ICP
Asks What Ban
Will Do With
Award From
Indicted
Lorenzo, Spox
Cites Audit
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 10--
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric on
February 9,
when asked by
Inner City
Press how
now-indicted
Frank Lorenzo
came to use
and have his
photo taken in
the UN Press
Briefing Room
on September
8, 2011 while
it never
appeared in
the UN Media
Alert, simply
refused to
answer. Video
here.
“I'm
done answering
questions,”
Dujarric said,
cutting Inner
City Press off
and calling on
Voice of
America's
correspondent
(see
previous
correspondence
here) for
an unrelated,
mere
scheduling
question.
Because
Inner City
Press intends
to continue
covering the
UN, more and
more closely,
on February 10
Inner City
Press asked
again. Video
here, UN transcript here:
Inner City
Press: I'm
trying to
figure out
what questions
will be
answered and
which ones
won't be
answered.
So, I'm going
to preface
this in an
entirely
different
way. As
you know,
Frank Lorenzo
has been
indicted.
The allegation
is that his
South-South
News funneled
money and was
part of a
bribery
conspiracy at
the UN.
There is a
photograph of
the
Secretary-General
receiving from
Mr. Frank
Lorenzo an
award statue
in October
2011 after an
event [in the
UN Press
Briefing Room,
not on the UN
Media
Alert.]
Either, do you
have any
comment or,
logistically,
is there any
thinking
within the
Secretariat of
what should be
done with
gifts given by
this now
controversial
organization,
part of the
indictment?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
As you know,
we are
conducting an
audit of the
relationship
between a
number of
those people
who were named
in the
indictments
and UN
entities.
That is
ongoing.
Hopefully, it
should be
finished soon,
and we'll see
where that
leads
us.
Okay.
We'll
have more on
this.
Lorenzo is a
major figure
in the
corruption
scandal
surrounding
the UN under
Ban Ki-moon,
along with
former
President of
the General
Assembly John
Ashe and
Macau-based
businessman Ng
Lap Seng, who
after
funneling
money the UN
Correspondents
Association
(including
through
Lorenzo's
South South
News) got a
photo op with
Ban at an UNCA
event at
Cipriani.
So how can
Dujarric, the
spokesman,
simply refuse
to answer
factual
questions
about how
Lorenzo gained
access to the
UN Press
Briefing Room
without being
listed in the
UN Media
Alert, to
which Dujarric
begrudgingly
referred Inner
City Press on
February 8?
How has the UN
sunk this low?
On
February 8,
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric for
the list of
times he or
his Office
have “lent”
out the UN
Press Briefing
Room, since he
said on
February 1
that “who gets
to use this
room is really
my decision.”
But
Dujarric
refused to
provide the
list, instead
telling Inner
City Press
that a list of
“public” uses
of the room
could be
compiled from
UN MALU (Media
Accreditation
and Liasion
Unit) Media
Alerts. Video
here.
Inner
City Press
asked Dujarric
why he
participated
in the
September 23,
2014 event by
French
President
Francois
Hollande from
which Inner
City Press was
asked to
leave, video
here --
Dujarric did
not answer
this, more on
this to come
-- and about
one sample use
of the Press
Briefing Room.
Frank
Lorenzo, now
indicted for
bribery at the
UN and found
not to be
immune, was
for example in
the UN Press
Briefing Room
on September
8, 2011, about
the South
South Awards /
South South
News, funded
by also
indicted Ng
Lap Seng and a
funder of
the UN
Correspondents
Association.
Dujarric said
go look at the
MALU Media
Alerts. But
digging up the
MALU Media
Alert for
September 8,
2011, there
was NO mention
or Lorenzo or
South South
News or
Awards.
Dujarric's
answer, even
by its own
terms, doesn't
hold water.
We'll have
more on this.
Watch this
site.
On February 5
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric's
Deputy Farhan
Haq about the
ruling in the
UN corruption
cases that
Frank Lorenzo
is NOT immune.
(John Ashe is
also claiming
immunity.)
