ICP
Asks Next SG
Gherman of
Moldova Cujba
Role in South
South Scandal
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
13 -- How
should the
next UN
Secretary
General be
selected, to
improve the
Organization?
First,
how low has
the UN fallen,
in terms of
corruption,
not stopping
rapes, and
retaliating
against the
Press that
asks the
questions? On
April 12,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about an April
13 hearing in
the US House
of
Representatives
about impunity
for UN rapes.
Just as the UN
skipped court
hearings on
bringing
cholera to
Haiti, Haq's
answer did not
say that the
UN would
attend the
hearing.
But it gets
worse, or closer
to home. When
Moldova's
candidate
Natalia
Gherman came
to the
stakeout at 5
pm on April
13, Inner City
Press has
already gotten
in questions
to Danilo Turk
and Vesna
Pusic.
But for
Moldova's
Gherman, first
Inner City
Press could
not access the
stakeout due
to a cut in
accreditation
by UN official
Cristina
Gallach. Then,
unlike the earlier
stakeout, for
this one Inner
City Press was
not "permitted"
a question
(two of three
were mere
requests to
restate what
Gherman has
said in the
past two
hours.)
But there was
a question and
had to be
asked, and
must be
pursued. Standing
to the side of
the stakeout
was Moldova's
former, until
recently,
"Permanent
Representative"
to the UN
Alexandru
Cujba. He is
deeply involved
in the South South
scandal. He
promoted the
2015 South
South Awards,
which Cristina
Gallach
attended with
Frank Lorenzo.
Inner
City Press asked Gallach about it -
and then was
thrown out by
Gallach.
We'll have
more on this.
A few hours
later on April
12, after
Inner City
Press asked
Next SG
candidates
Antonio
Guterres and
Irina Bokova
about UN rapes
and
corruption,
the UN's
Department of
Public
Information
emailed to
Inner City
Press a final
eviction
notice.
All of Inner
City Press'
files, from
covering and
investigating
the UN for ten
years, will be
thrown and
moved out on
Saturday,
April 16 -
when no one
else is in the
building.
Email below.
This came
after the head
of DPI,
Cristina
Gallach, was
shown in the
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services
audit, full
text
exclusivley
put online by
Inner City
Press, to have
allowed
corrupt events
in the UN
Visitors Lobby
and even to
commemorate
slavery. This
is
retaliation.
And what about
the current,
outgoing
Secretary
General? We'll
have more on
his response
in the coming
days. Here's
what the UN
sent:
Subject:
Office
To:matthew.lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
From: Tal
Mekel [at]
un.org
Date: Tue, Apr
12, 2016 at
6:47 PM
Dear Mr. Lee,
Further to the
letter to you
from Cristina
Gallach,
Under-Secretary-General
for
Communications
and Public
Information,
on 30 March
2016, we note
that you did
not remove
your
belongings
from the
office by the
6 April
deadline as
required.
As you have
still not
removed your
belongings, we
wish to inform
you that your
belongings
will be
packaged on
Saturday 16
April 2016 at
10:00 a.m.
After
carefully
packaging them
up, your
belongings
will be
forwarded to
Bronx NY
headquarters
address for
Inner City
Press that you
had listed in
your media
accreditation
application.
If you wish us
to forward
your packaged
belongings to
another
address
instead,
please let us
know as soon
as possible.
We request
your presence
during the
packing.
Please contact
the Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit (MALU) to
make the
necessary
arrangements.
If you are not
present, the
packing and
forwarding
will still
take place at
10:00 a.m. on
Saturday 16
April 2016.
Best, Tal
Tal Mekel
Acting Chief
Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit
United Nations
- S-250
New York, NY
10017
, 
