| Democratic Republic of Congo
Lawsuit Sealed Now US Says All Diplomats Are
Immune
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Dec 20 – A company
called FS Hemisphere
Associates LLC is seeking to
get money from the Democratic
Republic of the Congo - all
under seal.
Late on
August 10 it filed in the
docket of the U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York, which
Inner City Press covers daily
while banned from the UN by SG
Antonio Guterres amid its
questions of his cover up of
UN rapes in DRC, a letter
seeking a "hearing on its ex
parte
application."
All of its other
filings were sealed.
Inner City
Press said it would stay on
the case, and it has. On
November 8, DOJ filed a letter
to the assigned district Judge
J. Paul Oekten that the US
intends to file a statement of
interest to "preclude any
attempt by plaintiff to attach
or execute on a bank account
used by defendant for the
DRC's UN Mission, to proteect
bank accounts of the DRC UN
Mission accredited diplomats
and immunize a mission from
discovery.
On November 18
Judge Oekten held a conference
and Inner City Press covered
it. Significantly, Judge
Oetken was told that the
accounts at issue, in the UN
Federal Credit Union, as mixed
and/or non-diplomatic
accounts. That has happened
before - Iran under its
account to pay EDNY accused
unregistered lobbying
Afrasiabi, and UNFCU was
involved in violating Sudan
sanctions.
On December 17
the US filed a boiler plate
defense of the DRC Mission to
the UN, that its UNFCU
accounts should not be touched
nor any discovery required.
The US Attorney's Office says
"according to the records of
the U.S. Mission to the UN,
three of the named individuals
(Paul Losoko Efambe Empole,
Victoria Lieta Liolocha and
Hippolyte Kingonsila Mfulu)
are diplomats currently
accredited to the DRC's UN
Mission; one (Ignace R. Gata
Mavita Wa Lufuta) is a
diplomat previously accredited
to the mission; and two
(Bianza Therese Yvette Mpinga
and Marie Huguette Nkus Ngung)
are local hires of the
Mission, although Ngung has
indicated in her declaration
that her position terminated
in October 2019." We'll have
more on this.
The case is FG
Hemisphere Associates, LLC v.
Democratic Republic of Congo
et al., 19-mc-232 (Oetken)
We'll have
more on this.
Inner City Press
will stay on the case
***
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