Inner City
Press asked
Haq if the UN
Press Briefing
Room, already
“lent” to
another fundee
of indicted Ng
Lap Seng,
UNCA, was ever
lent to
Lorenzo. Video
here.
Haq
replied, again
without
checking, that
“if” Lorenzo
had ever been
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room, it would
have been as
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
of the
Dominican
Republic. But
Lorenzo also
led Ng-funded
“South South
News,” which
gave money to
UNCA; the
indictment and
ruling are
based on
things Lorenzo
is described
as doing NOT
in his
official
capacity as
DPR of the
Dominican
Republic.
We'll have
more on this.
UN
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq on
February
4
instead of
even
purporting to
answer Inner
City Press'
questions
openly guessed
at the
motivation of
the questions.
Vine
here, full video here. The question
concerned Ng
Lap seng,
indicted for
bribery at the
UN; Haq said
if you can
look into
corruption at
the UN
Correspondents
Association (a
Ng fundee who
was lent the
room on
January 29),
go do so.
But the
UN has said it
is auditing
Ng's and Sheri
Yan's dealings
with and at
the UN, which
must include
UNCA, which is
given a large
UN room, and
the Press
Briefing Room
too, off the
record
sit-downs with
Ban Ki-moon
(two of whose
closest
associates
were at the
founding of
Yan's Global
Sustainability
Foundation),
and sells
seats with Ban
for $6,000.
Haq
refused to
answer. Inner
City Press
aksed, When
does Stephane
[Dujarric, the
lead spokesman
who said who
gets to use
the Press
Briefing Room
is really his
decision] get
back?
"Whenever he
wants," Haq
said. This is
today's UN.
We'll have
more on this.
On
February 3,
Inner City
Press for the
second day in
a row asked UN
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq to
provide a list
of to whom his
office, or
simply lead UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric,
“lent” the UN
Press Briefing
Room. Haq on
February 3 now
said there is
no list, but
they have the
information.
So
Inner City
Press asked a
question about
the
information:
has the UN
Press Briefing
Room been
“lent” to any
affiliate or
fundee of Ng
Lap Seng or
the Global
Sustainability
Foundation,
named in the
US Attorney's
corruption
indictment.
Haq
said, “No.”
But since the
UN Press
Briefing Room
was, Dujarric
said, “lent to
UNCA” on
January 29,
and UNCA has
taken funds
from Ng Lap
Seng's
entities,
Inner City
Press asked
Haq if he was
sure.
Haq
insisted that
money is not
asked for to
lend the UN
Press Briefing
Room. But that
was not the
question: has
it been lent
to a grantee
of Ng Lap
Seng.
As Inner City
Press was
still asking,
Reuters' UN
correspondent
Michelle
Nichols,
holding
Reuters'
apparently
Permanent seat
on the UNCA
board, cut in,
saying “You're
clutching at
straws.” Video
here
Inner
City Press was
not asking
Reuters any
question. On
February 2,
the former
Reuters UN
bureau chief
cut in, as did
the Agence
France Presse
correspondent
Carole Landry
(who is also
on UNCA's
board). We'll
have more on
this.
Dujarric
didn't show up
at the
February 2
noon briefing,
so Inner City
Press had to
ask his
Deputy, Farhan
Haq. The UNCA
representative,
Reuters
retiree Evelyn
Leopold,
immediately
tried to cut
off the
question with
a loud, “Here
we go again.”
(This was
echoed
afterward by
Carole Landry
the English
language
correspondent
of Agence
France Presse,
silent when
the UN Press
Briefing Room
was given over
to Hollande
and others
were asked to
leave). Here's
Periscope
of the glass
box the AFP
scribe
"reports"
Inner City
Press was
"hidden" in;
here's February
2 video:
This shows why
there should
be a UN
Freedom of
Information
Act, something
which while
requested by
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
Ban Ki-moon
has tellingly
done nothing
about during
his opaque
tenure.
Instead of
providing this
basic
information,
Haq claimed
Inner City
Press is
“mudding the
waters” of
having covered
the January 29
meeting of
UNCA,
including
about this
group's
offering of
space in the
UN to those
who pay it
money, from an
entirely
visible,
glassed in
box, from
which Inner
City Press
live-tweeted
and
live-streamed
Periscope
video. Here's
saved
Periscope
video of what
this “hiding
place” looks
like.
