INFORMATION ON WIPO DG ACTIONS FOR GOO

UNCLAS STATE 088065 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD KIPR MU SUBJECT: INFORMATION ON WIPO DG ACTIONS FOR GOO REF: A) MUSCAT 626 B) STATE 80345 ¶1. This is an action message in response to ref A. Please deliver points below to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Economic and Technical Cooperation Department contacts as appropriate. ¶2. Summary: In November 2006 WIPO Internal Auditor (IA) completed the report of his investigation, made at the request of the UN's Joint Inspection Unit, into the use of two different dates of birth by WIPO Director General (DG) Kamil Idris (Sudan). The salient points of the report are summarized below for post's use with host country interlocutors. A Fox News report on this can be found at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,255098,00 .html. The full text of the WIPO IA report (labeled confidential by WIPO) can be reached through a link in that story (http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/Idris.pd f). End Summary. ¶3. During the period 1982 to 2006, WIPO DG Idris used the date of birth (DOB) of 1945 in all employment matters related to WIPO, including Swiss diplomatic carnets, UN laissez-passers, visas to several countries including the U.S., and WIPO benefit forms. In 2006 he changed his DOB in all official documentation, including the UN pension system, to 1954. Although he admitted that he was aware of the discrepancy since his first year of employment, he failed to take any action for 24 years to rectify the discrepancies. While Idris tried to pin blame for the discrepancies on others' mistakes, the IA found that some of the applications were filled out and signed by Idris in his own handwriting. ¶4. The report found that the evidence strongly points towards the conclusion that Idris's use of the 1945 DOB enabled him to procure a position at WIPO that he most likely would not have obtained if his DOB had been recorded as 1954. By claiming to be 37 years old at the time of application to WIPO, he became eligible for a P-4 senior program officer position requiring ten years of experience. The other two short-listed candidates were 37 years old. On his application and c.v., Idris claimed to have held several national positions which, if his actual DOB had been recorded as 1954, would mean he held some of those national positions when he was only 13-16 years old. His subsequent promotions to Director and then to Director General would also have been highly unlikely if his true age and experience had been known. An examination of the evolution of Idris's c.v. over the years also shows a pattern of questionable representations of past educational and employment experience. ¶5. If 1954 is the correct DOB, Idris violated WIPO staff rules and regulations, including regulation 4.11.1, by not taking steps to correct the error. He also violated the ethical standards for international civil servants by perpetuating the use of the 1945 DOB which he now claims is incorrect, while continuing to use it to his benefit in WIPO. In addition, the IA asserts that annotations supposedly made by Idris in his employment record indicating that he tried to change the DOB early in his career could only have been made by Idris himself after he became DG, when he took possession of his own personnel file, a practice that is not allowed in WIPO. The IA also noted that the Swiss authorities concluded that a 1954 birth certificate submitted by Idris to the Swiss Government in connection with his request for a change of DOB appeared to be false. ¶6. Although Idris claims he will not benefit from the change in DOB and may be disadvantaged by it, the opposite is in fact the case. He stands to gain additional benefits at the end of his term as DG in 2009 based on the 1954 DOB that he would not be eligible for if born in 1945. Under the 1954 DOB, he would have the right at the end of his term to revert to a senior D-1 position in WIPO or WIPO would have to pay him a termination indemnity of 18 months' salary. He could also seek future employment elsewhere in the UN system. ¶7. The United States believes that Idris should be held accountable for acting in a manner that is inconsistent with his responsibility to maintain the highest standards of integrity, as stipulated in the WIPO Convention and Rules and Regulations, and for undermining the credibility of WIPO as an institution. RICE