Decision ID: 003306

In October 2001 the 1992 Fund Assembly, when considering the report of the Executive Committee on its 14th (October 2001) session, noted that in September 2001 an association for the protection of the sea, ‘Keep it blue’, joined by another entity, la Confédération Maritime, had made a complaint to the public prosecutor maintaining that the Director had committed fraud in connection with the decision on the conversion of the maximum amount payable under the 1992 Fund Convention expressed in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) converted into French Francs. The Assembly took note of the following summary of the Committee’s discussion of this issue made by its Chairman, which had been endorsed by the Committee: ‘The decision which fixed the date which should be used as a basis for conversion of SDR into French Francs had been taken by the Executive Committee and not by the Director. Contrary to what was stated in the complaint, the Director had not violated any Convention, but had carried out the conversion in accordance with the Executive Committee’s instructions using 15 February 2000 as the date of conversion, a purely mathematical calculation. The Director’s actions had been endorsed by the Executive Committee which, acting on the authority of the Assembly, had the power to take this decision. In its decision in the Nakhodka case, the Assembly had explicitly recognised that decisions on the date for conversion would be taken by the Executive Committee. The Assembly had approved the reports on the Executive Committee’s sessions at which this issue was considered’. The Assembly endorsed the position taken by the Executive Committee.