Vladimir Kuznetsov was the highest ranking Russian official in the United Nations, but he got greedy. He was
found guilty of money laundering in relations to corruption in March and has now been
sentenced to a 51 month jail term plus a $73,000 fine. As the chairman of the financial advisory committee, Kuznetsov was taking kickbacks for helping companies win United Nations' contracts. Kuznetsov had diplomatic immunity, but Kofi Annan waived his diplomatic immunity due to the scandal of “multiple instances of fraud, corruption, waste and mismanagement.” Vladimir Kuznetsov was not officially a part of the Russian diplomatic mission to the UN, but Russia had posted his $1.5 million dollar bail. Interfax is already reporting that Russia may seek to have
Kuznetsov transfered to Moscow as is possible under the
Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.
This is separate scandal from the Iraq Oil-for-Food corruption case that another Russian UN official,
Alexander Yakovlev, was involved in. Also, we should not confuse that Alexander Yakovlev with the
Alexander Yakovlev who is known as the godfather of
Glasnost.
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