Kamil Idris

Idris, a Sudanese international civil servant, was the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) from November 1997 to September 2008. He was also head of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). Idris stepped down a year early from its post of head of WIPO, amidst “allegations of misconduct”. According to the International Herald Tribune, he “used a false birth date for more than two decades accepted a package including an extra year’s salary … and full pension benefits before he offered to resign over questions about his integrity.” Idris, however, blames the birth date discrepancy on a typographical error. The date of his birthday varies from August 26, 1945, August 26, 1953 to August 26, 1954.