We'll
have more on
this - and
will continue
to pursue the
list of UN
privatization
of the Press
Briefing Room.
Watch this
site.
But UN
Spokesman
Stepane
Dujarric on
February 1,
when Inner
City Press
asked him
under what
rule he had
given over the
UN Press
Briefing Room
to the UNCA
groups which
charged $6,000
to sit with
Ban, said “who
gets to use
this room is
really my
decision.” Vine here.
Really? The
use of the UN
Press Briefing
Room is
decided,
without any
rules, by this
one
individual?
The same
individual who
often dodges
Inner City
Press'
questions by
saying “It's
up to member
states”?
But there are
other problems
here. After
Dujarric
previously
lent the UN
Press Briefing
Room on
September 23,
2014 to the
entourage of
the president
of Dujarric's
native France
Francois
Hollande, video here, it was then
indicated that
it wouldn't
happen
again.
Then on
September 25,
2014 when
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric
“please state
which
countries
during this
UNGA have used
the UN Press
Briefing Room
for briefing
not open to
all UN
correspondents,
other than
France at 11
am on
September 23.
(Also, what
was your role
on September
23 around 11
am in the room
behind the
Press Briefing
Room podium?)”
Dujarric
replied, in
writing, “I
dont have the
information on
the first
point for you.
On the second,
I'm not sure
that I
understand it
except that I
was just
looking into
the room. I
tend to be a
curious
person.”
Dujarric
“didn't have
the
information”
on private use
of the UN
Press Briefing
Room, which
use he says
“is really my
decision”?
We'll have
more on this.
On Wall
Street in
December 2015,
the UN
Correspondents
Association
(UNCA) sold
seats with Ban
Ki-moon for
$6,000 ($12,000
for a full
table).
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric how
this could be
and was first
told, As long
as it's
transparent.
UNCA
previously
took money
from
Macau-based
casino magnate
Ng Lap Seng,
now under
house arrest
for bribery at
the UN, and
gave him a
photo op with
Ban. Now the
UN or at least
Dujarric gave
this UNCA, now
the UN
Corruption
Association,
its UN Press
Briefing Room
-- and on
January 29
threw out the
Press seeking
to cover this
meeting of a
group that has
sold the UN
and Ban, amid
scandals.
On
February 1,
Inner City
Press went to
the next UN
noon briefing
to asked
Dujarric what
the rules for
throwing media
out of the UN
Press Briefing
Room are, and
to explain his
poking at
Inner City
Press' phone
to stop its
Periscope
streaming
broadcast of
the event in
the UN Press
Briefing Room,
video
here, transcript here.
Dujarric
cut off
questions,
including
about his
"lending" of
the UN
Briefing Room
to the
entourage of
France's
Francois
Hollande -
which will
continue. In
fact, the UN
omitted or
censored Inner
City Press'
entirely
audible
question
about
Hollande from
the
transcript.
Dujarric made
a threat. This
is today's UN.
Sitting
in a glassed
in booth
live-tweeting
and
livestreaming
Periscope
video cannot
be called
"hiding," even
in the UN.
Inner
City Press
pointed out
the obvious:
this booth is
entirely
glassed in and
visible from
the podium he
spoke at, and
from the
rostrum used
on January 29
by UNCA's head
Giampaolo
Pioli and two
board members
(one from US
government
Broadcasting
Board of
Governors, as
is relevant to
the censorship
bid contrary
to the US
First
Amendment.)
Dujarric cut
off Inner City
Press' follow
up question;
uniquely the
entire first
row of the
briefing room
was this day
filled with
UNCA board
members, two
from Agence
France Presse
(they asked
nothing), and
Pioli, who
also asked
nothing. One
wondered if
Dujarric, who
on January 29
told Inner
City Press it
should "join
UNCA" arranged
or
collaborated
with this
dubious "show
of force."
