In
UN Bribery Case
of Ng Lap Seng, SSN's Forest
Cao Cited, Shown With Kohona,
UNCA Links
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
July 11 –In the ongoing UN bribery
trial of Ng Lap Seng, on July
11 it emerged that the US
Government will be putting on
a UN witness, Simon Hannaford.
He is the chief legal officer
of the UN Development Program,
which played a role in the
dubious faux UN conference
held in Macau, and failed to
oversee the UN Office of South
South Cooperation. But
what about the
UN
Secretariat,
which doctored
a General
Assembly
document to
include the
name of Ng's
company? We'll
have more on
this - and
this: in court
on July 11 the
name of Forest
Cao was
repeatedly
cited. He
recruited for
South South
News and when
he died in
2014 South
South News,
through John
Ashe's then
spokesperson,
issued a
memorial video
inside the UN,
here.
In this video,
Forest Cao is
shown not only
with Sri
Lanka's
Mahinda
Rajapaksa but
also Rajapaksa's
UN Ambassador
(and former UN
legal
official) Palitha
Kohona, who rented
an apartment
from UN
Correspondents
Association
president
Giampaolo
Pioli. For reporting
that, Pioli
vowed to use
the UN
Department of
Public
Information -
which also did
business with
Ng Lap Seng -
to get Inner City
Press out of
the UN. This
Pioli accomplished,
with ex-DPI
now UN
Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric in
2016, when
Inner City
Press sought
to cover an
UNCA event in
the UN Press
Briefing Room
to see if and
how Ng Lap
Seng's and
UNCA member
South South
News' exposure
for corruption
was discussed.
We'll have
more on this.
On July 11 Inner
City Press
attended the
proceedings as
former
Dominican
Republic
Deputy
Ambassador and
South South
News chief
Francis
Lorenzo testified
for the
Government,
then got
cross-examined.
For the
Government,
Lorenzo
identified his
e-mails with
then
Bangaldesh
Ambassador
Monem, to
insert pro-Ng
paragraphs
adopted at a
faux UN event
in Macau into
a Group of 77
and China draft
for the UN
General
Assembly. Under
cross examination
he repeatedly
said he
couldn't
remember,
about other people's
including
relatives'
bank accounts
he used to
evade taxes.
During this
phase Ng Lap
Seng, the Macau
based
businessman
who used South
South News to
buy his way
into the UN,
through the UN
Department of
Public
Information,
looked pleased. But when Inner
City Press, which the UN
evicted and restricts for its
coverage of the corruption,
took his photo leaving court
back to his house arrest, he
glowered. More on this soon -
and on uncoming UN aspects of
the case. The UN seemed to
have no one in the courtroom
on July 11, but the US Mission
to the UN's Legal Advisor was
there listening. More on this
soon, too. Jury selection ran
from June 26 through June 28
(Periscope here),
on July 11
former
Dominican
Republic
Deputy
Ambassador and
South South
News chief
Francis
Lorenzo
started to
describe the
corruption at
the United
Nations.
Now on July 11 the prosecution
has opposed Ng's lawyers using
videos including that "contain
statements that Lorenzo made
about the defendant, including
statements about the
defendant’s character."
At the UN, Inner
City Press on July 11 asked UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about the South South News
videos that made their way
into UN Television's own
archives. Dujarric, who was
responsible for UNTV during
the time
frame, declined to
explain, and also again
refused to explain why the UN
refused to share with the
Department of Justice the list
of people interviewed for the
partial-admissible UN Task
Force Report. We'll have more
on this. In court on July 10,
U.S. Judge Vernon Broderick
allowed prosecutors to ask
Lorenzo about his romantic
relationship with Julia Vivi
Wang, who Lorenzo said held
the purse strings for
defendant Ng Lap Seng's media
organization, South-South
News.
The Law360 report
quotes Lorenzo that he was
single at the time he had a
casual relationship with the
married Wang in 2011 and 2012,
adding
that "Ng allegedly paid
Lorenzo to draft and get the
UN General Assembly in 2012 to
adopt a document related to
the center, later revising it
to list Ng's company in 2013."
One key UN fact: the GA
document was "revised" by an
official in the UN
Secretariat, as a fraudulent
"technical" revision, and no
one has yet been identified or
held accountable. Lorenzo was
making $72,000 a year from his
country, when Ng Lap Seng
started paying him $20,000 a
month and put him in charge of
South South News despite,
Lorenzo testified, having
never done journalism in his
life. (The UN Department of
Public Information, with
now-spokesman Stephane
Duajrric in charge of
television, put Ng's and
Lorenzo's South South News'
content in the UNTV archives;
Dujarric repeatedly refused to
explain to Inner City Press
how this happened.) Lorenzo
described how UN General
Assembly President John Ashe,
since mysteriously killed by
his own barbell, became part
of the push for Ng's company
Sun Kian Ip Group to procure
UN Secretariat documents to
build a multi-billion dollar
convention center in Macau.
