|
Link
to Kutesa Was
Removed from
Lykketoft's
Page,
Explanation
Offered
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 13 --
The scandal
unveiled in
the corruption
charges
against former
UN General
Assembly
President John
Ashe, Francis
Lorenzo of
South South
News and
others
continues to
expand,
including to
Ashe's
successor Sam
Kutesa -- so
much so that
links to
Kutesa's UN
webpage and
team were
removed from
current PGA
Mogens
Lykketoft's
site. Then
after Inner
City Press
asked UN
spokespeople,
the links were
restored,
initally
without
explanation.
On
October 13,
Lykketoft's
spokesperson
orally
explained to
Inner City
Press that the
office had
requested a
change in
re-directs so
that
Lykketoft's
office would
come up first
in "PGA"
Google
searches, and
that that
switch might
explain the
loss of access
to Kutesa's
team
information.
Now that has
been restored,
after the
questions below
were asked.
Inner
City Press had
asked
Lykkotoft's
spokesperson
this:
"This is a
request for an
explanation of
the sudden
non-function
of the link on
PGA
Lykketoft's
website to the
page for his
predecessor
Sam Kutesa.
The Sam Kutesa
link
previously led
to a page,
with a list of
'Team.' Now it
lead only to
the current
PGA's page.
Please explain
- and
separately,
restore the
link to Mr.
Lykketoft's
page (and
comment on
hold-overs,
including from
ex-PGA Ashe's
team)."
The
PGA's
spokesperson
replied that
"I think there
is a very
simple
explanation
about the web
link but I
need to check
it with some
colleagues
before I give
it to you..."
Inner
City Press
replied, " For
now, can you
say how many
people (and
who) have
access to make
changes to the
UN PGA's
website?"
This was
not replied
to. On October
12 at noon,
with the
Kutesa link
still going
directly to
the current
PGA's site,
Inner City
Press asked
UN Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq:
Inner City
Press: last
week I was
asking
Stéphane about
the sort of
overlap
between the
teams of
recent
Presidents of
the General
Assembly, John
Ashe, Sam
Kutesa and
Mogens
Lykketoft, and
it was based
off… the
website used
to have a link
to the teams
of each
ex-PGA, and I
notice the one
for Sam Kutesa
is now
gone. It
now goes
directly to
Mr.
Lykketoft's
site.
There's no
longer a link
on this list
of previous
presidents to
his
team.
So, I've asked
them. I
know you're
going to say,
ask
them. I
haven't gotten
an
answer.
I wanted to
know, from
your side,
maybe you can
find out, what
is the role of
the
Secretariat
and DPI
[Department of
Public
Information]
in maintaining
the
website?
And who is it
that could
have changed
the link for
Sam Kutesa,
from a link to
his actual
team to
basically just
a blind one to
the PGA site
currently?
Deputy
Spokesman:
I'm aware we
provide some
technical
support, but
ultimately,
the content of
those sites is
provided by
the Office of
the President
of the General
Assembly, so
we would get
that from the
President of
the General
Assembly.
And
consequently,
as you had
expected, you
would need to
ask the
Spokesperson
for the
President of
the General
Assembly about
that.
Inner City
Press:
Would you be
concerned if
access to
information
about this
chain of PGAs
is suddenly
changed after
the criminal
charges were
filed?
Deputy
Spokesman:
Well, we
certainly
trust and
expect all of
our
delegations,
all of our
offices, to
maintain
transparency
at all
times.
Regarding the
content that
they put out,
of course, how
they put it
out, that's up
to them.
After
that exchange,
the link to
Kutesa's team
was restored
-- still
without any
explanation.
We'll have
more on this.
This is
in spite of UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon trying
to limit the
UN's inquiry
to only two
groups, Sun
Kian Ip and
the Global
Sustainability
Foundation, to
which Kutesa's
wife is
affiliated, on
the board of
directors,
here.
Beyond
those two
groups the
compromised
positions of
the others in
the UN's
orbit,
including the
South-South
Steering
Committee for
Sustainable
Development
(SS-SCSD),
the
International
Organization
for
South-South
Cooperation
(IOSSC) and
the UN
Correspondents
Association
(UNCA) have
come to the
fore -- along
with the
Office (or at
least website)
of current PGA
Lykketoft.
On
October 8,
Inner City
Press asked
UN spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
Inner City
Press: about
the overlap
between Mr.
John Ashe's
staff and Mr.
Lykketoft's
staff.
There are many
people, they
work in the UN
system, they
work on
thematic
issues, that's
understood.
But, the
Chief of Staff
of Mr. Ashe is
working for
Mr. Lykketoft,
and she's
named
repeatedly in
the indictment
as going on
trips to
Macau, et
cetera.
And so, I
wonder, it was
described here
that this is
an entirely
different
office because
it's a new
PGA, but is it
a new office,
and what can
you say to
that?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
I think you
should ask the
President of
the General
Assembly.
Inner
City Press had
been comparing,
using the
links on
current PGA
Lykketoft's
website, the
teams of Ashe,
Kutesa and
Lykketoft.
