UN Office of the Spokesperson: Note to Correspondents on the Resignation of Sudhir Rajkumar

OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON OF THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL

"29 March 2020

Note to Correspondents on the Resignation of Sudhir Rajkumar

Mr. Sudhir Rajkumar has resigned from his role as the Representative of the Secretary-General for the investment of the assets of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, effective at the close of business on Tuesday, 31 March 2020. The Secretary-General has accepted the resignation and thanks Mr. Rajkumar for his service in managing the assets of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund. The Secretary-General wishes Mr. Rajkumar the very best in his future endeavours.

The Director of the Finance Division in the Office of Programme Planning, Finance and Budget of the Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, Mr. Pedro Guazo, will be appointed as the Acting Representative of the Secretary-General while the Secretary-General launches a recruitment process to find a successor to Mr. Rajkumar."

https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/note-correspondents/2020-03-29/note-correspondents-the-resignation-of-sudhir-rajkumar

UN Pension Fund: in the Covid-19 crisis, the Secretary-General must step in now to resolve internal issues on investments, 29 March 2020

For the past year, internal turmoil has roiled the UN Pension Fund’s Office of Investment Management (OIM) led by Sudhir Rajkumar, the Representative of the Secretary-General for Investments (RSG).

This article presents available facts, in the hope that bringing them into the open will spur necessary attention and steps to restore internal calm to OIM to enable both staff and management to better weather the current external storm caused by the Covid-19 crisis.

Now more than ever, the Secretary-General, the Fund’s ultimate fiduciary, must step in to assess the facts and take steps to resolve the situation.  No leader, including the RSG, can do an effective job when there are festering and unresolved differences between staff and management.

What’s at stake is the financial health and sustainability of our Fund. Indeed, there is nothing about Fund governance and oversight that instills confidence.   If the Secretary-General has acted to address this raging controversy in the past year, such action hasn’t been evident.  

UN Today: UN Pension Fund: Two steps forward, one step back, 11 March 2020

(Please note that the Assembly's latest resolution referred to in the article's first paragraph is A/RES/74/263.)

The Assembly’s reform efforts of the past several years evoke the plight of that ancient toiler: Sisyphus: two steps forward, one step back. Real progress will require a change in the culture of the Board and fund Secretariat management.

The United Nations General Assembly’s annual resolutions on the Pension Fund, including the latest (A/C.5/74/L.22) aim to ensure the fund’s sustainability through sound financial and administrative management and  “unfaltering accountability by the Pension Board.”

Yet, the Assembly’s reform efforts of the past several years evoke the plight of that ancient toiler: Sisyphus: two steps forward, one step back.  Real progress will require a change in the culture of the Board and fund Secretariat management.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE:

https://www.untoday.org/currentissue/un-pension-fund-two-steps-forward-one-step-back