Ng's lawyers, who are
preparing to cross-examine
Lorenzo, have said they may
use in his defense some UN
documents which they have not
yet specified. The prosecution
has argued "defense counsel
stated, 'We also have another
document that is from the UN
that we are going to introduce
which is the secretary
delegation members list.” (Tr.
138.) In addition, when
sharing proposed opening
slides, the Government learned
that the defendant had printed
out or downloaded two excerpts
from UNOSSC websites that have
never been produced or
identified to the Government,
but that the defendant
asserted he intends to
introduce at trial. The
Government does not have a
copy of the pertinent
webpages, nor does it know
whether the website from which
they came is currently
available or whether, in any
event, the excerpts fairly and
accurately capture the
website." Inner City Press
which has covered this inside
the UN (and been thrown out by
the UN for seeking to cover,
in the UN Press Briefing Room,
an event by a group funded by
Ng's South South News, which
will now host Secretary
General Antonio Guterres'
deputy Amina J. Mohammed)
notes that the Office of South
South Cooperation has refused
to hold a press conference. On
July 6, Inner City Press asked
UN holdover Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric about, video here, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: I want to
ask you about the Ng Lap Seng
case. It's obviously
continuing, but there are now…
it has emerged in… in court
filings that the defendant, Ng
Lap Seng, charged with bribery
in the UN, intends to
introduce certain UN
documents, including past
versions of the Office of
South-South Cooperation's
website in his defense.
And so the prosecution, the
Department of Justice has
asked him to disclose
that. He says he's not
going to disclose it
yet. What I wanted to
ask you as it turns out, we
never did get a press
conference by the Office of
South-South Cooperation.
Can you now get a statement
from them on changes they've
made to the website since the
case broke and why they made
them? Because it
becomes… it's not a question
of… it's a UN question about
an unresolved, never…?
Spokesman: I mean…
listen, I think… I think the
Office has responded to your
questions and you're welcome
to ask them again.
Inner City Press: Are you
sure?
Spokesman: Yes.
But it's
not true: OSSC never held the
long promises press
conference. Earlier, two
filings revealed that the UN
refused to provide information
to the US Government for its
prosecution, contrary to the
UN's repeated statements to
Inner City Press that the UN
was cooperating. Now in
opening statements, Ng's
lawyer Tai Park said of Ng's
$20,000 a month payments to
Francis Lorenzo to run "South
South News" (while serving as
the Dominican Republic's
Deputy Permanent
Representative), "It's called
wages, ladies and gentlemen,
not bribes." Wages for what?
As Inner City Press has
reported, the UN Department of
Public Information kept South
South News with full not
restricted access long after
the indictment, and South
South News-ers have returned
to the UN. (This week there
was a murky event in the UN
which strongly echoed Ng Lap
Seng's capture of DPI
including a one-man painting
exhibition in the UN lobby for
which DPI did no due
diligence, only evicted and
restricts the Press which
reported on it). Of Lorenzo,
Prosecutor Douglas Zolkind
said Ng began sending Lorenzo
an extra $30,000 a month in
late 2012 "for the express
purpose of obtaining UN
approval for the conference
center." This involved getting
the UN Secretariat to doctor a
General Assembly resolution
AFTER it was rubber stamped,
and more. Watch this site. The
prosecution's June 5 letter
criticized the UN Task Force
Report as self-serving. On
June 28 Inner City Press asked
UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
to defend the UN Report. From
the UN transcript: Inner City
Press: I wanted to ask you
again about this Ng Lap Seng
case as it moves up.
I've looked more closely in
the court file, and this is
something I'd ask you to
respond to because it's not
regarding guilt or
innocence. They're
looking at that the US
Government says of the UN task
force report on weaknesses in
funding of the PGA [President
of the General Assembly]
office that the report was
prepared only by an ad hoc
committee without any
identifiable special skills or
expertise, and it was
motivated by a concern for the
reputation of the entity that
ordered it rather than to
determine facts regardless of
the impact on the entity's
representation. Do you
think this UN report, which
will be introduced, at least
in part in the trial, is it
something the UN stands behind
as an objective report, or was
it, as the Government seems to
say, an exercise in…?
Spokesman: Look, I'm not
going to go… I'm not
going to argue what a party to
this trial has to say.
The report was conduct… was
ordered following the
revelations regarding the
former PGA. It was put…
it was conducted in order to
see how the operations of the
Office of the President of the
General Assembly could be
improved. As… you know,
as well as I do, the Office of
the President of the General
Assembly is one that is
independent from the
Secretary-General and over one
he has no authority.
Inner City Press: But it's not
just a party. It's the
prosecution that you've said
that you're cooperating or
have cooperated with. I
mean…
Spokesman: I'm not going
to comment on what… but I just
stated our position regarding
the report.
