Former CSUMB President Peter Smith under scrutiny in Paris.

While Peter Smith’s management style may seem foreign to his Parisian staff, his capacity for controversy translates well in French.

Nearly two years after Smith left a mixed legacy as president of CSU Monterey Bay, an auditor is scrutinizing his department at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The investigation will determine whether Smith and other managers followed the rules when they awarded contracts for a major restructuring of UNESCO’s education sector.

Smith became assistant director general for education at UNESCO in June 2005. Since his arrival, Smith reassigned nine positions from the organization’s headquarters in Paris to field offices. UNESCO spokesman Nino Muñoz Gòmez says this move is part of an effort to accelerate the worldwide achievement of universal primary education by 2015.

“As with any reform effort, there has been some criticism,” Gòmez says. “However, it is important to note that all cases related to these deployments have been resolved to the employees’ satisfaction and no one lost their job.”

In addition to moving his staff to places like Zimbabwe, Smith allegedly awarded several contracts to a Chicago-based consulting firm without a request for proposals. As reported in the French economics magazine Capital in January, Smith gave lucrative contracts to Navigant Consulting without proper oversight from UNESCO’s Executive Board. (The headline of the story is “Le Protégé de Bush Fait Scandale à Paris.”)

Smith could not be reached for comment. Gòmez would not confirm or deny these allegations, saying he can’t discuss the audit while it’s ongoing. The results of the investigation will become public in April.