Amid
UN Bribery
Scandal, UN
SDGs "Experts"
Tell ICP Never
Heard of John
Ashe
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
21 -- When the
UN "Committee
of Experts on
Public
Administration
held a press
conference on
April 21, the
two panelists
spoke about
transparency,
open
government,
and even
fighting
corruption
along with the
media.
Inner
City Press
then asked
about the UN
itself: the
bribery case
about former
PGA John Ashe,
the eviction
of the Press
covering it
and the role
of Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach, the
lack of a
freedom of
information
act at the UN.
Periscope
video here.
Vice
Chair of CEPA
Allan
Rosenbaum of
Florida
International
University
told Inner
City Press
he'd never
herd of John
Ashe. He
agreed on the
need for a
FOIA, but said
that in "my
country,"
corruption
officials are
rooted out.
Inner
City Press
began to ask
about the UN's
immunity but
got cut off.
The question
was never
allowed. This
is today's UN.
As the UN
bribery
scandal
gathered force
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon called
for an audit
by the UN
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services of
the Global
Sustainability
Foundation
(GSF), David
Ng Lap Seng's
Sun Kian Ip
Group and its
affiliates
including the
"World Harmony
Foundation"
and South
South News,
among others.
The
audit,
completed
early this
year but first
put online
by Inner City
Press,
directly
criticizes
Cristina
Gallach, the
Under
Secretary
General for
Communications
and Public
Information.
But Ban's
audit,
notably, does
not mention
that Ban
accepted Ng's
South South
Award and was
in the program
of Ng's August
2015 event in
Macau.
Nor does Ban's
audit mention
that his Sri
Lanka adviser
Vijay Nambiar
and his
spouse, Ban
Soon-taek,
were both
present at the
founding of
the Global
Sustainability
Foundation;
the latter
took photos
with South
South News'
indicted
Vivian Wang at
the UN
Correspondents
Association
ball where
UNCA gave Ng,
from whose
South South
News it took
money, a photo
op with Ban
himself.
On April 16,
at Ban's and
his USG
Cristina
Gallach's
direction,
Inner City
Press' long
time UN office
in S-303 was
evicted and
five boxes of
files were
dumped onto
First Avenue.
Video
here and here.
* * *
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reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
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for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
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Corruption
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