LONDON (AP) — Syria’s World Health Organization staff have alleged their boss mishandled millions of dollars, gave gifts to government officials — adding computers, gold coins and cars — and acted frivolously as COVID-19 swept the country.
More than a hundred confidential documents, messages and other fabrics received through The Associated Press show that WHO officials told investigators that the agency’s representative in Syria, Dr. Akjemal Magtymova, engaged in abusive behavior, urging the WHO to sign high-ranking contracts with the Syrian government. and systematically squandered WHO and donor funds.
Magtymova declined to answer questions about the allegations and said she was “prohibited” from sharing data “due to (her) duties as a WHO staff member. “He called the allegations “defamatory. “
Complaints from at least a dozen staff members have triggered one of the WHO’s largest internal investigations in years, involving more than 20 investigators, according to staff members connected to the investigation.
The WHO showed in a statement that it had reviewed the tariffs against Magtymova and said it had also called outside investigators.
“It was a long and complex investigation, with the country scenario and situations demanding to gain adequate access, while ensuring staff coverage, leading to additional complications,” the WHO said. The firm said progress had been made in recent months in evaluating court cases on Magtymova and gathering applicable information.
“Given the security situation, confidentiality and due process do not allow us to comment further on the detailed allegations,” the WHO said. He gave no timeline on when the investigation would be completed.
Last year, the WHO’s workplace in Syria had a budget of around $115 million to deal with physical disruption in a war-torn country, a country in which nearly 90% of the population lives in poverty and more than a portion is in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. attendance. For several months, investigators have been investigating allegations that Syrians were miscared for and the WHO was mistreated:
Financial documents show that Magtymova once hosted a party that cost more than $10,000, a collection organized primarily to honor her own achievements at WHO’s expense, according to staff, at a time when the country needed coronavirus vaccines.
In December 2020, amid the pandemic, he tasked the more than one hundred WHO members in the country to learn a flash mob dance, and asked officials to film themselves performing the choreographed steps for a UN party, according to videos and messages seen via AP. .
Six Syria-based WHO public fitness experts said Magtymova had called staff members “cowardly” and “retarded. “violations of the neutrality of the WHO as a United Nations organization. Staff members asked not to be appointed for fear of reprisals; 3 have left WHO.
In a complaint sent to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in May, a Syria-based member wrote that Magtymova had hired incompetent family members of government officials, some of whom were accused of “countless human rights violations. “
“Dr. Akjemal’s competitive and abusive moves have a negative effect on WHO’s ability to support fellow Syrians,” the staff member wrote, adding: “The vulnerable other Syrians are wasting a lot due to favoritism, fraud and scandals. fostered and supported by Dr. Akjemal, who breaks all trust (and) repels donors.
Tedros did not respond to the staff member’s complaint. In May, the WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean appointed an acting representative in Syria to update Magtymova after she was given a leave. But she is still listed as the agency’s representative for Syria on its staff. board of directors and continues to earn a director’s salary.
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Magtymova, a citizen of Turkmenistan, held various positions in the past, including the agency’s representative in Oman and emergency coordinator in Yemen. He took office in Syria in May 2020, just as COVID was sweeping the world.
“What we are doing (at WHO) is noble,” he said in a statement about his appointment. “We earn respect for the competence, professionalism and effects we achieve. “
Many WHO people in Syria told the agency’s researchers that Magtymova failed to master the severity of the pandemic in Syria and endangered the lives of millions of people.
“During COVID-19, the situation in Syria was deplorable,” said a former WHO staff member. “However, WHO is not providing sufficient assistance to Syrians. “Medical materials “were usually concentrated only in Damascus and did not cover other parts of Syria, where there is a severe shortage of medicines and equipment.
Syria’s fitness formula has been devastated during more than a decade of war; For years, the country has relied exclusively on foreign physical assistance. The WHO’s presence in government-controlled areas has led to complaints that its aid is directed through Damascus, which is sanctioned by the US. Syria’s internal war and most live in tent camps in spaces outside government control.
Staff members also questioned some of Magtymova’s behaviors and rules for staff as coronavirus cases surged internationally, and even as the WHO leader claimed the entire organization was working “tirelessly” to prevent COVID-19.
At least five WHO members complained to investigators that Magtymova had violated WHO’s own rules on COVID-19. They said he didn’t inspire remote work, came to the workplace after contracting COVID, and held meetings without a mask. Four WHO members said it had become inflamed. other.
In December 2020, at the height of the first year of the pandemic, Magtymova asked the Syrian to report on a flash mob dance popularized through a social media challenge for a UN year-end event. At the time, senior WHO officials in Geneva urged countries to implement measures against the coronavirus, adding that they postponed all non-essential gatherings.
“Please note that we need you to pay attention to the song, practice the steps and film yourself dancing to the music to be part of our global flash mob dance video,” WHO communications officer Rafik Alhabbal wrote in an email to all Syrians. personnel. . . Magtymova sent a link to a YouTube website, which she described as “the most productive tutorial. “
Several videos show members, some dressed in WHO vests or jackets, performing the “Jerusalem Challenge” dance in offices and warehouses filled with medical supplies. Magtymova praised the “very charming and charming people” in videos made in Aleppo and the port city of Latakia. .
