ROME -- As many as 24 staff of the UN World Food Programme were dismissed for professional misconduct in 2010 -- charges included harrasment and fraud, theft and gross negligence, says the agency.

The Human Resources department of the Rome-based agency dealt with 48 cases of misconduct in 2010 compared with 30 in 2009, according to a report in the WFP Staff Magazine Pipeline quoting the latest HR annual report.

Contacted by Italian Insider, a WFP press office spokeswoman declined to make available further information on the cases on ground that they were "private."

"Misconduct charges ranged from harassment and fraud to theft and gross negligence," the Pipeline report said in its December issue available to visitors at WFP headquarters.

The strict disciplinary regime at the emergency relief agency evidently contrasted with the situation at its sister agency in Rome, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), food-agency watchers said. IFAD's flamboyant Nigerian President Kanayo Nwanze was accused by UN auditors of "blowing millions" on his sky high expenses including a luxury villa set in sprawling parkland on the posh Appian Way, the Italian Insider disclosed. 

The IFAD supremo also was accused of putting pressure on senior agency accountants to obscure personal spending in agency accounts under other categories. Nwanze remains at the helm of IFAD, however, after one of his direct underlings was given the blame for the expenses scandal and dismissed.