Refusing
Press Qs on
Ban Ki-moon's
"Bag of Cash,"
Spokesman
Dujarric
Issues Legal
Threat
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Series
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 28 --
In the final
days of Ban
Ki-moon's
decade as UN
Secretary
General,
covering up
genocides in Sri
Lanka, Burundi
and Yemen
and evicting
the Press
which asked
about (t)his
corruption,
Inner City
Press is
reviewing
Ban's end,
year by year.
See also this
Twitter
Moment.
Now beyond
Ban's nepotism
at the UN -
promoting his
own son in
law, having
his brother
Ki-ho drum up
business in
Myanmar war
zones as part
of a “UN
delegation”
and his nephew
use his and
the UN's name
in real estate
deals - it has
been reported
that Ban while
Secretary
General
accepted
$30,000 in
cash from a
businessman.
Inner City
Press on
December 27
asked Ban's
top three
spokespeople
about this:
"Please
state the date
and separately
content of the
Secretary
General last
three
communications
with Park
Yeon-cha or
any other
official or
employee of
Taekwang."
While Ban's
spokespeople
have refused
to answer this
and 13 other
Inner City
Press
questions,
Stephane
Dujarric has
abused his
ongoing UN
role by
issuing a
legal threat
about the
Taekwang /
Park Yeon-cha
story,
demanding from
the initial
publisher an
official
apology or the
UN will have
to pursue
further
necessary
measures.
Who is
Stephane
Dujarric to
threaten to
sue? For the
UN? For Ban
Ki-moon's
campaign?
While refusing
to do his job
as
spokesperson
at the UN and
answer
questions, on
this same
scandal as
well as on
Burundi,
Gambia, Mali,
South Sudan
and Myanmar,
where Ban
Ki-moon's
brother Ki-ho
does business
in war zones?
We'll have
more on this.
In 2006 after
Ban was given
the job since
he was NOT
“God's gift to
humanity,”
even then he
was criticized
for close
business links
with Myanmar,
by Djoko
Susilo
among others.
By 2008,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban, here,
"about the
responsibility
of private
corporations
doing business
in Myanmar,
giving the
specific
example of
South Korea's
Daewoo and its
deal with
Myanmar Oil
and Gas. I
cannot comment
on specifics,
Ban said,
adding that
'whoever has
influence'
should try to
convince
Myanmar to
improve its
record."
As it
turned out,
Ban Ki-moon's
brother Ban
Ki-ho would do
mining and
other business
in Myanmar,
after being on
a “UN
delegation.”
Ban Ki-moon's
nephew Dennis
Bahn is said
to have used
his uncle's
name and
position while
trying to sell
real estate in
Vietnam.
The Bans have
yet to answer
these
questions. Here's
the
December 26 round-up
story by Inner
City Press.
And here,
taken offline
after inquiry
but tweeted by
Inner City
Press, is a
photo of Ban
Ki-ho in
Myanmar, for
magnesium,
under the
banner Korea -
Myanmar CEOs
Partnership
Plaza.
On the
morning of
December 27, a
UN work day,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
three top
spokespeople
questions
including
"please
state the
business
activities in
Myanmar of Ban
Ki-moon's
brother Ban
Ki-ho, not
only through
KD Power which
your Office
has stated it
understands
Ban Ki-ho has
left, but also
through Bosung
Powertec and
any other
company and
again, all
details of the
“UN
delegation”
the link
regarding
which Inner
City Press has
previously
provided your
office in
early
November"
and
"Please
state the date
and separately
content of the
Secretary
General last
three
communications
with Park
Yeon-cha or
any other
official or
employee of
Taekwang."
More than a
full day
later, there
were no
answers, not
even a
confirmation
of receipt. On
the morning of
December 28 on
this Inner
City Press
asked Ban
Ki-moon's full
paid Office of
the
Spokesperson:
"please
definitely
state that
dates on which
Ban Ki-moon's
brother Ban
Ki-ho began
and if
applicable
ended
employment
with Bosung
Powertec and
KD Power or
any of their
affiliates,
and during
those time
frames the
companies'
business
activities in
Myanmar."
Five hours
later, the
spokespeople
sheepishly
closed their
office and
left, no
answers.
