Maria Veiga, the official who probed the scandal from 2003 to 2005, before being fired by the WMO in November, told Le Matin newspaper at least part of the missing 4.3 million Swiss francs (2.65 million euros) went to buy countries' votes.

"Part of the 4.3 million francs embezzled was designed to finance the election campaigns for the post of secretary general," Veiga told the newspaper.

The Geneva-based WMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, and an authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth's atmosphere.

Le Temps newspaper said the internal report lists the delegates of more than 50 developing countries which had received between 1,000 and 3,000 Swiss francs each to influence their votes.

The main suspect in the fraud scandal, which was first uncovered by the organisation in December 2003, was a Sudanese official Muhammad Hassan, who fled the country in November 2003 after being fired and tipped off from inside the WMO of his imminent arrest, the NZZ am Sonntag said.

It said Hassan, who was responsible for training in the early 2000s, had, according to the report, informed the secretary general at the time, Nigeria's Godwin Obasi, of some of the payments he made.

According to the internal report around a dozen officials at the organisation are being investigated for negligeance or complicity.

The current secretary general Michel Jarraud of France is not tainted by the scandal, as his candidacy only emerged after several attempts to find a chief failed, a spokeswoman for the organisation said on Monday.

Veiga, who is appealing her dismissal, told Le Matin on Monday she had been harrassed in a bid to get her to change her report, something denied by the organisation.

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