But
then the link
to "Sam
Kutesa," which
until then
went to the
UN's page
about Kutesa
including his
team on which
Inner City
Press
previously
reported,
including the
bid to post
Kutesa's chief
of staff atop
the UN
Department of
Political
Affairs Africa
1 division,
suddenly
changed, going
directly to
the current
PGA's page.
Last
week, after
Inner City
Press asked
Lykketoft
about the use
of his Office
for the
campaign of
fellow Dane
Helle Thorning
Schmidt for
the top post
at the UN's
refugee agency
UNHCR, Lykketoft
called it an
"unfounded
allegation."
Actually, he
acknowledged
that Thorning
Schmidt used a
room in his
Office for her
campaign.
Now, who
is it that
took down the
link to his
predecessor
Sam Kutesa's
PGA page and
team? We'll
have more on
this.
Both
SS-SCSD and
IOSSC have
posted notices
on their
websites
expressing
shock at the
charges
against Ashe
and
Lorenzo.
IOSSC
says: "In
light of
recent events,
Mr. Francis
Lorenzo is
suspended from
his position
as Executive
President of
IOSSC." (IOSSC
is ostensibly
an
international
organization
with members
like Sri
Lanka, beyond
Ashe's Antigua
and Barbuda
and Lorenzo's
Dominican
Republic; it
echoes to
IIMSAM, a
group now in
Dubai whose
impermissible
use of
Diplomat
passes Inner
City Press uncovered,
even while as
here there
were attempts
in the UN to
cover up, here:
IIMSAM with
another former
UN PGA.)
On SS-SCSD's
site, the link
to John Ashe
now says
"The Page You
Are Looking
For Could Not
Be Found."
From
other involved
websites,
compromising
material is
simply
absent.
On UNCA's
site, for
example, there
is nothing
before 2013.
But evidence
remains on
other groups'
sites.
Inner
City Press
yesterday published
photographs
from an UNCA
award
ceremony at
which UNCA
took Ban into
a side room
for photo-ops
with the
involved
businessmen,
after taking
money from
Lorenzo's
South South
News and
giving SSN an
award.
While UNCA
does not
represent all
journalists
accredited to
cover the UN
-- Inner City
Press for
example quit
the group in
2012 with
another
Executive
Committee
member and
co-founded the
new Free UN
Coalition for
Access -- the
UN gives it a
privileged
position, a
large
clubhouse on
the third
floor of the
UN and,
automatically,
the first
question at
press
conferences.
But is
that
appropriate,
given that
UNCA received
money from
South South
News, “NGO 1”
in the
filing
against Ashe?
Not only did
UNCA receive
money from
South South
News: it gave
the group an
“UNCA award”
at a ceremony
at the
high-ceilinged
Cipriani's
restaurant on
December 15,
2011.
Inner
City Press,
which did not
quit UNCA in
fully ripened
disgust in
2012, was
present on
December 15,
2011 and
witnessed,
when Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon came
into
Cipriani's,
him being
shepherded
into a side
room for
photographs
with Asian men
in business
suits who
Inner City
Press did not
then
recognize.
Shepherding
Ban for this
(compensated)
photo op with
dubious
businessmen
was Giampaolo
Pioli, then as
now the
president of
UNCA. South
South News
interviewed
Pioli that
night,
bragging of
the UNCA award
it got / paid
for,
screenshot
from video
here.
(For context
it must be
noted too that
Pioli rented
one of his
Manhattan
apartments to
Palitha Kohona
then granted
Kohona's
request as Sri
Lanka's
Ambassador to
screen his
government's
war crimes
denial film
“Lies Agreed
To” in the
UN's Dag
Hammarskjold
Library
Auditorium:
this
precipitated
Inner City
Press quitting
UNCA, in full
disclosure.)
How can UNCA
be given first
questions to
ask about a
scandal
involving
South South
News, from
which UNCA
took more then
to which it
gave an award?
And what are
the other
implications?
(In
terms of Mr.
Ng's desire
for photo ops,
Inner City
Press is
informed that
he separately
wanted a photo
with US
President
Obama, and
paid six
figures to a
middleman -
who
disappeared
with the
money. UNCA on
the other
hand, one wag
noted,
delivered Ban
Ki-moon for
photos at
Cipriani's.)
UNCA,
it should be
noted, has
been and is
open to
business
interested
beyond Mr. Ng
and South
South News.
Another UNCA
awards
ceremony was
sponsored by a
company called
“Acoona;” the
Italian oil
company ENI
pays the group
money.
But UNCA's
South South
News
connection,
given what has
been disclosed
and charged
this week,
should at a
minimum and as
a first step
disqualify
UNCA from
first
questions from
the UN, and
from the
continuation
of its role.
Wider, and
going forward
in this
series,
limiting UN
investigation
to OIOS -
whose director
of
investigations
Stefanovic has
resigned,
Inner City
Press hereby
exclusively
reported on
October 9 -
looking at
only two NGOs
is laughable.
The scandal is
expanding:
there is a
pattern here,
pattern and
practice.
Watch this
site.
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN
Corruption
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-303,
UN, NY 10017 USA
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest service,
and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2015 Inner City Press,
Inc. To request reprint or other permission,
e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
|
, 
