U.S. Wanted Auditor General as UN Watchdog

A memo released by WikiLeaks shows the U.S. had asked Sheila Fraser to be its nominee to lead the UN's oversight committee.

The United States asked Canadian auditor general Sheila Fraser to be its nominee for the United Nations' top auditor last year, a diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks says. While Fraser said she was “deeply honoured” by the February 2010 invitation to be nominated for chief of the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, she declined, saying she was fully committed to finishing out her 10-year-term as auditor general in Canada. Fraser's term, which is all but guaranteed to set the standard for what's expected of auditors general well into the future, is to come to an end on May 30. She's said she's retiring from full-time work, which is unfortunate given that her unparalleled auditing abilities are surely needed at a body as bloated as the UN.