A key United States diplomat has recommended that Washington halt all new funding to the United Nations Office for Project Services amid probes into its financial practices and management, following the resignation during the weekend of the agency’s leader.
“An internal @UN investigative report has been completed but has not been released,” Chris Lu, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for management and reform, said in a tweet on Wednesday.
“Until the report is released, we are recommending that all new U.S. funding to UNOPS be paused,” he added in the social media post.
A U.S. official explained that the tweet is effectively the assessment of the situation of Lu’s office and his recommendation.
Devex was the first news outlet to report on loans by UNOPS to a company called SHS Holdings to build affordable homes in low-income nations. No houses have been built, and UNOPS is owed tens of millions of dollars that it says it is trying to recover.
Over the weekend, after The New York Times reported on UNOPS, Grete Faremo, executive director of the agency since 2014, announced she was resigning, and an interim chief was installed. Faremo was originally expected to stay on until later this year.
Beyond the loans going poorly, UNOPS’ business model faces questions. The agency says it is self-financing, something Lu disputed in an interview with Devex prior to Faremo’s resignation.
“Their organization is financed by fees imposed on other U.N. agencies which in turn are being funded by member states,” Lu said in the interview.
“Until the report is released, we are recommending that all new U.S. funding to UNOPS be paused.”
— Chris Lu, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for management and reform, said in a tweetThe full extent of U.S. financial support for UNOPS remains unclear, but the recommendation from Lu’s office, if followed through, could have wide-ranging implications for the embattled agency.
In a statement Tuesday, UNOPS said it did not have access to the U.N.’s investigation report and “eagerly awaits to learn the outcome of the review and analysis of its findings by the Secretary-General.”
“Under the circumstances, UNOPS will propose an accelerated independent comprehensive evaluation of S3i for its Executive Board, rather than as originally planned at the end of 2023, to determine the future of this initiative,” the statement added.
About the author
Shabtai Gold
Shabtai Gold is a Senior Reporter based in Washington. He covers multilateral development banks, with a focus on the World Bank, along with trends in development finance. Prior to Devex, he worked for the German Press Agency, dpa, for more than a decade, with stints in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, before relocating to Washington to cover politics and business.
