SWITZERLAND : Criminal Complaint Filed at U.N. Agency

The United Nations filed a criminal complaint against a senior American staffer on suspicion of the embezzlement of up to $1 million, and a U.N. source said “a lot of heads will roll over this.” The official worked in administration at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development and had spent about 20 years in Geneva, U.N. sources said. Sylvana Foa, chief spokeswoman for U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, said in New York that the suspect was an American who had been on sick leave for several weeks. Foa said that about $200,000 had been identified as missing so far. The suspected fraud and forgery of documents was discovered by another staff member filling in for the sick colleague, according to conference spokeswoman Carine Richard-Van Maele.