World Health Organization Syria boss accused of corruption, fraud, abuse

Staffers at the World Health Organization's Syria office have alleged that their boss mismanaged millions of dollars, plied government officials with gifts — including computers, gold coins and cars — and violated the agency's own COVID-19 guidance as the pandemic swept the country.

More than 100 confidential documents, messages and other materials obtained by the Associated Press show WHO officials told investigators that the agency's Syria representative, Dr. Akjemal Magtymova, engaged in abusive behavior, pressured WHO staff to sign contracts with high-ranking

Syrian government politicians and consistently misspent WHO and donor funds.

Magtymova, a Turkmenistan national and medical doctor, declined to respond to questions about the allegations, saying that she could not answer, “due to (her) obligations as a WHO staff member.” She described the accusations as “defamatory.”

The complaints from at least a dozen staffers have triggered one of the biggest internal WHO investigations in years, at times involving more than 20 investigators.

WHO confirmed in a statement that a probe was ongoing, describing it as “protracted and complex.” Citing issues including confidentiality and the protection of staff, WHO would not comment on Magtymova's alleged wrongdoing.

WHO's Syria office had a budget of about $115 million last year to address health issues in a country riven by war one in which nearly 90 percent of the population lives in poverty and more than half desperately need humanitarian aid.

For the past several months, WHO investigators have been probing incidents including a party that Magtymova ostensibly threw to mostly honor her

own achievements at the U.N. agency's expense, her request to staff in December 2020 to complete a flash mob dance challenge, and claims Magtymova

“provided favors” to senior politicians in Syria, in addition to meeting surreptitiously with Russian military, potential breaches of WHO's neutrality as a U.N. organization.

In one complaint sent to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in May, a Syria-based staffer wrote that Magtymova hired the incompetent relatives of government officials, including some accused of “countless human rights violations.”

In May, WHO's regional director in the Eastern Mediterranean appointed an acting representative in Syria to replace Magtymova after she was put on leave — but she is still listed as the agency's Syria representative in its staff directory.