A helicopter was shot down in Iraq today... It was being operated by a Bulgarian crew whose company had "chartered" it from a company called Skylink. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4468959.stm
The Bulgarian government denies that the crew was Bulgarian military.
Here's an interesting Senate transcript about the company:
U.N. PROCUREMENT FRAUD (Senate - July 29, 1993) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r103:S29JY3-75:
[Page: S9789] Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, on July 9, 1993, eight U.N. officials were suspended with pay for 3 months pending allegations of procurement fraud in connection with the Cambodian peace-keeping operation, UNTAC. This greatly disturbs me.
The allegations stem from complaints by the U.S. firm, Evergreen, after the company lost bids to provide M-18 helicopters for UNTAC. Evergreen argues that the United Nations improperly accepted equipment bids from the Toronto-based firm SkyLink. Evergreen wrote to officials at the U.S. U.N. Mission in May charging that the company twice was passed over for contracts when U.N. officials extended a bidding deadline to take a low bid from SkyLink after Evergreen made its timely offer.
I have learned that SkyLink provides approximately 95 percent of the equipment for U.N. peacekeeping operations. This amounts to a U.N. bill of nearly $25 million per month. Most of SkyLink's equipment is Russian and outdated. Additionally, charges have been made regarding SkyLink's use of unlicensed pilots and its poor safety record.
With enormous amounts of money involved in equipment procurement and little amount financial oversight, the propensity exists for companies to `stick their hands in the U.N. cookie jar.' The SkyLink incident is just another example of bid rigging at the United Nations. There is no checks and balances system at the United Nations to thwart fraudulent practices. No one is held accountable. It's about time someone was held accountable for the fraudulent practices at the United Nations.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a Washington Post article on the SkyLink incident be printed in the Record at this point.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
>From the Washington Post, July 22, 1993
[FROM THE WASHINGTON POST, JULY 22, 1993] U.N. Aides Suspended in Probe (BY JULIA PRESTON) United Nations, July 21: The United Nations has suspended eight management officials, including two top procurement officers, because of alleged irregularities in contracts for helicopters for its peace-keeping operations, U.N. officials and other sources said today. The case, which diplomats here said was unprecedented, points up continuing problems with poor and possibly improper management in the huge U.N. bureaucracy as the world body rapidly expands its role in political crises around the globe. It also reveals the lack of clear and fair procedures to cope with charges of administrative abuse. The eight officials were suspended with pay on July 9 for three months. Seven, who work at U.N. headquarters here, were escorted from their offices by U.N. security guards and their files were sealed, U.N. sources said. The eighth official is based in Cambodia. Among those suspended were Allan B. Robertson of Zambia, the chief of the U.N. Commercial, Purchase and Transportation Service; Sven Sellberg of Sweden, head of the Field Missions Procurement Section; and Maj. Paul Thompson a Canadian military officer who was a senior official handling peace-keeping logistics. No Americans are involved. The United Nations did not detail the charges, but sources here said it is investigating possible violations of financial regulations. None of these officials responded to telephone messages left today. Diplomats described the suspensions of such senior officials as a rare and harsh move. But the United Nations sought to stress that suspension is `not a disciplinary action' and entails `no presumption of guilt on their part.' A spokesman for Secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali said that the officials had been given time to draw up written explanations of the roles they played in extending contracts for helicopters for several peace-keeping operations, especially in Cambodia. U.N. sources said that the suspensions had crippled the U.N. staff handling peace-keeping logistics at a time when the workload from operations in Somalia, Bosnia and elsewhere in mounting rapidly. According to U.N. sources, the problem stems from a dispute between SkyLink, a Toronto-based aviation firm with long experience in renting helicopters to U.N. peace-keeping operations, and an American firm called Evergreen Aviation based in McMinnville, Ore. SkyLink holds all but a handful of the helicopter contracts--worth millions of dollars--for U.N. peace keeping operations worldwide. In Cambodia, it has provided about 40, mostly Russian-made helicopters. In letters to the United Nations and the U.S. mission here in May, Evergreen claimed that it twice was passed over for contracts when U.N. officials extended a bidding deadline to take a low bid from SkyLink after Evergreen had made its offer. The U.S. mission has assisted Evergreen in its bidding efforts against the Canadian firm. However, sources familiar with U.N. contracting said that U.N. officials shied away from the Oregon firm because of reports it was embroiled in payment disputes with some of its subcontractors. Questions arose about the SkyLink helicopters after a series of crashes earlier this year, including one in March near the ancient Angkor Wat temples in which five foreign jornnalists were injured. The United Nations grounded the entire helicopter fleet for maintenance review. Romours of waste and mismanagement have plagued the Cambodia operation, which, with a budget of $1.6 billion, is the most ambitious and expensive the United Nations has ever undertaken. But the United Nations' approach to investigating the allegations has been almost as convoluted as the charges themselves. Several fiscal probes were undertaken, including one under the command of Boutros-Ghali. But no official results have been reported. In addition, diplomats noted, the United Nations took the strong measure of suspending officials apparently without any proof of wrongdoing. The United States has been campaigning among the nations who lead in contributions to the United Nations for the creation of an independent inspector general to handle mismanagement allegations. The Clinton administration is under pressure from lawmakers like Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), who is seeking to slash U.S. payments to the U.N. budget until the United Nations undertakes a broad organizational reform. SkyLink director Walter Arbib said in a telephone interview that he has not been informed of the suspensions of the U.N. officials and had not heard of claims of improprieties in his company's contracts. `Nobody has contacted us, and we are still contracting with the United Nations,' he said. The U.N. sources said that the United Nations owed SkyLink $20 million for about 10 weeks of services, but paid the debt today. [Page: S9790] <...>
Leigh Meyers www.leighm.net