Having
received calls
from media in
South Korea
who have
falsely been
told that
Bosung Powertec
does no business
in Myanmar,
that there was
no UN
delegation,
Inner City
Press now publishes
this:
Evidence
(in a UN
publication)
of Bosung
Powertec's
involvement in
Myanmar:
Annex
5.6. Selected
Korean MSMEs
(page 241)
Myanmar Bosung
Powertec Co,
Ltd Electronics and electric
equipment and
components
Here
is evidence of
both Bosung Powertec
and Ban Ki-ho's
"previous"
employer KD
Power involved
in Myanmar
Power
instrument
makers rush
off to
Myanmar, a
land of
opportunity
Yoo
Chang-seon Sep 11,
2013
Small
and medium
power
instrument
makers are
continually
entering the
Myanmarese
market in
order to take
the Myanmarese
government’s
long-term
power
development
plan as a
business
opportunity.
Bosung
Power entered
into a
contract to
supply power
transmission
tower
manufacturing
facilities in
2009 and 2011 with MEC,
a Myanmarese
national steel
company, and has already set foot into
the market.
Following a
Myanmarese
branch
establishment
in 2011, the
company is
promoting the
local market
entry in full
swing.
Recently, Bosung
Power is
preparing a
site for its
own production
plant in an
area at a
1.5-hour
driving
distance from
Yangon.
KD Power
has been
promoting to
supply
photovoltaic
power
generation
system and DC
household
appliances
since May to
suburban areas
of Myanmar where
the power
supply
conditions are
poor.
On
December 26 it
was reported
in South Korea
that even
while Ban
Ki-moon was UN
Secretary
General, he
received
$30,000 from a
businessman,
in a
restaurant. See here,
including Park
Yeon-cha (as
well as
Vietnamese
minister
Nguyen Dy
Nien) with
this quote:
""It
would have
been early
2007, shortly
after Ban took
office as
Secretary
General of the
United
Nations. New
York has a
restaurant
owner who
knows him
well. Park
called the
owner of the
restaurant and
said, "If Ban
comes to eat,
give me $
30,000 as a
gift to
celebrate the
inauguration
of the
secretary
general." In
fact, we know
that money was
handed to Ban.
""
Did
the UN's
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services ever
look into
this? We're
still waiting
to hear from
them. As to
Ban Ki-moon's
spokespeople,
they have
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
written
questions back
to November 25
about Ban
Ki-ho, etc.
Ban
Ki-moon has
largely been
immune from
accountability
for ten years,
due to a
mixture of
sycophantry
and, when seen
as necessary
in 2016,
censorship,
eviction and
restriction of
the
investigative
Press.
But in
2017...
It is
reported that
Ban Ki-moon
will push the
button to drop
the Times
Square ball on
New Years Eve,
seemingly
arranged by
NYC Mayor Bill
de Blasio's
relentlessly
pro UN Office
of
International
Affairs (which
never
answered
Inner City
Press about
any de Blasio
position on
Ban Ki-moon
having shirked
accountability
for his UN
bringing
deadly cholera
to Haiti.)
But the moment
that ball
drops, Ban
Ki-moon's
legal immunity
is over. We'll
have more on
this.
In
his first
year, 2007,
Ban Ki-moon bought in
numerous South
Korean
staffers.
Inner City
Press asked
and was told
there was only
one, then that
there were
five,
including
Kweon Ki-hwan.
Then
Ban's
spokespeople
including Choi
Soung-ha
chastised
Inner City
Press for
asking, and
demanded that
the names of
51 South Korea
staffers of
the
Secretariat be
removed from
Inner City
Press'
reporting.
This
was Ban's
e arly
censorship,
which
culminated in
2016 with Ban
evicting Inner
City Press
through
Cristina
Gallach, audio
here, and
Inner
City Press'
camera being
smashed.
Inner City
Press even
before Ban's
Day 1 asked
about
financial
transparency.
It would end,
a decade
later, with
Ban refusing
to say who
paid for his
travel, even
what “carbon
offsets” he
supposed
bought.
On Ban's first
day at work,
after walking
in with Vijay
Nambiar who
would go on to
cover up
genocide in
Myanmar after
participating
in it in Sri
Lanka in the
White Flag
Killings, Ban
was asked
about the
death penalty
(for Saddam
Hussein) and
replied that
it is “up to
member
states.” His
first
spokesperson
Michele Montas
tried to
repair the
damage.
In
late 2016
Inner City
Press saw
Montas in the
UN, from the
“focus booth”
where it does
what work it
can after Ban
and his Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach evicted
it from its
long time UN
office.
Meanwhile
Kofi Annan's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, who
played
a role in the
eviction,
is bragging
that he will
remain.
We'll have
more on this.