Gov't Group Living it Up in Geneva
(Updated Below) The scandal-ridden Rights and Democracy organization has another controversy to explain: How some $150,000 of Canadian taxpayer money is being spent each year on a Geneva office that isn’t even open – and why they are now paying an extravagant $3,000 per month for an apartment in France for its one staffer in Switzerland.
The group is already under fire for using government funds to support groups with alleged ties to terrorism--and, as FrumForum revealed, for possibly directing taxpayer money to underwriting the infamous Durban II conference.
The Montreal-based organization has maintained an office in Geneva ostensibly to raise Canada's profile internationally: In October, Rights and Democracy President Rémy Beauregard was asked in a Parliamentary hearing whether “Canada [was] getting the credit” for its offices overseas. Member of Parliament Kevin Sorenson asked Beauregard whether “there [was] a flag and a Rights and Democracy sign on the wall so [others] know we have a presence.” Beauregard assured the committee that there was.
However, a FrumForum source in Geneva went by the office this week during normal business hours, and reports that the office – which one board member estimates costs taxpayers up to $150,000 annually - is closed. The organization’s name isn’t even on the signage outside. Nor was there any indication of the Rights and Democracy office from inside the building. Numerous phone calls to the office at varying times over the last three weeks have not been answered.
Even had it been open, it is unclear precisely why Rights and Democracy needs a Geneva office, especially since the Canadian government has a permanent mission in Geneva as well.
On the Rights and Democracy website, one of its stated goals is to “maintain and strengthen Rights & Democracy's partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.” Yet Rights and Democracy Communications Director Charles Vallerand tells FrumForum that the official partnership between R&D and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ended in March of 2009.
Signage Outside Rights and Democracy Geneva Office
Rights and Democracy has a federally appointed board of directors to keep it accountable. Yet it appears that board has been systematically insulated from the workings of the European office. Under Swiss law, Rights and Democracy needed to form an NGO in order to operate in Geneva. A list obtained from Rights and Democracy spokesman Charles Vallerand reveals that the board of the Swiss NGO doesn’t contain a single Rights and Democracy board member.
This contradicts testimony of Rights and Democracy Director Razmik Panossian, who said before a Parliamentary hearing in October that “the board of directors Rights and Democracy Switzerland is entirely made up of either [sic] the board of directors of Rights and Democracy here, and the senior staff.”
However, a Rights and Democracy board member told FrumForum that two board members were headed to Geneva on private business in the last year and wanted to stop by the office to speak to the Director, but their requests were turned down by former group president President Rémy Beauregard.
Meanwhile, the organization has just signed a lease to pay $3,000 CAD a month for an apartment just across the border in France--to lodge its one Geneva staff member.
“That’s really unusual for one person,” said one of FrumForum's Geneva-based sources. “I’ve never met anyone with even a two-person apartment for $3,000 a month. That would be obscene.” A quick look at the local housing market shows that this figure could net an opulent apartment in downtown Geneva on the waterfront - in the area where the Rights and Democracy apartment is located, it pays for a five room luxury suite.
While Rights and Democracy squanders taxpayer funds in Geneva, the real work of promoting democracy and human rights suffers. The Montreal Gazette reports that one of their reporters had to lend $600 to a Rights and Democracy staffer in Haiti for food and water.
Questions abound as to whether Rights and Democracy might be hiding something more scandalous in its Geneva operations, and whether a full financial audit of the organization can ever be entirely completed, given the mysterious loss of data , also reported by FrumForum.
One thing is sure – Rights and Democracy is not engaged in private philanthropy. It’s funded by taxpayers and public money, and that demands accountability. When will Canadians get a full audit of the group’s activities in Europe and elsewhere?
Update, 11:35 PM: FrumForum has learned that Cynthia Gervais, the European Director for Rights and Democracy, had quietly resigned in mid-December, which could explain why the office was closed.
However, one board member tells FrumForum that, almost immediately after resigning, Gervais was hired back on as a consultant to accompany Rights and Democracy Deputy Director France-Isabelle Langlois to Geneva in order to staff the Geneva office. Gervais and Langlois were in Geneva as recently as this past weekend.
Of course, Gervais' resignation doesn't explain the closure of the office; the disconnect between the stated purpose and outcomes; or the insulation between the Swiss NGO's board and the Canadian board. In fact, it makes the recently signed lease even more absurd - if Gervais recently resigned and the staffing situation was unclear, why commit to a lease for an extravagant apartment?
