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[Chan Mahanta]

Indian UN official arrested in graft case
Chidanand Rajghatta
[ 3 Nov, 2006 0024hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

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  WASHINGTON: A former Indian government official 
on deputation to the United Nations was arrested 
in New York on Wednesday in a multi-million 
dollar bribery case that embarrassingly for New 
Delhi involves a Government of India entity. 

  Sanjay Bahel, who is originally from the Indian 
Defence Auditing Service (IDAS) cadre, has been 
charged with steering UN contracts worth more 
than $ 60 million to Indian entities, including 
the state-owned Telecommunications Consultants 
India Limited (TCIL) represented by Nishan Kohli, 
and a private firm run by his son Nitin Kohli, in 
return for a swank Manhattan apartment that was 
undervalued in a quid pro quo. 

  Bahel was held at New York's JFK Airport where 
he had gone to receive a relative, while Nitin 
Kohli was arrested in Miami. The Government of 
India has been informed of their arrests and the 
UN has provided its own final report on the 
matter to competent authorities of the United 
States and India, officials said. 

  Bahel has been in the eye of a storm at the UN 
for some months now in investigations arising 
from the oil-for-food scandal. 

  A mid-level government official who joined the 
UN system in the 1990s and rose to head its 
commodity procurement section in Turtle Bay, 
Bahel is charged by US authorities of 
consistently favouring the Kohlis, described as 
family friends, at the expense of other 
legitimate bidders. 

  In return, according to the US indictment, Nitin 
Kohli bought an apartment in midtown Manhattan's 
Dag Hammarsjold Building in 2003 on East 47th 
street and provided it to Bahel and Bahel's 
family rent-free for some months, and a reduced 
rent of $ 5000 per month (against a market price 
of $ 86000) for two years
In May 2005, Bahel bought the apartment from 
Kohli for $ 1.2 million, a price so substantially 
below market value (estimated at $ 2 million) 
that the condominium board considered exercising 
its right of first refusal to block the sale, the 
indictment said.

  The indictment by the U.S Attorney General's 
office follows an internal investigation by the 
U.N that lasted months, and which concluded that 
Bahel had used his position in the procurement 
division to steer contracts to Nanak Kohli, who 
is described as the designated U.S.-based 
representative of TCIL for dealing with the 
United Nations, and his son Nitin Kohli, of 
Thunderbird Industries. 

  The contracts involved purchase of equipment 
such as radio communications material, computers 
and technology support for UN operations 
worldwide. 

  The procurement division spends a large chunk of 
the U.N budget, which is bankrolled by the 
international community, with the United States 
providing the largest share. The procurement 
division's annual budget is said to be more than 
$ 1 billion. 

  "For Americans and people throughout the world, 
the United Nations has stood for the dual 
missions of international diplomacy and 
humanitarian works. Bahel and Kohli conspired 
instead to peddle and purchase influence, to 
pervert the U.N. procurement process for personal 
profit," federal prosecutor Mark Mershon said. 

  Following an internal probe, the UN had 
suspended Bahel without pay since August, while 
the U.S Attorney General's office took up its own 
investigation in the context of the larger 
oil-for-food scandal. 

  On Wednesday, UN officials said 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan had lifted Bahel's 
immunity from prosecution at the request of the 
Manhattan federal prosecutor. 

  One Indian official said on background that 
Bahel had left Indian government service and 
joined the UN system and as such did not enjoy 
any immunity provided to diplomats posted abroad 
on Indian diplomatic passports. 

  Bahel could not be contacted nor could his 
attorney be traced. But in earlier interviews, 
Bahel he had vigorously denied the charges, 
saying he has ⤗good reasons and valid 
reasons⤁ for countering them. 

  If convicted of the charges, both Bahel and 
Kohli face up to ten years in prison
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