ROME –After Australian MPs read the Italian Insider story on Kanayo Nwanze’s lavish lifestlye, Australia has formally told IFAD's director general it will not re-join the UN agency, officials said.

 During a debate on whether Australia should re-join the International Fund for Agricultural Development, MP Philip Ruddock told Parliament:

 “What I found particularly fascinating was an article by (Italian Insider Editor) John Phillips entitled 'IFAD chief in expenses furore'. It made the following points:

“'Felix Kanayo Nwanze, the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has instituted spending cuts at the U.N. agency worth an estimated dlrs 2.5 million but has resisted diplomatic efforts to curb his extraordinary personal expenses including rental of a luxurious villa complex on the exclusive Appia Antica, senior officials say.'

“'As Mr Nwanze prepares to present IFAD's 2011 Rural Poverty Report at Chatham House in London in December, senior U.N. officials have expressed concern over the cost of his sprawling Roman mansion set in two hectares of manicured lawns and parkland featuring a swimming pool, gymnasium, soccer pitch and basketball court and garage housing the president's two black BMWs, a jeep and a limousine, with diplomatic license plates.'

“I could go on;,” Mr Ruddock continued, “it is worth reading. This is the way in which those who are advantaged in this organisation have looked after themselves. But AusAID, when I asked, 'Have there been any allegations of corruption within the fund,' replied:

Not that we are aware of.”

Mr Ruddock also quoted the UK’s Multilateral aid review report saying that the likelihood of positive change within IFAD was “uncertain” saying “Ifad has a relatively new top management team and although commitment is clear, it is to early to judge impact.”

Mr Ruddock told MPs(1) it would be a “very questionable decision … to find the funds to re-join an organisation where all the issues have not been dealt with – and we have been told that by officials – just to increase our influence and profile.”

 He was echoed by Teresa Gambero the federal MP for Brisbane, who quoted AusAID’s “desktop analysis” of IFAD that found the agency is benchmarked worse than peers for some aspects of financial management and administration.

Ms Gambero questioned the Labour Government’s plan to contribute dlrs126 million over four years to support Australia’s re-engagement with IFAD, including a planned dlrs 120 million payment to IFAD for 2013-2014. Ms Gambero noted this would be larger than commitments made by other countries to Ifad in 2011, for example Canada’s dlrs 76.8 million, the UK’s 89.2 million, Germany’s 70 million and the USA’s dlrs 90 million.

 “The key question to be answered here is: why is the government so desperate to give away Dlrs 126.4 million of Australian taxpayers’ money despite such obvious deficiences in the fund’s management?” Ms Gambero asked.

 Against this background, Australia’s Chargé d’Affaires and then acting Ambassador in Italy Doug Trapett recently visited Mr Nwanze and formally apprised him that Australia had decided not to re-join the agency after all, a senior Australian Embassy official told Italian Insider. “Mr Nwanze replied that he was very disappointed,” the official said.

 Such disappointment is understandable -- Mr Nwanze worked hard to try and woo Australia, which left Ifad in 2004 after concerns over its organisational capacities. Mr Nwanze had even awarded a special Ifad medal to a senior staff member charged with persuading Australia to become a contributor again.

 Australia’s decision not to support him was a major debacle following Nwanze being forced to leave his palatial villa on the Appian Way after Italian Insider exposed his sky-high expenses.

  Link to Mr Ruddock's speech: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBE...1.