UN
Claimed Giving
Its Staff's
Dollars to
Sudan Required
by Sanctions,
False
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive Must
Credit
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 29, more
here –
With the UN
belatedly
moving to
stand up to
pressure from
the Sudanese
government of
Omar
al Bashir, who
has ordered UN
officials
Yvonne Helle
and Ali
Al-Za'tari
to leave the
country, Inner
City Press has
learned more
about a
particularly
shameful way
in which the
UN and
Al-Za'tari
tried to
placate the
Sudanese
government, to
the extend of
giving it the
U.S. dollars
of UN national
staff in
Sudan.
Today Inner
City Press is
exclusively
publishing a letter from the
UN Federal
Credit Union
claiming the
transfer was
related to UN
sanctions,
and an opinion
from the US
Office of Financial
Assets Control
which says
that is not
the case.
Inner City
Press questions
to the UN and
its agencies
have been
pending for
days.
In the first
document Inner
City Press is
exclusively
publishing
today, here,
UNFCU's
President and
CEO William
Predmore told
national staff
in Sudan that
"We
understand the
concerns of
our members
after
necessary
account
restrictions
were implosed,
and we regret
there was not
an opportunity
to deliver
communications
more swiftly
to the
individuals
impacted... As
you may be
aware, UNFCU
is subject to
U.S.
Regulations
(including
those
promulgated by
the Office of
Foreign Assets
Controls
(OFAC)). In
order to
ensure
compliance
with those
regulations,
checking
account
services and
debit card
services were
terminated for
local staff.”
(Many were
stranded with
AMT cards that
didn't work,
while their
dollars were
transferred to
the Bank of
Khartoum.)
But
contrary to
what UNFCU's
Predmore told
staff in
writing, the
US OFAC in the
second
document Inner
City Press is
exclusively
publishing
today, here,
told UN staff
that sanctions
law and
regulation
does NOT
require what
the UN has
done, citing
31 CFR
538.531. Click
here to view
in PDF.
Last week
Inner City
Press exclusively
reported
on the UN
Federal Credit
Union abruptly
telling UN
national staff
in Sudan that
their accounts
were being
frozen and the
dollars in
them
transferred to
the Bank of
Khartoum.
Inner City
Press has asked the UN, including UNDP,
OCHA and UNFPA,
to explain
this.
On December 27
Inner City
Press
exclusively
published a
complaint
filed with Ali
Al-Za'tari
about the
change, here.
Inner City
Press notes
that the
decision to
give the UN
national
staff's
dollars to the
Bank of
Khartoum flies
in the face,
in fact, of
the
sanctions.
The complaint
to Al-Za'tari
states that
“UNFCU
closed
checking and
savings
accounts of
national staff
without prior
notification
and
consultation
and
unilaterally
transferred
all funds of
staff members'
accounts to
local saving
accounts to be
paid in SDG by
Bank of
Khartoum...
Based on the
long years of
established
provision of
the UNFCU
service,
majority of
national staff
have made long
term financial
arrangements
taking into
account UNFCU
deposits
facilities
which provided
solutions to
many of their
problems such
as medical
treatments and
education to
them and their
families.”
Tellingly,
Predmore's
letter to
staff also
says that the
switch was
made pursuant
to UNDP's
rules. What
rules?
Now the UN
Security
Council is set
to meet
on December 30
about Sudan's
order to Ali
Al-Za'tari and
Yvonne Helle
to leave; the
Council will
say they are
in support of
UN staff. What
will they do
about UN staff
members'
dollars having
been given to
the Sudanese
authorities?
In essence,
UNDP and its
Resident
Coordinator
Ali Al-Za'tari
gave Khartoum
the U.S.
dollars of UN
national
staff, without
notice. Even
that wasn't
enough to keep
him in the
country. But
it is
reminiscent of
another UN
scam Inner
City Press exclusive
uncovered,
the
overpayment of
Myanmar by
inflated
foreign
exchange rate
in the wake of
Cyclone
Nargis.
That was covered
and credited
– will this
be? Or does
the scam
here extend
to covering up
the complicity
of UN
officials
like not only
Herve
Ladsous
but even, yes,
Ali
Al-Za'tari,
who remained
silent when
UNFPA's
country
director was
thrown out of
Sudan in
April, and as
Inner City
Press asked
the UN on
December 24,
gave in
quickly to the
ouster of
Yvonne Helle?
Watch this
site.
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