Head of WIPO lied about his age for 24 years

By Cory Doctorow at 1:33 pm Wednesday, Feb 28

The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization -- the richest UN agency, and the source of practically every bad copyright law in the world -- appears to have lied about his age for 24 years. In so doing, he talked his way into a sweetheart job and could have ended up with early retirement and extra severance pay.

For 24 years since joining the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Director-General Kamil Idris signed numerous documents giving his birth date as 1945, whereas he was born in 1954, the report states.

Diplomats said the confidential auditors' report, which was completed in last November, was drawn up at the request of the United Nations' independent watchdog, the Joint Inspection Unit...

The report, according to sources with knowledge of its contents, questions whether the Sudanese official could claim, given his real age, the 10 years senior experience normally needed for the level of post he took on entering the Geneva-based body in 1982.

There are also issues related to the amount of severance pay he could receive on leaving his job, given the fact that he is 9 years younger than initially stated and so that much further from retirement age, diplomats said.

Link (via Deep Link)