A few years ago, I was invited to a UN forum on drugs in Vienna. Limited UN grants were available for the $6,000 trip. However, preference would be given to developing countries to attend the international forum, on the basis that cost should not bar representation for NGOs in developing countries such as Laos.
So good on Auditor General Lyn Provost ripping into the NZDF fraud of UN accommodation allowances. What the NZDF was doing was not zero-sum. They were misappropriating funds from a finite UN budget allocated specifically to offer assistance to those least able to afford it. So much for international aid. The double-dipping for personal gain shows a corroded military attaché which has lost its meaning and mana.