The US
Attorney's June 25 letter
states, in footnote 1, that
"the UN declined to identify
to the Government all
individuals who were
interviewed in connection with
the preparation of the
Report." This Report is the UN
Task Force Report, which Ng is
trying to use to show that the
UN had so few rules that his
payments, including through
South South News, weren't
bribes but contributions. The
UN should now answer for its
refusal to cooperate in the
prosecution of bribery within
the UN. On June 27 Inner City
Press asked Stephane Dujarric,
the spokesman for new
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres as for his two
predecessors, but he refused
to explain. Video here.
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: Now that the
UN bribery case
regarding Ng Lap Seng has
begun — and it began yesterday
in lower Manhattan — there's a
filing dated 25 June.
This is a quote: "The UN
declined to identify to the
Government all individuals who
were interviewed in connection
with the preparation of the
report called the UN Task
Force Report." And
this is being used by Ng Lap
Seng to say he didn't bribe
anyone because everyone bribes
everyone at the UN, basically,
is his defence. And so,
now, portions of the UN Task
Force Report are not going to
be produced to the jury
because the Justice Department
says the UN declined to
identify, i.e., didn't
cooperate. I know I've
asked you before about and
you've said that the UN is
fully cooperating with the
authorities, and this is a
statement in the letter by the
Government to the court saying
that that's not the
case. How do you explain
it? On what basis did
the UN not provide this
information as requested by
the Government?
Spokesman: We've
cooperated extensively to
facilitate the proper course
of justice in this case.
The proceedings are ongoing,
and I'm not going to make any
comments while these
proceedings are ongoing.
Inner City Press: Do you
see why it seems
contradictory?
Spokesman: You asked
what you asked, and I said
what I said.
On June 26,
prospective jurors were
summoned one by one up to
speak to the judge, alongside
Ng Lap Seng's lawyers and the
prosecution. (White noise was
turned on so they would not be
overheard). Ng Lap Seng
himself sat at the defense
table, as he had sat at the UN
Correspondents Association
fundraiser where he bought
access to Ban Ki-moon. In the
courtroom on June 26, Inner
City Press was spoken to by
claimed Ng relatives, saying
that Ng did nothing that
others don't also do in the
UN, pay money for access.
That's true. During a break,
US Marshals accompanied Ng up
to the fifth floor bathroom.
In the vending machines, 12
ounce sodas sold for a dollar.
On the first floor, an
ostensibly recycling garbage
can had metal, plastic and
garbage all going into the
same bag, similar to the UN's
fraud, now being exposed.
Watch this site. Former South
South News chief and diplomat
Francis Lorenzo has been
described in a Superseding
Information as an "agent" of
the UN, making it more
difficult for the UN to dodge,
despite it attempts to hinder
Press coverage of the
connections. Now in the run up
to the trial, the judge has
ruled on "evidence or argument
concerning payments
made to the Antiguan
Ambassador by those other than
by Defendant Ng and/or the
media company." The media
company is South South News -
and in a new low, one of its
main UN representatives has in
June 2017 reappeared HIRED in
the UN, at the UN Security
Council no less. The UN is
entirely corrupt. Meanwhile
defendant Ng Lap Seng is
trying to keep out of the
upcoming trial his financial
involvement with relatives of
Jesse Jackson Jr (which again
calls into question how the UN
Department of Public
Information didn't do even
Google "due diligence," then
evicted and restricts Inner
City Press which asked DPI).
Ng's filing quotes the
government that "Mr. Ng made a
loan to a UNOSSC employee who
sought funding from Mr. Ng in
order to pursue graduate
studies." What has the UN done
about any of this, beyond
evicting and restricting the
Press which is covering the
story? On May 3, Inner City
Press asked UN holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
who not only didn't answer but
also rebuffed a question about
the UN in the DR Congo, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: John Ashe
case and DRC [Democratic
Republic of the Congo[.
There are two new filings in
the John Ashe case, and I
wanted to ask you about, in
particular, one of them is a
superseding indictment of
Francis Lorenzo, and it
describes him in paragraph 3
as an agent of an
organization, to wit, the UN
did corruptly solicit and
demand, etcetera. But I
guess what I’m wondering is,
now, if the US Attorney is
describing Mr. Francis Lorenzo
as an agent of the UN, does
this change the way the UN is
looking at the case?
Spokesman: We’re looking
at the case. I’m not
aware that Mr. Lorenzo is an
agent of the UN. But,
again, we’re looking at the
case. And, when we have
something more to say, we’ll
let you know.
Inner City Press: And another
filing at the same time says
that… that Ng Lap Seng
provided money to and
educational loans to a staff
member of the Office of
South-South Cooperation.
That’s not something I ever
saw…
Spokesman: Okay.
I… I… we have… obviously,
we’re following the
case. I don’t have
anything to say while the
proceedings are ongoing.
Thank you. I’m going to
get Mr. Takasu.
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
***
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
Past
(and future?) UN Office: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now: Box 20047,
Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in
the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-2017 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
for
|