Alexander Yakovlev was a long-serving tenured member of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

procurement Procurement is the process of locating and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. The term may also refer to a contractual ...

department who was involved in the

Oil-for-Food Programme The Oil-for-Food Programme (OIP) was established by the United Nations in 1995 (under UN Security Council Resolution 986) to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs for ordinary I ...

scandal and had other allegations of impropriety.

Diplomat activity

Yakovlev worked in the UN Secretariat since 1985. In 1993, Yakovlev signed a permanent contract with the UN as a private individual (without secondment by the Russian Federation). Yakovlev resigned on June 23, 2005. On August 8, 2005, United Nations

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...

waived the

diplomatic immunity Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country.

of Alexander Yakovlev upon a request from the

U.S. Attorney's Office United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

, and Yakovlev apparently had been taken into custody, said

Mark Malloch Brown George Mark Malloch Brown, Baron Malloch-Brown (born 16 September 1953) is a British diplomat, communications consultant, journalist and former politician serving as president of Open Society Foundations since 2021, having previously served as ...

, Annan's

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

. Yakovlev's case (1:2005-cr-00819) was assigned to

Southern District of New York The Southern District of New York is a federal judicial district that encompasses the counties of New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. Federal offices or agencies operating in the distri ...

. The same day he pleaded guilty to

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

under the Oil-for-Food Programme, making him the first U.N. official to face criminal charges in connection with the scandal-tainted operation. He was released under bond of $400,000. Alexander Yakovlev also pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of

and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from U.N. contractors in his work outside oil-for-food. He could have faced up to 20 years in prison for each of the three counts. His

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

-based criminal lawyer Arkady L. Bukh said it could take several years until Yakovlev was sentenced. On December 22, 2010 he was sentenced to time served, 2 years of supervised release and was ordered to forfeit $900,000.

Controversies

The diplomat was accused by the investigators of taking nearly $1 million in bribes, which also includes alleged illicit dealings with

Compass Group Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in Europe, ahead of Sodexo, employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in location ...

PLC's subsidiary

Eurest Support Services Eurest Support Services (ESS) is a subsidiary of the catering company Compass Group PLC specializing in harsh-environment large-scale food service and facilities management. Its primary clients are military forces and other security services, maj ...

(ESS) and its terminated CEO Peter R. Harris and senior executive

Andy Seiwert Andy may refer to: People *Andy (given name), including a list of real individuals and fictional characters *Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds * Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianis ...

. Yakovlev is alleged to have conducted himself improperly in 1996 when he indirectly tried to get bribes from Société Générale de Surveillance S.A.

References

External links

Interim UN report
*

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Russian officials of the United Nations Political corruption People convicted of fraud Russian white-collar criminals Russian people convicted of money laundering {{Russia-diplomat-stub