ICP
Asks Ban's
Spox If Other
Panama Papers
Firms in
Global
Compact, Files
in Street
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
19 -- As the
UN bribery
scandal
gathered force
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon called
for an audit
by the UN
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services. The
audit,
completed
early this
year but first
put online
by Inner City
Press,
directly
criticizes
Cristina
Gallach, the
Under
Secretary
General for
Communications
and Public
Information,
including for
her lack of
due diligence
and for
dealings with
South South
News.
Gallach,
without
recusing
herself,
unilaterally
deactivated
Inner City
Press UN
residential
correspondents
pass on
February 19,
and had Inner
City Press'
reporter
physically
thrown out on
First Avenue
without coat
or passport. Audio
here.
This is
called
retaliation.
Then, after
misrepresenting
the
restrictions
she has put on
the Press, she
ordered
the final
eviction
of all of
Inner City
Press'
investigative
files on
Saturday,
April 16 - video here and here
(Periscope).
(On
April 18,
while even
with its BAN
and
Gallach-reduced
accreditation
Inner City
Press is
supposed to be
able to enter
the UN until 7
pm, the UN
Guard on duty
at the 46th
Street
entrance said
no, only until
6 pm. Lawless.
On April 19,
Inner City
Press was BANned
from covering
Kerry and
Zarif.)
Now,
the South
South News
scandal
connects with
the so-called
Panama Papers,
about which
Inner City
Press twice
asked the UN
last week. Ng
Lap Seng, who
controlled the
groups which
were not
reviewed by
Gallach and
got face time
with Ban
Ki-moon. On
April 19,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, UN transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: I
wanted to ask
you this,
about the
Panama Paper,
the issue that
came up
yesterday of
South-South
News, in fact,
being a
British Virgin
Islands
corporation
that appears
in the Panama
Papers, the
President of
the General
Assembly had
said actually
yesterday that
all
organizations,
presumably
including the
UN, should
review things
in light of
the Panama
Papers and tax
evasions.
So, my
question to
you is, are
there other
entities that
have joined
and are
currently
members of the
Global Compact
which appear
in the now
public
database of
the Panama
Papers as
shell
companies?
Spokesman:
I think… I
can't answer
that. I
think that's a
question you
need to raise
directly with
the Global
Compact.
Inner City
Press:
Can they
come?
Can they come
here?
Spokesman:
I think you
could call
them.
Thank you.
Inner City
Press:
Questions on
Western Sahara
and South
Sudan.
But given how
little time we
have, I want
to be sure to
ask you this
question,
particularly
now that my
files were
moved out onto
First Avenue
on
Saturday.
My question is
as
follows:
My question
is, as… in the
UN OIOS
(Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services)
audit and in
the whole
discussion
since the
indictments in
October, it’s
been said that
this is an
audit of NGOs
(non-governmental
organizations),
South-South
News… didn’t
actually…
Global
Sustainability
Foundation,
Sun Kian Ip
foundation.
And as you… I
would trust
that you know,
in the Panama
Papers,
McClatchy has
reported that,
in fact, Ng
Lap Seng’s
South-South
News was, in
fact, a
for-profit
entity
incorporated
in the British
Virgin
Islands, a tax
haven.
And so, one,
how can it be
that a UN
audit into
this doesn’t…
didn’t reflect
on this?
What does it
change in
terms of it
being… there
was a press
conference
here in which
civil society
said there’s
been a
corporate, you
know, invasion
of the UN, and
I would say…
tie it to the
Ban Ki-moon
era.
Spokesman:
What’s the
question?
Inner City
Press:
My question
is, now that
it’s clear
from the
Panama Papers,
a major global
scandal, that
Ng Lap Seng,
who paid
bribes to get
into the UN,
in fact, used
offshore
corporations
to do it…
Spokesman:
What is the
question?
Inner City
Press:
The question
is, isn’t this
audit a little
more than a
cover-up, in
that it
doesn’t…
[inaudible]
Spokesman:
No.
Question:
How can UN
auditors not
find
[inaudible]…
Spokesman:
There is a
criminal
investigation
going on,
which, as we
said, we would
work with and
cooperate with
whatever… and,
obviously,
look at the
requests from
the US Federal
authorities.
As I
mentioned, the
audit is a
first
step.
Other
investigations
are going
on. And
South-South
News’s status
is being
reviewed
here. I
will say, for
the record,
that your
files were not
moved out on
First
Avenue.
From what I
gather and
from watching
the live
broadcast over
the weekend,
you refused to
provide an
address for
them to be
shipped.
Question:
Because I
don’t trust
them.
Spokesman:
Well, that’s…
but that’s
your choice.
Question:
Why would
I? Would
you?
Spokesman:
That’s your
choice.
I don’t want
you to portray
that they’ve
been moved or
thrown out.
Question:
They were
thrown out
onto First
Avenue.
Ban Ki-moon…
"Ng is listed
as a
shareholder of
two British
Virgin Islands
companies –
South South
News
International
Group Ltd in
May 2010 and
GOLUCK Ltd. in
2004.
He leads a
real estate
development
company in
Macau, China,
and is one of
the world’s
wealthiest
people. He was
accused in
1996 of
sending more
than $1.1
million to a
Little Rock
restaurant
owner who then
contributed
hundreds of
thousands of
dollars to the
Democratic
National
Committee,
according to a
1998 Senate
committee
investigation.
The restaurant
owner, Charlie
Trie, pleaded
guilty to
violating
campaign
finance laws.
Ng was not
charged.
Another
congressional
report
criticized Ng
and others for
failing to
cooperate
during the
investigation.
Published
reports say Ng
visited the
White House 10
times from
1994 to 1996,
had his
photograph
taken with
Bill and
Hillary
Clinton, sat
beside Bill
Clinton at an
event at a
Washington
hotel, and
rode in an
elevator with
Hillary
Clinton.
Last year, Ng
was charged
with bribing a
United Nations
official and
lying about
what he was
doing with
$4.5 million
in cash he
brought into
the U.S. over
two years.
Investigators
say instead of
spending it at
casinos or on
art, antiques
or real
estate, he
used the money
for bribes as
he sought
investments in
Antigua and
China. Another
man listed in
the same
criminal
complaint is
president of
the New
York-based
South South
News, the same
name of the
British Virgin
Islands
company.
Ng’s lawyer,
Kevin Tung,
has said that
his charges
are based on a
misunderstanding.
Tung, Benjamin
Brafman and
Hugh Mo, two
others who are
or have
represented
Ng, did not
respond to
requests for
comment."
Any due
diligence by
Gallach, prior
to allowing
the Vistors
Lobby event
and slavery
memorial
foundation,
would have
revealed these
disqualifiers.
Furthermore,
this shows the
weakness of
OIOS' audit.
OIOS refers to
South South
News as an
"NGO." The UN
has a
relationship
with this BVI
for-profit
corporation,
then absolves
itself about
dealings with
Ng Lap Seng,
while Ban's
and Gallach's
response is to
throw the
Press in the
street.
On
April 15,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq how
much Gallach
allowed the
corruption
Global
Sustainability
Foundation to
put into the
slavery event
Ban Ki-moon
attended, and
about the
Government
Accountability
Projects
letter to Ban
Ki-moon
charging him
with
retaliation. Video here. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
, 