At
least, unlike
January 29,
Dujarric did
not jab at
Inner City
Press' camera,
and the
Reuters
correspondent
who twice
blocked the
camera with
paper on
January 29 did
not do so this
time.
One is
left wondering
if the UN's
Dujarric
believes he
can eject any
media, at any
time, from any
event in the
UN Press
Briefing Room,
and if he,
Reuters or
UNCA will try
the same
camera-banning
they engaged
in on January
29 in the UN
Press Briefing
Room at the UN
Security
Council
stakeout.
Watch this
site.
At the
January 29
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric about
Ban's paid /
sold
appearances, transcript here.
On
January 29,
UNCA
leadership
including
Giampaoli
Pioli, two
scribes for
the US
Broadcasting
Board of
Governors, one
from Reuters
and others
demanded that
Inner City
Press not
cover a
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room.
Suspending
their meeting
in which they
discussed
among other
tawdry topics
selling UN
space to those
who pay them
money, UNCA
called in UN
Spokesman
Dujarric and
his deputy and
then UN
Security, who
are the
request of
Dujarric asked
Inner City
Press to
leave.
There
were ironies
aplenty. Not
only about a
group of
"correspondents"
trying to
close and make
secret their
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room,
but also that
it was
Dujarric who
told Inner
City Press
that the UN
Press Briefing
Room would not
again be "lent
out," after
Inner City
Press challenged
the lending
out to French
President
Francois
Hollande.
Dujarric,
deploying the
F-bomb, Vine
here, told
Inner City
Press, Yes, I
am ordering
you out, you
can put it in
your story. Vine here. He tried to turn
Inner City
Press' camera
phone off. Vine here.
His
deputy,
pointing at
Inner City
Press, told
some of the
scribes, "He
lies a lot" --
after
providing
patently false
answers about
UN
peacekeeping
and other
topics.
The
Voice of
America
correspondent
Margaret
Besheer, last
seen claiming
there were
Liberians in
Burundi,
to which in an
untransparent
process she
(and Reuters
and AFP)
accompanied
the recent
Security
Council trip,
made comments
which most
contexts are
deemed
antithetical
to free press.
She's done it
before (see
this letter to
Dujarric);
she said "go
on your meds."
With the
UN embroiled
in scandals
including the
indictments of
the former
President of
the General
Assembly John
Ashe and Macau
businessman Ng
Lap Seng
and the
founder of
South South
News, on
December 14
the UN
Correspondents
Association
sold seats
with Ban
Ki-moon for
$6000. Periscope I here;Periscope
II here.
UN corruption,
never
reformed,
rises from the
Ashes,
courtesy of
UNCA, now the
UN Corruption
Association.
And
yet, from
inside
Cipriani Wall
Street, one of
the musicians
paid to play
has an open
mind, and when
shown
reporting on
UN corruption
asks, Should
I make a
scene? Tweet
here.
Just
ask, who here
paid $6000 as
solicited by
UNCA to sit
with Ban
Ki-moon. And
why pay it?
With Ng Lap
Seng, it's
clear.
Is it
journalism to
solicit and
take money
from those you
ostensibly
cover? Where
does it go?
We'll have
more on this.
Earlier
on December 14
UNCA lobbed
three softball
questions to
Ban -- none on
Burundi, for
example --
from the
former
president of
UNCA Pamela
Falk, then the
current vice
president and
finally the
current
questioner for
UNCA. Inner
City Press
loudly asked a
question about
the killings
in Burundi,
which Ban
declined to
answer. Vine
here.
Inner
City Press for
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
asked Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
the propriety
of UNCA
selling seats
with Ban.
Dujarric said,
"As long as
it's
transparent."
Is that the
standard?
One would
expect the UN
press corps,
even the
entity the UN
itself chooses
to set aside
first
questions for,
to be pursuing
rather than be
involved in
the scandals.
One
might also
expect UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon to be
more cautious
of colluding
in events in
which access
to him
has been sold.
But
with the UN
Correspondents
Association,
this year more
than ever,
that is not
the case. The
group or its
leadership,
headed by
Italian
paparazzi
scribe
Giampaolo
Pioli who
after trying
to get the
investigative
Pressthrown out
of the UN
now covers
actors like
Morgan Freeman
while others
at his paper
cover the UN,
is selling
seats with Ban
Ki-moon for
$6,000.
