U.N. head accused of discrimination

UNITED NATIONS – An accomplished former U.S. prosecutor has filed a grievance accusing Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of blocking his hiring to the U.N.’s top investigative post because of discrimination based on gender and nationality.

The dispute over Robert Appleton’s appointment is the latest salvo in a high-stakes fight within the world organization over how to fix the U.N.’s internal watchdog agency.

Appleton’s application to the U.N. Dispute Tribunal said that Ban’s refusal to hire him is a breach of the U.N. Charter and General Assembly resolutions.

Ban appeared to be ignoring U.N. hiring rules that require filling vacancies based on experience and qualifications “because of the applicant’s gender and nationality. This is the essence of discrimination endorsed by the very officials whose job it is to enforce the organization’s policies prohibiting such conduct,” Appleton wrote.

He is seeking $1 million in damages and $500,000 in lost wages and benefits.

Appleton headed the U.N.’s special white-collar fraud unit, known as the Procurement Task Force, that operated with great success from 2006 to 2008. It found 20 significant corruption schemes, leading to several felony convictions and sanctions against dozens of U.N. vendors.

The task force was created in the wake of a scandal over $1.8 billion bilked from the oil-for-food program that had been aimed at easing Iraqi suffering under U.N. sanctions.