Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

Distracted by DSK & Hacking, IMF Ignores Sudan & Afghan Banks

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 23 -- With the International Monetary Fund refusing to answer or even acknowledge questions about its consideration of programs from Afghanistan through Belarus to South Sudan, set for independence on July 9, it seems the arrest and resignation of Dominique Strauss Kahn, the two candidate race to replace him and a recent hacking scandal have distracted the IMF.

When the IMF on Thursday morning held its first press briefing in two weeks, the questions largely related to the race between Christine Lagarde of France and Agustin Carstens of Mexico to replace DSK. Two questions, one online and the other in-person, concerned the IMF getting hacked. Deputy spokesman David Hawley said that “files were copied,” but deferred other answers.

Inner City Press submitted as it has in the past four questions by the IMF's online briefing center. In the past at least some questions have been answered, about Sudan and less frequently Sri Lanka.

But in his post-DSK era, these June 23 questions were entirely ignored:

With South Sudan set to declare independence on July 9, what is the status of the IMF's consideration of South Sudan, including in light of Sudanese president Omar al Bashir's threat to cut off the pipelines that takes South Sudan's oil to market?

Afghan authorities have complained about negotiations with IMF. On Afghanistan, can you state the status of and explain IMF's requirement that shareholders not have any management role in Afghan banks, given that this is allowed in the US, for example?

In terms of the IMF's research budget, some have questioned whether the IMF at times censors the conclusions of research. Is that true, and if so how does the IMF respond to the criticism?

In Belarus, will the new arrests of protesters in the last days have any impact on the IMF's consideration of Belarus' request for an IMF program?

Nor in the half hour between Hawley saying “there are no more questions” -- which wasn't true -- and the expiration of the embargo were any of the four questions answered. Previously the IMF has been asked about gift filings by its top officials, and hasn't answered. Oh, transparency.

* * *

Amid Lagarde & DSK Scandals, IMF Won't Answer on Belarus or Jamaica

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 9 -- Without a managing director, without transparency and seemingly without regard to human rights, the International Monetary Fund is negotiating with Belarus about a loan larger than the $3 billion the Russians lent, conditioned on privatization to Russian firms.

During the IMF's bi-weekly briefing on June 9, Inner City Press submitted this question:

“On Belarus, what is the IMF's thinking after Russia cut electrical supply this week, after crackdown on online protests and long sentences to political opponents, and what does the IMF say that to require privatization would be serving Russian buyers of Belarus assets?”

IMF spokesperson Caroline Atkinson, facing in-person questions about Dominique Strauss Kahn, took three online questions -- about Pakistan, Argentina and Latvia -- but not this Inner City Press question about Belarus (nor another one, about Jamaica).

After not acknowledging the timely submitted questions during the briefing, afterward Inner City Press received this email from the IMF about Belarus:

Subject: Your question on Belarus
From: [ ] @imf.org
Date: Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 10:43 AM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Matthew, With regard to your question today on Belarus. As you probably know, a previously scheduled IMF mission is currently in Minsk (the dates are June 1-13) to conduct post-program monitoring. The standing policy has been that we don’t comment on specific country matters while missions are in the field and discussions are in progress. We will update the press on the mission’s outcome when it concludes.

The purpose of this mission is to discuss policies that would restore economic stability and put the economy on the path of strong and sustainable growth. The mission will use the opportunity to exchange views with the authorities on possible next steps in response to their request for the Fund-supported program.

Regards, [ ] IMF Press Office

It's been reported that IMF Head of the mission Chris Jarvis has met Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Rumas. Inner City Press replied with a request to be informed of any IMF press conference call about any announcement with Belarus, but the IMF press person who had replied was listed as out of the office.

DSK and Ms. Atkinson: "bad stuff found" not shown

On Jamaica, the IMF asked for more specifics, to which Inner City Press replied:

Jamaican Finance Secretary Wesley Hughes met with the IMF, now returns to Jamaica for talks with trade unions, in connection with which Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Senator Arthur Williams, has spoken of the “Government’s inability to pay the $20 billion owed this year, and has proposed an extended payment period, to protect the gains made in the economy and to preserve its agreement with the IMF.”

So 1) does the IMF dispute that the Jamaican gov't can't pay, must extend the payment period “to preserve its agreement with the IMF”?

Separately, 2) what did the IMF tell Finance Secretary Hughes about this?

After not taking this question during the briefing, then asking two rounds of counter questions about it, the IMF finally replied:

Subject: RE: FW: Question Received (6/9/2011 10:10:02 AM)
From: [ ] @imf.org
Date: Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 1:14 PM
To: matthew.lee [at] innercitypress.com

Matthew, We are not going to make any comment on ongoing negotiations between the administration and the unions. I would refer your questions to the Jamaican authorities.

The government’s commitments related to the program are outlined in the documents of the second and third reviews of the stand-by arrangement, which you can consult online in the Jamaica page [of the IMF].

So, after not acknowledging the timely submitted questions during the briefing, and even asking questions about the questions, the IMF declined to answer either of them. Some transparency. The IMF did not even respond to repeatedly emailed questions about its policies on gifts. To be continued.

