ADB cover up?

A few weeks back, this column expressed its sympathy with one of the best-liked officers of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) who appears to be the victim of what many ADB insiders believe are trumped up charges.

This respected ADB officer, it will be recalled, is Gnanathurai Nagarajah, Mr. Gana to his friends in diplomatic circles, both here and abroad.

We said the reason Mr. Gana is particularly liked is that during one of the country’s darkest moments, Mr. Gana stood by the side of Filipinos. He was there to help free Filipino diplomat Lito Nayan who was being held captive by kidnappers in Kabul, Afghanistan. Mr. Gana, who is married to a Filipina, tapped his extensive network of friends in Afghanistan to help secure the release of our compatriot. Many believe, Mr. Gana, who has spent many years in the Philippines, is a Filipino at heart.

This is why the news of what seemed to be an arbitrary suspension of Mr. Gana spread like wildfire. There were pockets of outrage over what appeared to be a policy of "presumption of guilt unless proven innocent" being carried out at the ADB following the suspension of Mr. Gana from his post as an Advisor at the Office of the Director General of its South Asia Department.

The outrage stemmed from the fact that ADB seemed "very eager to suspend Mr. Gana" based on mere allegations by a defense supplier that it paid for the trip of Mr. Gana’s wife to Europe. The accusation is absurd to both observers and ADB insiders because the trip took place one year before Mr. Gana conducted a bidding for a project in which that supplier – the Denmark-based Kjaer and Kjaer – took part and lost.

Now, the plot thickens.

Following the story of Mr. Gana’s plight, more information regarding the saga of this soft-spoken diplomat filtered out of the ADB bastion in Ortigas Center.

It appears that while Mr. Gana was posted in Afghanistan to set up the ADB operations there, he had filed reports concerning some questionable activities of another ADB employee, a non-Asian. The activities in question, reports say, consisted of the said employee’s strange practice of bringing in several very young Afghan boys at the ADB’s guest house in Kabul.

Now, this strange parade of young boys at ADB Kabul did not appear to be part of an educational tour. Reports say they were brought in at late hours in the evening and sometimes made to stay overnight.

We are careful not to make any conclusive judgment on the character of this ADB officer whom Mr. Gana apparently reported to ADB headquarters on account of the nightly visit by young Afghan boys, many of which were reportedly minors. But in most cultures in the contemporary modern world, the practice of older men keeping young underage boys – with whom they have no blood relations at all – in their room at night is frowned upon. Such arrangements are always suspect.

In the Philippines, this practice was once rampant in Pagsanjan, Laguna. Until then Immigration Commissioner Miriam Defensor-Santiago raided the lair of several foreigners who kept underage Filipino boys in the same bed where they slept.

What surprised – and angered – many ADB insiders is that the ADB leadership apparently never acted on the Gana reports on the activities of this boy-keeping ADB officer. The officer was reportedly never investigated nor charged.

What is alarming is that this boy-keeping ADB officer has reportedly been assigned to a refugee camp in another Southeast Asian country that was recently hit by major natural calamities. This is not just shocking – this is frightening, if true. If true, then that would be like assigning Dracula to guard the blood bank. Aren’t refugee camps known to be preying grounds for problem adults who prefer underage boys for partners? Children in these camps are so helpless. God forbid!

This bit of information seems to be the anchor of widespread suspicions that Mr. Gana is merely the victim of a set up. Diplomatic circles and ADB insiders are asking why it is Mr. Gana who is being crucified and vilified at the ADB, and why not the officer who was reported to have kept underage Afghan boys at ADB Kabul.