNOPS,” David Kendrick is quoted as saying in the statement. “We have always acted with the highest levels of probity and any suggestion otherwise is profoundly defamatory. We are proud of our work and strongly believe in the projects we are running as well as in our ability to deliver these.”
Professor Kapila said: “It is now well established that tens of millions of dollars have gone astray from UNOPS via what appear to be irregular contractual processes. Indeed, UNOPS has said that it is taking robust legal action to recover the funds. It remains to be seen if that is possible.
“Meanwhile, there is a UN investigation underway. it is also important that there is examination without being intimidated of all parties, transactions, and Special Purpose Vehicles used by UNOPS involved so that there is accountability and right lessons learnt.”
Update, May 20, 2022: This story has been updated to reflect comments from Mukesh Kapila.
About the author
David Ainsworth@daveainsworth4
David Ainsworth is business editor at Devex, where he writes about finance and funding issues for development institutions. He was previously a senior writer and editor for magazines specializing in nonprofits in the U.K. and worked as a policy and communications specialist in the nonprofit sector for a number of years. His team specializes in understanding reports and data and what it teaches us about how development functions.