US embassy cable - 03ACCRA676

C O N F I D E N T I A L ACCRA 000676 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR PRM, ABIDJAN AND NAIROBI FOR REFCOORDS, ROME FOR 
DHS, GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/08/2013 
TAGS: GA, GH, INS, IO, PREF, refugees 
SUBJECT: CORRUPTION INSPECTION OF IOM/BANJUL COMPLETED 
 
REF: ACCRA 501 
 
Classified By: Refcoord for Admissions Carla T. Nadeau for reasons 1.5 
b and d. 
 
1. (C) Summary:  West African Regional Refugee Coordinator 
for Admissions met with International Organization for 
Migration (IOM) Head of Mission to discuss the findings of 
the recent inspector general's investigation at IOM branch 
office Banjul.  The team concluded that fraud concerns only 
reached the Canadian resettlement program.  While no solid 
evidence of wrongdoing was uncovered, the IG team left Banjul 
sufficiently suspicious to recommend a down-sizing and 
restructuring of the office to include the removal of the 
staffer in question.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) Upon his return from consultations in Geneva, HOM 
Antonio Palosa debriefed Refcoord on the findings of the 
recent IG investigation of IOM Branch Office Banjul. 
Relieved that the concerns outlined in ref a. only reached 
the Canadian program, Palosa appeared confident that fraud 
had not tainted the US Refugee Program (USRP).  Providing a 
brief readout of the investigation, Palosa relayed concerns 
about lack of corroborating testimony from refugees.  Upon 
hearing of the arrival of the investigatory team, refugees 
deliberately maintained a very low profile providing little 
concrete testimony of the alleged fraud perpetrated by 
staffer Gomez.  Despite the lack of detailed testimony, the 
IG uncovered other, potentially damaging evidence that 
something was amiss at the office.  Specifically, Gomez had 
over 20 refugee case files for the Canadian program in her 
desk drawer that should have been handed over to the 
Canadians.  The files were at various stages of the 
resettlement process and there was no reasonable explanation 
as to why these specific cases were held up. 
 
3.  (C)  Palosa expects that the IOM/Banjul office will be 
re-shuffled and down-sized.  Although the IG staff 
recommended the firing of Gomez, their recommendation must be 
approved by their IG superiors in Geneva.  Assuming this 
approval will come through, Palosa believed that Gomez will 
be one of a significant number of staff to lose their job. 
Noting that there are not many cases left in Banjul that need 
to depart, IOM is using this opportunity to down-size and 
leave a more appropriately sized staff of only two or three 
to run operations. 
 
4.  (C) Comment:  While it is certainly good news that IOM 
does not believe the alleged fraud reached the USRP and also 
that remedial action is being taken, refugee watchers should 
maintain close scrutiny of the office.  As little evidence 
was provided by affected refugees, IOM has not managed to 
discover the true depth of the alleged fraud.  Furthermore, 
given the refugees' reluctance to speak, it remains to be 
seen if there has been some sort of quid pro quo for their 
silence.  End comment. 
YATES