FORMER UN OFFICIAL IN ZAGREB ACCUSED OF FRAUD

NEW YORK, Jan 4 (Hina) - A former United Nations official in Croatia was accused of taking a provision of about US$500,000 from Zagreb's travel agency "Zagreb Tours", said on Monday an assistant spokesman of the U.N. Secretary-General in New York, Hiro Ueka. An indictment was read to the head of the U.N. travel and transport service in Zagreb, Charles Kim, before the New York District court. The indictment read that Kim was accused of the criminal act of fraud, Ueka said. The indictment also read that during 1997 and 1998, "Zagreb Tours" paid a provision of US$495,000 on 12 occasions, as requested by Kim. The payments were covered by forged receipts which were delivered to the U.N. Apparently Kim was using extortion, telling the agency he would break all business relations with it unless it paid the provision. According to previous information Kim paid a bail of US$750,000, and would defend himself outside of prison. As ordered by Judge Michael Dolinger, Kim was deprived of his United States passport. An additional investigation is being led by the FBI, considering that Kim is an United States citizen, the U.N. spokesman noted. The "Zagreb Tours" attorney, Dragutin Kasapovic, previously told Hina in Zagreb that no investigation was being conducted against the agency, concerning bribes to the UN official. (hina) it/lml