JPM
Chase Closing Mission Accounts Not Solved In
Closed
UN Meeting
By
Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 4 -- The move by JPMorgan Chase to
close the accounts of
many countries' missions to the UN was the hot topic in the closed
door session of the UN's Host Country Committee meeting on February
3.
But
when the
meeting ended the Committee's chairman Minas Hadjimichael, the
Permanent Representative of Cyprus, left through a side door facing
the East River and proceeded through unplowed snow out to First
Avenue.
Inner
City Press,
which has covered the bank issues and tries to cover the Host Country
Committee despite Hadjimichael declaring it closed, ran and caught up
with him on First Avenue.
“Was there a
solution of banks?” Inner City Press asked.
Hadjimichael
said,
“It was not an item on the agenda of the meeting. It came up under
Any Other Business.... America replied, saying they would try.”
Last
month,
Patrick Kennedy from the US State Department came to New York to tell
ambassadors he was working on it. Inner City Press asked Hadjimichael
for an update. He said he thanked the US for trying, but
“ I am worried there is no solution, the deadline is approaching.”
Chair of Host Country committee: Chase not shown
Observing
through
the glass of the closed ECOSOC chamber on Thursday, Inner City Press
saw Iran
spoke, and heard that Uganda among others also spoke out. After the
last meeting with Kennedy, Egypt's ambassador Maged Abdelaziz, spoke
out against Chase's cut off. Now he has other worries.
But
what about the
Secretariat, which after Inner City Press' last article
put this out:
From:
UN
Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Fri, Jan 14, 2011
at 8:05 AM
Subject: Your questions on Chase Bank
To: Inner City
Press
We
can
say the following in reply to your questions at the noon
briefing:
Some
ambassadors
emerging from the US briefing about their accounts being
shuttered think the UN should withdraw all its accounts with Chase.
Has this been broached with the administration? Being weighed at all?
We
understand
that this was raised by one Member State delegate in the
briefing with Ambassador Kennedy. The UN Secretariat has not been
approached in this matter.
Will
Chase
open an office in the UN building after the CMP?
Under
the
CMP, the new UN building design includes space provision for
banks. No agreements have been entered into with any banks for this
space.
Watch this site.
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