In
1st UN Bribery Case, SSN
Lorenzo Admits Bribing UNGA
Prez, UN Spox Tells ICP Not UN Staff
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
April 28 – In the UN bribery
case against Macau-based
businessman Ng Lap Seng,
former South South News chief
and diplomat Francis Lorenzo
has now expanded his guilty
plea to admit paying bribes to
now deceased President of the
UN General Assembly John Ashe,
and soliciting bribes from Ng.
Lorenzo will testify against
Ng, whose motion to dismiss
the case has been denied. But
the UN is still in denial. On
April 28 Inner City Press
asked the UN's holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: Francis
Lorenzo, the former head of
South-South News and former
Deputy Permanent
Representative of the
Dominican Republic to the UN
has expanded his guilty plea
to a clear and clean admission
of having bribed former PGA
[President of the General
Assembly], may he rest in
peace, John Ashe, and he's
going to testify against Ng
Lap Seng. It gives rise…
this now seems to be
previously just tax
charges. Now he's
saying, on the record… taking
responsibility, saying he knew
it was wrong at the time that
he did it. So, my
question is: As the
case… as the case gets more
pointedly in terms of what
took place inside the United
Nations walls… and yesterday I
saw the former DGACM
[Department of General
Assembly and Conference
Management] individual, now
retired, who I believe… it
seems from the audit is the
one that changed the
document. What is the
ramification? Was
anything ever done for that
changed document, and what is
exactly OLA [Office of Legal
Affairs] doing now that
there's admission not just of
tax charges or evasion, of
bribery…?
Spokesman: First of all,
the alleged bribery you're
referring to does not involve
a staff member of the
UN. There were audits
done, and the situation was
looked at very carefully in
the past two years, if my
memory is correct. We
continue, obviously, to follow
the developments in the case,
and if we need to act upon
anything that is revealed by
the time the case is done, we
shall do so.
Inner
City
Press: But,
I guess the goal of the
bribery was to obtain a UN
document saying that Macau
Conference Center was needed,
and that document was obtained
from DGACM. So, are you
saying that somehow the
actual… the ultimate act that
they wanted was done without
any…?
Spokesman: That's not
what I'm saying.
Inner City Press: But, what
was done? I saw the guy
walking around. Was
there any repercussion of any
individual named in the audit?
Spokesman: As I said, as
more information comes to
light, we'll act upon it.
Right. The
corruption into which the UN
sank during the tenure of
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon,
whose head of the Department
of Public Information Cristina
Gallach did no due diligence
as Ng bought illegal events in
the UN and even the UN's
slavery memorial, and DPI's
censorship of and threats
against the Press which
reports on the Ng and South
South News case has yet to be
addressed or even stopped.
This has been raised to the
top of the Secretariat. Ng's
associate Jeff Yin has also
pleaded guilty to working to
violate UN tax laws with South
South News. The UN Department
of Public Information evicted
and still restricts Inner City
Press for seeking to cover UN
links to South South News;
this month DPI has refused to
explain the basis. On April 12
when Inner City Press about
the UN's holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric about the
guilty plea, he said SSN is
"no longer" at the UN, as if
that resolved it. It doesn't,
and that has been raised. Video here; from the UN
transcript: Inner City
Press: question about this Ng
Lap Seng, previously John
Ashe, case. There’s been
now a guilty plea by John
Ashe’s lone remaining
co-defendant, Jeffrey
Yin. And in his guilty
plea, he states that
South-South News intentionally
paid him in cash in order to
evade US tax laws.
That’s what he’s pled guilty
to. Given the supposed inquiry
by the UN, what’s the
response? It’s not a
matter of waiting until the
end of the case. This is
a…
Spokesman: My
understanding is South-South
News is no longer accredited
as a news organization to the
UN.
Under
Dujarric, South South News
content was included in UN TV
webcast and archives; Dujarric
threw Inner City Press out of
the UN Press Briefing Room for
seeking to cover South South
News payees in the UN, and
worked on the UN misleading
memo to the US Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, Paragraph
9 and 10, here.
Ng is set
for trial, but now an
adjournment has been granted to
May. The letter motion by Ng Lap
Seng's lawyers cites a need to
review "many thousands of pages
of banking records, emails and
other documents related to Jeff
Yin, Mr.
Ng, Vivian Wang, SKI, and SSN,
among others. We are still
awaiting production of
voluminous
documents, including information
contained in DVDs and CDs seized
from Vivian Wang’s
residence, tax information for a
number of alleged
co-conspirators, South South
News
documents, phone records, and
additional Ashe emails." So is
the UN even checking out these
new records, to reform itself?
It seems not. On April 7 Inner
City Press asked UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript
here
***
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