* * *

IMF Claims Didn't “Find Bad Stuff” on Ethics, No Answers on LP, Severance

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 26 -- With Dominique Strauss Kahn now under townhouse arrest in Tribeca in New York, the International Monetary Fund on Thursday held its first open and online press briefing since DSK's arrest for sexual assault.

IMF spokesperson Caroline Atkinson began blithely about DSK's interim replacement John Lipsky's travel.

When she opened up for questions -- with only three exceptions on Greece and Portugal, only from those in the briefing room in Washington -- she was asked directly, did you check the IMF's files before saying you were “not aware” of other complaints against DSK?

“I am not a lawyer,” Ms. Atkinson said, adding that it would somehow be inappropriate for the IMF to make disclosure of previous formal complaints against Strauss Kahn, since he is now on trial.

Likewise, she declined to answer a question about the ability to withhold the reported $250,000 severance payment to Strauss Kahn.

The IMF spokesperson was reduced to saying that the (American) ethics adviser at the Fund hadn't “found any bad stuff.”

In the past week, Inner City Press has submitted factual questions to the IMF that the IMF has not answered, such as on May 20:

--In today's UN noon press briefing I was told to “ask the IMF” about Dominique Strauss Kahn's UN Laissez Passer. If holding the LP is based on being an IMF official or staffer, given Mr. Strauss Kahn's resignation, why hasn't the LP been retrieved? What policies does the IMF have for the LPs of persons who resign or are terminated?

--what policies does the IMF have regarding the pensions and end-of-service payments to individuals charged with, or convicted of, felonies including those involving moral turpitude, such as sexual assault? Has Mr. Strauss Kahn receive any payment since his resignation, or does his resignation trigger one?

-- on my outstanding question about disclosures to the IMF under the IMF's cited policy on gifts, I have asked about Mr. Strauss Kahn and Mr. Lipksy but am now expanding the request to cover the ten top IMF officials.

Other reporters in the room on Thursday complained about not having their questions answered, and about Executive Board members saying they'd been told to refer all question, regardless of topic, back to the IMF Media Department (which does not answer).

Inner City Press iterated the above questions, and a pressing one on Sudan, during the IMF's briefing on Thursday. But it seems the IMF is trying to hide from straight forward questions.

Update: after publication of the above, an answer was received on Sudan, nothing on the DSK questions:

Matthew: For your question on Sudan, you can attribute this to an IMF spokesperson. We deplore the violence and hope for a speedy end to the fighting. As you know, South Sudan has applied for membership, and that process is ongoing. A mission is on the ground now in Juba to discuss the membership process with the authorities.

* * *

IMF Promotes Bank Mergers, Says Bigger is Better, Politics & Portugal Dodged

By Matthew Russell Lee

WASHINGTON DC, April 15 -- The International Monetary Fund is unabashedly promoting the takeover of small banks by large ones, claiming that its own work in “Emerging Europe” since the financial meltdown shows that communities are better served by large banks, even if based far away or in other countries.

IMF European Department Director Antonio Borges told reporters on Friday that Belgium was smart to have pushed Fortis to being acquired by BNP Paribas. He urged more such mergers.

Inner City Press asked Borges if the IMF proposed any safeguards at all, given that concerns exist that when a local bank is acquired by one based far away, there will be less reinvestment and accountability.

Borges, while calling this an “interesting question,” bragged that the IMF organized a coordinated effort to get large banks to treat communities, particularly in Emerging Europe, fairly, and that this had worked. See IMF transcript, below.

Borges, invisible hand and safeguards on mergers not shown

Inner City Press began to ask about attempts to encourage or require reinvestment, for example in the UK -- but moderator Simonetta Nardin said there was no time for follow up questions.

Meanwhile, Borges took but refused to answer two questions about Portugal, citing an IMF policy against officials working on their own countries, and also claiming that the IMF does not get involved in politics. What -- encouraging bank mergers is not political? Watch this site.

From the IMF's transcript:

Inner City Press: you seem to be saying that bank mergers—small banks being bought by big ones sort of unqualifiedly may be a good thing. In some countries people think that local banks are more accountable, that if you move the assets to a faraway headquarters that there's less responsive. What do you say to that critique and is that something that the IMF takes any account of?

MR. BORGES: you ask a very interesting question, because this is a problem we were faced with over the last few years. In many of the countries of emerging Europe, you find banks that actually are owned by other banks elsewhere and there were concerns that, as there might be problems in the domestic countries of those banks that assets would be pulled out from emerging Europe and they might suffer. And the Fund, the IMF, invested quite a bit of effort to organize a coordinated effort on the part of all these banks to behave in the best possible interests of those economies, and I must say this was quite successful, because as a result, these countries are now recovering very well and their banks are operating well. So, if anything, the experience of emerging Europe demonstrates that having large, solid banks operate in your country may be an important source of stability if things are properly managed.

Click for Mar 1, '11 BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN Corruption

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund. Video Analysis here

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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