PRETORIA RESPONSE ON SOUTH AFRICA'S UN/OIOS

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRETORIA 000385 SIPDIS IO/MPR - MATT GLOCKNER, IO/MPR - BRIAN HACKETT, USUN/MR - BRUCE RASHKOW, AND USUN/MR - CHERITH NORMAN E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2020 TAGS: PREL PGOV SF SUBJECT: PRETORIA RESPONSE ON SOUTH AFRICA'S UN/OIOS NOMINEE REF: A. STATE 16301 ¶B. STATE 16709 ¶C. 09 PRETORIA 2385 Classified By: POL Counselor Walter N.S. Pflaumer for reasons 1.4 (b) a nd (d) ¶1. (C) Post hereby replies to Department request (ref A) for background information on Mr. Imran Vanker, who the Department reports (ref B) is under consideration for nomination by the South African Government (SAG) as head of the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). ¶2. (C) Because Vanker is headquartered in New York, Post finds that research links lead to references in the U.S. Unlike the Department's prior three candidates (ref C) based in South Africa on whom Post was able to provide substantial background, Vanker's overseas posting means he is not written about in local media. Online searches mainly turn up U.N. documents endorsed with his signature but otherwise not yielding clues to his qualifications. Queries direct to the Auditor General (AG)'s office would be awkward, given that the AG is himself the U.S. nominee. Post does not know general sources in the domestic auditing profession who would be personally acquainted with Vanker. ¶3. (C) The very few available details on Vanker follow. He is Chairman of the Audit Operations Committee (apparently since 2009) and Director of External Audit for the U.N. Board of Auditors. He came to this role from the South African office of the Auditor General, with which he remains affiliated. According to his LinkedIn profile, before government service he was with auditors KPMG from 1996 to ¶2006. During that time he was also a senior lecturer at the University of Kwa Zulu Natal (UKZN) for a year, 1999-2000. He graduated UKZN in 1995 with an honors degree in commerce. He has a twitter account (http://twitter.com/ivanker) with personal not business posts, unused since 2009. (His home address is 330 E. 38th Street; telephone number (646) 329-5973 should USUN wish to contact or interview him.) GIPS