In
response to
Press
questions
about this
UNseemly sale
of access,
Ban's
spokesman said
"as long as
it's
transparent."
Will that keep
the
indictments
from
expanding?
This year's
sale of Ban,
like to Ng Lap
Seng in 2011,
is an Italian
job, run by
pazarazzi /
"correspondent"
/ landlord
Giampaolo
Pioli.
How does
this UNCA
sleaze fest
differ from
the South
South Awards,
inextricably
linked to the
indictments of
Ng Lap Seng,
South South
News' Frank
Lorenzo and
former
President of
the General
Assembly John
Ashe? Hardly
at all. So
what will
happen? We'll
have more on
this.
For now
we can report
that at the
December 11
closed door
session on
"Revitalization
of the General
Assembly,"
both the UN's
Controller and
Ban Ki-moon's
new chief of
staff Edmond
Mulet made
arguments for
post-Ashe
reforms that a
number of
member states
found far too
little. And
Ban is slated
to have seats
next to him
sold for
$6000. We'll
have more on
this too.
On
December 10,
days after
Pioli used the
large room the
UN gives to
UNCA, its UN
Censorship
Alliance, to campaign
for a Security
Council seat
for his native
Italy by
giving out
free meats,
the view into
the Club was
blocked. So
much for
transparency.
While
calling for an
audit of sale
of UN access
under John
Ashe, should
Ban openly
allow access
to him to be
sold? He
appears intent
on doing so,
or operating
by inertia, on
automatic
pilot. Inner
City Press now
learns that
Ban's twice
delayed report
on the cover
up of
peacekeepers'
rapes in the
Central
African
Republic will
be pushed
further back,
after the
sell-out,
buried. We'll
have more on
this.
UNCA's
awards, such
as they gave
to South
South News
for money,
include awards
and payments
to entities
who've served
on their own
Board.
The United
Nations
Correspondents
Association is
honored to
invite you to
participate
and contribute
to the 20th
annual UNCA
Awards event
with guest of
honor U.N.
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon
and H.S.H.
Prince Albert
II of Monaco,
recipient of
the 2015
Global
Advocate of
the Year Award
for climate
change.
Exclusive
raffle prizes
include
business class
airline
tickets around
the world with
hotel
accommodations
and a grand
prize FIAT
500X car. As
your esteemed
presence will
ensure the
success of
this event, we
are pleased to
send you the
below
opportunities
to attend the
gala dinner:
Mission Table
Special Price
/ $6000
(half-table) 5
seats at VIP
table at the
gala event
Special
Ambassador
Contribution /
$2,000 -1 VIP
ticket for
Ambassador
with premium
seating to
dinner + 1
complimentary
VIP ticket for
spouse or
guest -Special
acknowledgement
of the
Ambassador and
the Mission in
the UNCA
Awards Journal
of the evening
-Additional
tickets for UN
Diplomats of
the Mission
can be
purchased at
the special
price of $750
each
Giampaolo
Pioli, UNCA
President
Please make
all checks
payable to
'UNCA Awards
Committee'
Contributions
to the UNCA
Awards
Committee are
tax
deductible.
The UNCA
Awards
Committee is a
501-c(3)"
This is
precisely the
type of sale
of access
involved in
the
indictments of
Ng, Sheri Yan
and Frank
Lorenzo.
While
others are
announcing
audits and
freezing such
contacts, UNCA
under Pioli is
bulling
forward,
charging ever
more money,
getting ever
further from
journalistic
purposes.
On
November 20,
Pioli's UNCA
circulated a
list of
candidates
with no
competition
for any of the
six officer
positions. It
also
pre-announced
its awards,
including to
Reuters (on
its Board) and
others. We'll
have more on
this.
For the three
running
unopposed for
five president
slots, two
were already
on the UNCA
board during
the relevant
time period;
the other is Pioli's
former protege
at Quotidiano
Nazionale.
It's an
Italian thing.