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Lucia A Keegan  10/18/2006 09:56:19 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

Cable 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L        PARIS 06837

SIPDIS
cxparis:
    ACTION: UNESCO
    INFO:   POL ECON AMBU AMB AMBO DCM SCI

DISSEMINATION: UNESCOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB:LVOLIVER
DRAFTED: LEGALADV:TMPEAY
CLEARED: NONE

VZCZCFRI229
PP RUEHC RUEHBR RUCNDT
DE RUEHFR #6837/01 2901223
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 171223Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2248
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 1686
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0927

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 006837 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR IO/FO (GANDERSON), L/UNA (DSULLIVAN), L/DL 
(CBROWN), WHA/BSC (MMATERA) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/17/2016 
TAGS: UNESCO SCUL BR
SUBJECT: UNESCO: BRASILIA FIELD OFFICE INVESTIGATION NOW OF 
A CRIMINAL NATURE 
 
REF: (A) PARIS 6225 (NOTAL) (B) PARIS 06435 
 
Classified By: MISSION LEGAL ADVISER T. MICHAEL PEAY, FOR REASONS 1.4 ( 
b) and (d). 
 
 ¶1. (C) This is an action request; please see para. 6. 
 
¶2. (C) Summary.  On Friday, October 13, the U.S. Mission was 
discreetly provided a copy of a letter addressed to UNESCO 
Director-General Matsuura signed by two Brazilian Federal 
Prosecutors who informed the D-G that the previously civil 
investigation of irregularities at UNESCO's Field Office in 
Brasilia has now turned criminal.  While the letter 
acknowledges that the Organization "is entitled to" immunity, 
the specificity of the prosecutors' requests to the D-G to 
cooperate with them (see para.3 below) and thereby 
"facilitate the proper administration of Justice" could not 
have been made clearer.  Mission requests guidance and 
recommends (see para. 6) that the Department, at a senior 
level, discreetly inform Matsuura of the USG's firm wish and 
expectation that he will take steps to ensure that the 
Organization extends all necessary forms of assistance 
requested to aid both the criminal and the civil 
investigations.  Our approach could affirm our respect for 
the principle of immunity with regard to international 
organizations and their senior officials, but at the same 
time also affirm our conviction that UNESCO should, as the 
letter requests, "help to prevent any abuse" of that immunity 
to the detriment of this investigation. End Summary. 
 
¶3. (C) Specific Cooperation Requested. The prosecutors' 
letter, dated October 12, 2006, informs Matsuura that their 
investigation is "advancing quickly" and that "the 
investigation is now of a criminal nature."  The letter 
requests the D-G's active cooperation with the prosecutors' 
office in several specific respects.  It asks him to submit 
"all documents and/or reports (UNESCO) has that are directly 
or indirectly related to the facts and parties involved in 
the Public Civil Action", to which the letter alludes in an 
earlier paragraph as an "ongoing investigation."  The letter 
also specifies several offices at UNESCO Headquarters from 
which such assistance is particularly sought, including but 
not limited to the Office of Legal Affairs, Internal 
Oversight Service, UNESCO Brasilia Office, as well as 
assistance from the External Auditors.  (Comment: The new, 
in-coming UNESCO External Auditor, Mr. Phillipe Seguin, is a 
French national.  However, we do not as yet have a sense of 
how cooperative he is prepared to be, given the political 
sensitivity of this investigation and given the fact that the 
UNESCO's Deputy Director-General (Barboza) is Brazilian). End 
Comment. 
 
¶4. (C) UNESCO's Chief Internal Inspector, John Parsons 
provided us with copies of the incoming letter (please 
protect), demonstrating once again his willingness to take 
risks to work closely with us to ensure we receive timely 
information about this matter.   However, he did so with the 
caveat that the letter had only been given limited 
circulation within UNESCO's secretariat.  Fortuitously, 
visiting IO DAS Gerry Anderson had had a very informative 
private meeting with Parsons on October 12 and had been 
orally forewarned by Parsons of the likelihood the civil 
investigation would soon expand into the criminal realm. 
This was then confirmed the following day by the letter. 
 
¶5. (C) To date, we do not yet know whether a formal criminal 
indictment has been handed down, when that would be likely, 
or who the named defendants (or other parties) will be.  We 
expect to see further developments fairly soon, however.  For 
the moment, given the content of the prosecutors' letter, 
Mission sees UNESCO, the Organization, as arguably analogous 
to a "material witness" from whom the prosecutors are 
actively soliciting voluntary (as opposed to compulsory) 
cooperation, in order to gain access to documents, and 
possibly testimony, needed to complete their investigation. 
Interestingly, the letter refers to unspecified 
"difficulties" the prosecutors have encountered in their 
efforts to investigate the facts.  It is not clear whether 
this complaint is an allusion to non-cooperation, or worse, 
obstruction, attributable to the Brasilia Field Office or 
UNESCO Headquarters (though we believe that D-G Matsuura is 
genuinely concerned and wants to get to the bottom of this). 
That said, the D-G can demonstrate his bona fides by using 
his authority to ensure full and appropriate Secretariat and 
Field Office cooperation -- from the top down -- to assist in 
this investigation. 
 
¶6. (C) Action Request.  For the foregoing reasons, we request 
the Department's guidance and recommend the Department's 
consideration of a discreet, senior-level approach to the D-G 
to convey the U.S. Government's firm view and expectation 
that he should take steps to ensure the Organization extends 
the necessary forms of cooperation requested to aid both the 
criminal and civil investigations. 
¶7. (C) On the basis of the Mission's preliminary legal 
research, it would appear that the D-G has a duty to exercise 
his judgment and authority to actively cooperate with the 
prosecutors in the interest of justice, pursuant to Article 
VI, sections 19(a), 22, and 23 of the Convention on the 
Privileges and Immunities of the Specialized Agencies of the 
UN, in respect of UNESCO (to which Brazil is a party). 
Mission Legal Adviser is prepared to work closely with the 
relevant L offices to craft an appropriate confidential 
letter from a senior Department official to Director-General 
Matsuura. 
 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
STAPLETON