The following October, as the country experienced one of its worst waves of COVID, Magtymova hired a choreographer and a film company to produce a video of staff members performing at another dance to mark United Nations Day. Photos and videos show there is no social distancing at the Magtymova party organized for dozens of maskless people, which included a “cake tasting ceremony. “
Magtymova posted one of the dance videos on WHO Syria’s social media accounts, but it raised so many complaints that her superiors ordered her to remove it. The video was “shameful,” said Anas al-Abdah, leader of the Syrian opposition: “The organization has (instead) filmed the catastrophic condition of our other people and demanded justice. “
Magtymova, however, unrepentant.
“My message here is to ask you not to be discouraged,” he told staff. “We have a vital task to do and a great duty for people, we did anything out of the ordinary: we dared to shine. “
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Internal documents, emails and messages also raise serious considerations about how WHO’s taxpayer budget was used under Magtymova, with staff members alleging that it squandered the limited donor budget to help the more than 12 million Syrians in dire need of physical assistance.
Among the incidents studied, a party Magtymova hosted last May, when she won a leadership award from Tufts University, her alma mater. Held at Damascus’ exclusive Four Seasons hotel, the party featured a roster of about 50 guests, at a time when less than 1% of the Syrian population had gained a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
An invoice from the hotel shows that the main table menu included Singapore-style beef satay, fried goat cheese with truffle oil croquettes and mini-sriracha bird burgers, as well as a variety of seasonal non-alcoholic cocktails. A production company was hired to film the event and make a promotional video, according to an internal WHO summary.
The evening schedule included remarks from the Syrian health minister, followed by a reception and only about two hours of live music. committed to Magtymova, not fitness workers. The cost, according to one spreadsheet: more than $11,000.
Like many other UN expatriates in Syria, Magtymova lived in Damascus’ Four Seasons hotel, adorned with ornaments. the documents suggest he stayed in the suite from October 2020 to May last year at a discount of around $450 per night, more than 4 times the value of rooms occupied by other UN staff. A hotel staff member said those suites charge about $940 a night. night.
The hotel has been sanctioned by the USA. the US and the UK for its owner’s role in Bashar Assad’s investment regime; the UN has spent an estimated $70 million on it since 2014.
Other WHO officials were involved in the agency’s inability to track its fitness services in Syria. In January correspondence, staff members wrote about a disturbing “random verification” at a fitness assignment in northern Syria, pointing out discrepancies between what the WHO paid and what was found. .
Among the disorders identified: “the quantities of medicines checked did not fit the bills”, the staff had no medical training, parts such as wheelchairs, crutches and hearing aids were missing, and the maximum of the construction was rented to buy those empty materials.
Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandari, WHO’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean and head of Magtymova, chided her for the Syrian office’s lack of accountability for her spending.
In an email last October, he told her there were many unresolved audit and compliance issues. Al-Mandari said Magtymova had not finished several long-awaited reports detailing how money was being spent in Syria that required “urgent attention. “Without those reports, donors had little evidence that Syria and WHO were their resources as intended.
Three WHO officials involved in the procurement told investigators that Magtymova was involved in several questionable contracts, adding a transportation contract that awarded several million dollars to a supplier with which she had no public ties. Another staff member believed to be close to Magtymova reportedly earned $20,000 in cash to buy medicine, even though there was no request from the Syrian government, which was obliged to make such a purchase.
At least five staff members also complained that Magtymova used the WHO budget to buy gifts for the Ministry of Health and others, adding “very smart servers and laptops,” gold coins and expensive cars. The AP could not corroborate his allegations. Several WHO staff members said they were stressed to strike deals with senior Syrian government officials over critical materials, such as inflated fuel prices, and that if they didn’t they were marginalized.
The accusations against the WHO’s most sensible representative in Syria relate to court cases of misconduct at the UN fitness firm in recent years.
Last May, the AP reported that senior WHO leaders had been briefed on the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in Congo for sexual abuse, but had done little to prevent it; a panel later found that more than 80 staff members under the WHO’s leadership were sexually exploiting women.
And in January, the AP reported that the WHO’s Western Pacific office said the region’s director, Dr. Takeshi Kasai, used racist language to rebuke and inappropriately shared sensitive data about the coronavirus vaccine with his home country. In August, the WHO removed Kasai from his post indefinitely after an initial investigation corroborated some of the allegations.
Javier Guzman, director of global fitness at the Center for Global Development in Washington, D. C. , said the WHO’s most recent allegations about Magtymova were “extremely troubling” and would be no exception.
“Obviously, this is a systemic problem,” Guzman said. “These kinds of accusations don’t just happen in one of WHO’s offices, but in several regions. “
He said that while Tedros is believed to be the ethics of the world during COVID-19 (he has continuously denounced vaccine inequality and called on countries to act in solidarity), the company’s credibility has been seriously affected by reports of misconduct. Guzman asked the WHO to make public the investigative reports on Magtymova and the Syrian office.
The WHO said the research reports are “not public documents,” however, the “aggregated and anonymized data” is shared with its board and made publicly available.
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Sarah El-Deeb in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.